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Tap to send me your reflections ♡ In this episode, I share a piece of writing I rediscovered – something I’d captured in the quiet of a long-haul flight, sitting beside Anton as he slept. I had no memory of writing it, but when I read it back, it spoke to something that still feels deeply true: the idea of rest as a form of compassion. I explore how the energy we hold – especially in those liminal, half-asleep states – doesn’t just affect us, but also gently ripples out into the world around ...
Tap to send me your reflections ♡
In this episode, I share a piece of writing I rediscovered – something I’d captured in the quiet of a long-haul flight, sitting beside Anton as he slept. I had no memory of writing it, but when I read it back, it spoke to something that still feels deeply true: the idea of rest as a form of compassion.
I explore how the energy we hold – especially in those liminal, half-asleep states – doesn’t just affect us, but also gently ripples out into the world around us. Whether we’re lying next to someone we love, resting with a pet at our feet, or sleeping alone, there’s something powerful in noticing the waves we send out... and there's power in being discerning about the energies we receive.
This is a soft, spacious reflection – a chance to consider what we’re allowing in as we prepare for rest, and what we’re offering out. A moment to remember that even in sleep, we’re connected.
To read the full piece I wrote, I've shared it on the blog: https://www.hennyflynn.co.uk/how-can-rest-be-a-form-of-compassion
***
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A space to settle in and listen, and see where the episode takes you. This inspiring, reflective podcast is an invitation to travel deeper, with compassionate self-enquiry.
Henny shares insights from her own life, alongside practices that help us connect with our inner wisdom, explore our relationship with change and find a greater sense of flow. Henny believes we all hold our own answers, so there are no one-size-fits-all solutions here. This is a space to be with what’s true for you, and to grow from there.
If you’re drawn to slowing down, listening in, and exploring what it means to live with greater authenticity, this podcast is for you. Guided by psychology, mindfulness, therapeutic coaching, flow journaling, and everyday compassion, we explore ideas that help us step further into our inner worlds, in order to shape the changes we seek in our outer worlds.
Speaker 1: As I came to record
today's episode of the podcast,
I thought, oh, I'll just take a
little look at a document that I
have on my computer where I
capture ideas, thoughts, words,
sometimes metaphors or imagery
that might spark an episode in
themselves.
Force or imagery that might
spark an episode in themselves.
And when I came to look today I
saw that at some point I wrote
what I would like to share with
you, and it is all about the
idea of resting as a form of
compassion.
Welcome to the Henny Flynn
podcast the space for deepening
self-awareness with profound
self-compassion.
I'm Henny.
I write, coach and speak about
how exploring our inner world
can transform how we experience
our outer world, all founded on
a bedrock of self-love.
Settle in and listen and see
where the episode takes you.
If you've ever shared a bed or a
room with another person, or
sat beside a sleeping stranger
or a loved one on a plane, train
or in a car, you may have
noticed how sometimes, when
you're wakeful, they begin to
stir and it can feel like the
shuffling, kaleidoscopic
patterning of your thoughts has
spread out from your darting
mind into theirs.
And so you go, still lying or
sitting, as quietly as you can,
willing them to sleep.
Sometimes, of course, it's
because we don't want the
disturbance of their wakefulness
, maybe for good reason, and
that's a reflection worthy of
its own attention.
Or maybe simply because you're
deep in your own disturbances
and don't wish to add to theirs.
And sometimes, of course, this
deep awareness of their
breathing, their presence, the
surfacing of their awareness,
helps us feel into the very
essence of our own existence,
perhaps noticing a tightness in
your jaw that you quietly
release so it doesn't spread
across the pillows or the seat,
waking them with its solid grip,
grip Maybe there's an
unclenching of the muscles of
your shoulders, your back, your
stomach, hips and thighs,
softening back into the support
of where you sit or lie, sending
waves of rest and relaxation
through the fabric of that
support, through the ether that
connects and separates you.
And if it's safe for you to
rest in the way you wish them to
rest, this deep relaxation,
this can bring a profound
peacefulness, allowing yourself
the softness you wish them to
receive, the softness you wish
them to receive.
And if there is no one sleeping
beside you, you can imagine the
waves of this wakeful straining
, this pressing up and out of
the beguiling confines of sleep,
pouring out from where you lie
into the world, perhaps sending
tendrils of tension into other
homes, other lives, and likewise
, of course, we can imagine the
deep rest we can achieve,
receive pouring out from where
we lie on the edge of sleep.
We can imagine gifting peaceful
repose into others' homes so
they rest more fully, and
perhaps we do too.
