November 12, 2025 • 13 mins
In this episode of the Infinitely Precious Podcast, James Henry reflects on his recent trip to Ireland for his daughter’s wedding and the fresh perspectives that travel offers. From driving on the opposite side of the road to walking through centuries-old abbeys and castles, James contemplates how stepping away from the familiar helps us see our own lives with renewed gratitude and awareness. He draws parallels between the long history and enduring rhythms of Ireland and the patterns that shape our own daily lives, suggesting that every new experience invites us to reexamine what we value most. Ultimately, he encourages listeners to embrace different viewpoints—whether through travel, conversation, or quiet reflection—as a reminder of our shared connection and the infinite beauty found in diverse ways of seeing the world.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:00):
Welcome to the infinitely precious podcast produced by
(00:03):
infinitely precious LLC. Yourhost is James Henry. Remember,
you are infinitely precious andunconditionally loved for the
gift you already are.
James (00:12):
Hello, beloved. It's me, James. It's good to be with you
another week. Thanks so much forlistening to the podcast. Always
appreciate all of you who arelistening and sharing the
podcast.
So feel free to share it if ithas meaning for you. I have just
(00:35):
returned personally from a tripto Ireland. It was my daughter's
wedding in Tipperary in a placecalled Clock Jordan at the Clock
Jordan House. It was a lovelyplace. And the time in Ireland
(00:57):
gave me an opportunity to ponderperspectives, to think about how
changing a setting from theeveryday, the familiar, the
patterns of a lifetime that arelived here in a particular place
(01:20):
offer me the opportunity to seelife in a different way and to
reevaluate the life that I'mliving.
Not so much to think, oh mygosh, my life is empty or
pointless, but to say what is itthat I appreciate most about the
patterns of my life? What aresome things that I can discover
(01:45):
through living a differentpattern of life such as being on
a trip, being on a trip to adifferent place. Heck, even
driving was a metaphor for adifferent perspective because I
was driving on the left handside of the road. It was truly
an opportunity to see life indifferent ways. One of the
(02:10):
things I noted about Ireland isthe long history.
Where I visit I live very closehere in The United States to our
nation's capital, and I canvisit buildings that have
several 100 years' worth ofhistory behind them. But at
(02:35):
least in one place, we stayed inwell, several places. Clock
Jordan House where the weddingwas, we stayed in a farmhouse
that's been in continuous usefor the last eight hundred years
since around 1200. That was kindof impressive. Now, of course,
(02:57):
it's been upgraded and thingshave been changed in those eight
hundred years, but I was stayingin a house that was 800 that had
an eight hundred year history.
Later, we stayed in arefurbished castle that had an
eight hundred year history. Andwe walked across the street to
an abbey that was the oldestabbey in Ireland. It was no
(03:23):
longer in use. It was destroyedunder the rule of King Henry
VIII. Cromwell destroyed thisFranciscan monastery from the
that was built in the '12 and1300s.
But to walk through the ruins ofthat building and to see it was
(03:46):
powerful. It was a powerfulexperience of history. To
celebrate my daughter's weddingwas to look at what marriage is,
about how each one of us bringsa perspective into life. And
(04:08):
then when we marry, when weenter into relationships,
particularly ones that arecommitted like marriage, then
we're invited to see the worldwith different eyes. We're
invited to make compromises,changes, opportunities to
(04:29):
accommodate and invite in theother who is different than
ours.
I listened to the vows that bothHannah and John wrote for each
other. And they spoke about howbeing engaged in the
relationship they were inoffered them the opportunity to
(04:50):
really see life from a newperspective, to really stretch
themselves and to grow and tolearn to love someone who's
different than they are and toshare that experience. I wonder
for all of us who live in thisworld what it looks like to
(05:12):
break with the familiar, atleast on occasion, to kind of
see what we appreciate mostabout our lives. The funny thing
is, it wasn't that long ago thatI did some talking on the
podcast about transitions, abouthow I was making a transition
from a place where I had servedfor thirty three years and was
(05:35):
coming to a new place. And now,I'm in that new place and have
been in that new place for justover four months and have
developed new patterns, newpatterns that have begun to
shape my life.