This to me feels like a gift of
compassion that by seeing the
impact we have, not purely in
the immediately obvious, the
practical actions that we take
obvious, the practical actions
that we take but also in the
sleepy energy we send into the
world and in our loving concern
for others well-being, so we
bring beauty to our own way of
being.
I thought that was rather lovely
and I have absolutely no memory
of writing it whatsoever.
I think I must have written it
on the aeroplane to Vietnam on
our trip this winter.
It feels like I have a kind of
resonance in my body of Anton
sleeping beside me and me being
so deeply aware of not wanting
to disturb his sleep with my
sort of juddering thoughts, my
um range of emotion, my um
unstillness, and and then and
even as I say this, I, I, the
memory is beginning to form, or
perhaps I'm imagining the memory
, but let's, let's say it is
remembered, um, that then later
on the flight, it was a long way
from here, um, he did wake and
I captured these thoughts on my
phone and I've read them to you
as they were, as I captured them
.
So you know, maybe if I spent a
little time on them they could
be tightened up in some way, but
I felt, oh gosh, there was a,
there was a lyrical sleepiness
to them, almost like I'd written
them partially.
In that dream state and as I
reflect on them now, I really
love this idea of really
noticing the energetic waves
that come out from us and that
we receive from others in this
most receptive state of sleep,
or, as I write in this piece,
this edge of sleep and and maybe
there's something here it feels
profoundly beautiful to me to
be able to capture this idea, to
explore this idea, sit with, be
with, sit within um, this idea,
if we, if we are feeling I just
hiccuped, um, let's capture my
thought again um, if we are to
sit that there is tension in our
body or tension in our thoughts
and you know, maybe to play
with, to experiment with, well,
how is it, if we really notice
either what we're receiving from
the outside world and being
really discerning, then, about
what is it?
What is it that we really wish
to receive?
What are we allowing in?
You know, just as we are
mindful if a stranger comes to
the door, what are we allowing
in to our unconscious state?
What thoughts, what energies
are we absorbing as we go into
our dream place?
As we go into our dream place?
And that makes me think about
so many things actually, about
the TV that we consume, the
books that we read.
What are the energies that
we're bringing in to this most
precious, most holy time of rest
, the time that our bodies are
doing so much work on our behalf
?
So not only is this a practice
in self-compassion, but we can
also see it as a practice in
compassion to the world around
us, maybe the world that's
immediately close by.
If you share your bed with
another person, or if you have a
dog or a cat sleeping on your
bed, you know we also.
We are energetic creatures,
just as they are and we, we know
that.
You know, when we gaze into a
dog's eyes and they gaze into
ours, it not only releases
oxytocin into our system, but it
also releases oxytocin into
theirs.
So when we are rested and
restful, so are they and vice
versa.
So, you know, being mindful of
what's the influence that we
have in this pre-sleep state and
how can, reminding our bodies
that it's safe, you know, please
, let it be safe for us to relax
, to let go of the tension and
allow our bodies to do this,
this most precious work for us,
this digestion and cell
generation and renewal that goes
on overnight and also to be
mindful of how, you know, we
have a wider influence to this
energy field from each of us.
It stretches out, you know,
threads throughout our world,
our universe.
We are made of stardust, after
all.
So, yes, I'd like to leave you
with that.
I've, um, even as I I speak,
actually, uh, I have this.
This sense that you know, it's
something that I often uh, talk
with clients about is how we
each stand at the center of our
own pond and the ripples that we
make, how they flow out from us
and, of course, you know, all
of our ponds are interconnected.
None of us really is completely
independent of each other, as
much as we might wish to be, and
, at the same time, there is
something here about the
boundaries.
So, so, being really mindful of
you know, um, what we are
sending out into the world and
what we are receiving in from
the world too.
So there we go.
That's today's reflection, and I
really hope you liked that
concept, that piece, that
perspective, and please do share
your reflections with me.
If this speaks to you, if
you're on Apple Podcasts, on the
show notes, there's a little
line at the top with a heart
that says tap to send me your
reflections and your message
will get straight through to me.
It's a really lovely way for us
to connect to me.
It's a really lovely way for us
to connect and also, please do
um, share a testimony or a
review, um on apple podcast or
wherever you love to listen.
It's so helpful I can't tell
you how helpful it is in in sort
of, you know, letting the
algorithm know that this is a
podcast that's worth sharing,
worth listening to.
Hopefully you feel that way.
All right, my darlings, and as
ever, I send you a hug and a
wave.
Thank you, thank you.