So, it was an opportunity toreengage my life with differing
(05:56):
patterns. And yet, after fourmonths, there are patterns that
I'm used to. Getting up in themorning, preparing coffee,
having breakfast, and for us,it's a fairly usual kind of
breakfast. In all the differentplaces we stayed, there were
different kinds of breakfast.And coffee in Ireland is
different than coffee in The US.
(06:18):
We could get Americano. We couldget cappuccino. We could get
latte. But the idea of a drip orpour over coffee like I
experience here is not the same.It's different.
It gave me an appreciation abouthow we all approach this life
(06:39):
and follow the patterns thatseem most appropriate to us,
that time shapes those patterns,but how also seeing things
through the eyes of differentcultures, through the diversity
of this beautiful world in whichwe live invites kind of a
different way of seeing. We weretraveling on very small country
(07:05):
roads on occasion wondering ifwe'd come around the corner on
roads that were just wide enoughfor the car, just a little bit
wider than the car. And howwould we fit another car if we
encountered one coming from theother direction? How would we
appreciate this long historythat we were now engaged with
(07:30):
and a part of? And the welcomeand friendliness of the folks
that we encountered when we werein Dublin, when we were in Cock
Jordan, when we were in Galway,heck, when we were in a tiny
town called Lusk.
(07:51):
In all of those places, we metfriendly and encouraging people
who were very welcoming to usdespite the fact that we were
from a different place. It'sgood to see the world through
different people's eyes becausesometimes the habitual way we
(08:13):
want to see the world and thesilos through, you know, in
which we maintain our livesallows such a limited vision of
all that is around us. A coupleof weeks back, we talked about
how everything ordinary can besacred. But in order to do that,
(08:35):
we sort of need to see it from adifferent perspective. And going
to a different country for mewas a different perspective.
The food was different, notbetter, not worse, just
different, and differentflavors. The customs were
different. It was fascinating.We took a tour of a brewery. The
(09:07):
brewery lives in Dublin.
And when began to when theGuinness family began this
process, the father the greatgrandfather of Guinness began by
(09:29):
signing a four thousand yearlease. Imagine having the
perspective to believe that whatyou're about to begin producing
was going to be around for thatperiod of time, long after you.
That kind of broadeningperspective, the way of seeing
the world in newer and uniqueways, an invitation to revisit
(09:51):
the ways that we havetraditionally seen the world and
perhaps to see it with new eyes,new appreciation. On one of the
days in Ireland, we went and sawthe Cliffs Of Moor. And to see
the Cliffs Of Moher was to see apiece of history that has been
(10:15):
shaped by the forces of nature.
Much in the same way as whenLinda and I went and saw the
Grand Canyon here in The UnitedStates, The forces of nature had
shaped the beauty of thatcanyon, carved it away bit by
bit, time after time overthousands of years. And the same
(10:37):
thing is for the Cliffs OfMoher. Even with the long
history of the peoples ofIreland compared with the short
history in The United Statessince its founding as The United
States through the colonization.I'm not talking about the
(10:57):
indigenous people who have beenhere for much longer than that.
It gives a sense of perspective.
It invites a revisitation ofwhat is and what really matters
in life. I don't know that muchis going to change with my
(11:19):
return here to The US, to FallsChurch, Virginia. But I do know
that I have come to appreciateby stepping away some of the
patterns of my life, some of theway it flows, but also that mine
is not the only way that theworld flows, that the folks in
(11:40):
Ireland flow in a different kindof way. And I suspect by
extension, every place I wouldgo, the world flows in a
slightly different way. And thateach of us is enriched by the
fact that there are so many waysof seeing the intersections of
life in everyday kinds of ways.
(12:04):
So my friends, thanks forjoining me today. Remember, you
are infinitely precious andunconditionally loved for the
gift you already are. And Iencourage you in the days ahead,
take a moment to step back, tolook at the world. Maybe you
can't take a vacation, but maybeyou can take an hour here or
(12:24):
there just to take a walk andsee the world from a different
perspective. Read about life inanother place, or engage with a
person from a different placeand kind of learn a little bit
from each other about thedifferences that shape us
because we live in this great,big, beautiful, infinite
(12:47):
universe in which we all play apart.
And while there is one hugeconnectivity to all things, each
one of us is a piece of thatconnectivity and brings
something unique to it. So,whatever unique thing you bring,
whatever unique thing yourneighbor brings, it's an
(13:08):
opportunity for you to bepresent, to engage in a
different way of seeing, and toappreciate what a gift your life
is as it is, but a gift it is tohave all the other perspectives
as well. Thanks so much forjoining me. I hope you'll have a
(13:29):
great week.
Welcome to the infinitely precious podcast produced by
(00:03):
infinitely precious LLC. Yourhost is James Henry. Remember,
you are infinitely precious andunconditionally loved for the
gift you already are.
James (00:12):
Hello, beloved. It's me, James. It's good to be with you
another week. Thanks so much forlistening to the podcast. Always
appreciate all of you who arelistening and sharing the
podcast.
So feel free to share it if ithas meaning for you. I have just
(00:35):
returned personally from a tripto Ireland. It was my daughter's
wedding in Tipperary in a placecalled Clock Jordan at the Clock
Jordan House. It was a lovelyplace. And the time in Ireland
(00:57):
gave me an opportunity to ponderperspectives, to think about how
changing a setting from theeveryday, the familiar, the
patterns of a lifetime that arelived here in a particular place
(01:20):
offer me the opportunity to seelife in a different way and to
reevaluate the life that I'mliving.
Not so much to think, oh mygosh, my life is empty or
pointless, but to say what is itthat I appreciate most about the
patterns of my life? What aresome things that I can discover
(01:45):
through living a differentpattern of life such as being on
a trip, being on a trip to adifferent place. Heck, even
driving was a metaphor for adifferent perspective because I
was driving on the left handside of the road. It was truly
an opportunity to see life indifferent ways. One of the
(02:10):
things I noted about Ireland isthe long history.
Where I visit I live very closehere in The United States to our
nation's capital, and I canvisit buildings that have
several 100 years' worth ofhistory behind them. But at
(02:35):
least in one place, we stayed inwell, several places. Clock
Jordan House where the weddingwas, we stayed in a farmhouse
that's been in continuous usefor the last eight hundred years
since around 1200. That was kindof impressive. Now, of course,
(02:57):
it's been upgraded and thingshave been changed in those eight
hundred years, but I was stayingin a house that was 800 that had
an eight hundred year history.
Later, we stayed in arefurbished castle that had an
eight hundred year history. Andwe walked across the street to
an abbey that was the oldestabbey in Ireland. It was no
(03:23):
longer in use. It was destroyedunder the rule of King Henry
VIII. Cromwell destroyed thisFranciscan monastery from the
that was built in the '12 and1300s.
But to walk through the ruins ofthat building and to see it was
(03:46):
powerful. It was a powerfulexperience of history. To
celebrate my daughter's weddingwas to look at what marriage is,
about how each one of us bringsa perspective into life. And
(04:08):
then when we marry, when weenter into relationships,
particularly ones that arecommitted like marriage, then
we're invited to see the worldwith different eyes. We're
invited to make compromises,changes, opportunities to
(04:29):
accommodate and invite in theother who is different than
ours.
I listened to the vows that bothHannah and John wrote for each
other. And they spoke about howbeing engaged in the
relationship they were inoffered them the opportunity to
(04:50):
really see life from a newperspective, to really stretch
themselves and to grow and tolearn to love someone who's
different than they are and toshare that experience. I wonder
for all of us who live in thisworld what it looks like to
(05:12):
break with the familiar, atleast on occasion, to kind of
see what we appreciate mostabout our lives. The funny thing
is, it wasn't that long ago thatI did some talking on the
podcast about transitions, abouthow I was making a transition
from a place where I had servedfor thirty three years and was
(05:35):
coming to a new place. And now,I'm in that new place and have
been in that new place for justover four months and have
developed new patterns, newpatterns that have begun to
shape my life.
So, it was an opportunity toreengage my life with differing
(05:56):
patterns. And yet, after fourmonths, there are patterns that
I'm used to. Getting up in themorning, preparing coffee,
having breakfast, and for us,it's a fairly usual kind of
breakfast. In all the differentplaces we stayed, there were
different kinds of breakfast.And coffee in Ireland is
different than coffee in The US.
(06:18):
We could get Americano. We couldget cappuccino. We could get
latte. But the idea of a drip orpour over coffee like I
experience here is not the same.It's different.
It gave me an appreciation abouthow we all approach this life
(06:39):
and follow the patterns thatseem most appropriate to us,
that time shapes those patterns,but how also seeing things
through the eyes of differentcultures, through the diversity
of this beautiful world in whichwe live invites kind of a
different way of seeing. We weretraveling on very small country
(07:05):
roads on occasion wondering ifwe'd come around the corner on
roads that were just wide enoughfor the car, just a little bit
wider than the car. And howwould we fit another car if we
encountered one coming from theother direction? How would we
appreciate this long historythat we were now engaged with
(07:30):
and a part of? And the welcomeand friendliness of the folks
that we encountered when we werein Dublin, when we were in Cock
Jordan, when we were in Galway,heck, when we were in a tiny
town called Lusk.
(07:51):
In all of those places, we metfriendly and encouraging people
who were very welcoming to usdespite the fact that we were
from a different place. It'sgood to see the world through
different people's eyes becausesometimes the habitual way we
(08:13):
want to see the world and thesilos through, you know, in
which we maintain our livesallows such a limited vision of
all that is around us. A coupleof weeks back, we talked about
how everything ordinary can besacred. But in order to do that,
(08:35):
we sort of need to see it from adifferent perspective. And going
to a different country for mewas a different perspective.
The food was different, notbetter, not worse, just
different, and differentflavors. The customs were
different. It was fascinating.We took a tour of a brewery. The
(09:07):
brewery lives in Dublin.
And when began to when theGuinness family began this
process, the father the greatgrandfather of Guinness began by
(09:29):
signing a four thousand yearlease. Imagine having the
perspective to believe that whatyou're about to begin producing
was going to be around for thatperiod of time, long after you.
That kind of broadeningperspective, the way of seeing
the world in newer and uniqueways, an invitation to revisit
(09:51):
the ways that we havetraditionally seen the world and
perhaps to see it with new eyes,new appreciation. On one of the
days in Ireland, we went and sawthe Cliffs Of Moor. And to see
the Cliffs Of Moher was to see apiece of history that has been
(10:15):
shaped by the forces of nature.
Much in the same way as whenLinda and I went and saw the
Grand Canyon here in The UnitedStates, The forces of nature had
shaped the beauty of thatcanyon, carved it away bit by
bit, time after time overthousands of years. And the same
(10:37):
thing is for the Cliffs OfMoher. Even with the long
history of the peoples ofIreland compared with the short
history in The United Statessince its founding as The United
States through the colonization.I'm not talking about the
(10:57):
indigenous people who have beenhere for much longer than that.
It gives a sense of perspective.
It invites a revisitation ofwhat is and what really matters
in life. I don't know that muchis going to change with my
(11:19):
return here to The US, to FallsChurch, Virginia. But I do know
that I have come to appreciateby stepping away some of the
patterns of my life, some of theway it flows, but also that mine
is not the only way that theworld flows, that the folks in
(11:40):
Ireland flow in a different kindof way. And I suspect by
extension, every place I wouldgo, the world flows in a
slightly different way. And thateach of us is enriched by the
fact that there are so many waysof seeing the intersections of
life in everyday kinds of ways.
(12:04):
So my friends, thanks forjoining me today. Remember, you
are infinitely precious andunconditionally loved for the
gift you already are. And Iencourage you in the days ahead,
take a moment to step back, tolook at the world. Maybe you
can't take a vacation, but maybeyou can take an hour here or
(12:24):
there just to take a walk andsee the world from a different
perspective. Read about life inanother place, or engage with a
person from a different placeand kind of learn a little bit
from each other about thedifferences that shape us
because we live in this great,big, beautiful, infinite
(12:47):
universe in which we all play apart.
And while there is one hugeconnectivity to all things, each
one of us is a piece of thatconnectivity and brings
something unique to it. So,whatever unique thing you bring,
whatever unique thing yourneighbor brings, it's an
(13:08):
opportunity for you to bepresent, to engage in a
different way of seeing, and toappreciate what a gift your life
is as it is, but a gift it is tohave all the other perspectives
as well. Thanks so much forjoining me. I hope you'll have a
(13:29):
great week.
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