12.30.2024. Snowflakes & Hope With Holes
“It is the season of Christmas, not just one day,”
a dear friend said to me.
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This struck me to the ground. Yes, of course! How did Christmas get neatly packaged down to one day? Maybe it is all the busy-do that swallows the season of Christmas in one gulp whole. Maybe it is because the word ‘season’ has been relegated to the latest binge worthy HBO or Netflix show. Maybe it is because we falsely live in Newtonian mechanics where time and the seasons–Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall – march on, sometimes without a nudge or notice.
I cannot help but wonder: what is the light, the temperature and the weather patterns of the season of Christmas?
Is it the warmth and glow of lights emanating from homes and hearts?
Is it Charles Dickens' Spirit of Christmas Present, a full-embodied, large laughing being, full-up to the rim with joy and the milk of human kindness?
Is it a season that ends on January 6 with the arrival of the Three Magi: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh?
Is it a state of body, heart and mind that transcends place and time? Maybe it is the cry of a newborn with its fresh scent offering begin-anew hope, perseverance and transformation. Maybe it is the endless season of human goodness, compassion and kindness to the passing strangers on the street, the laws of love and how to be human that the Buddha, Christ and the Wisdom Traditions teach.
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Today is Metta (loving-kindness) Monday at 2pm. All Welcome. No meditation experience required. Come as you are, open heart and all.
Drop-in Meditation Practice: 2-3 pm
Sacred Sharing: 3-3:30 pm. (only ½ hr this week. Aidan is in town!)
Where: 1765 Glenview Road, Glenview in the Patio Shops
Cost: No Fee. Donations and poems appreciated.
So grateful we are here together.
May the offerings here be warmth and care for your heart
Love,
Wini
🌸 Below, lovely offerings for your Heart: 2 Poems. 3 Quotes. 1 Uplift Joy. 3 Sign-Ups. 2 Closing Songs. 1 Music Playlist 2024 (a treat to download below✨ )
🌸 Two Poems to Share
Winter Poem | Nikki Giovanni
once a snowflake fell
on my brow and i loved
it so much and i kissed
it and it was happy and called its cousins
and brothers and a web
of snow engulfed me then
i reached to love them all
and i squeezed them and they became
a spring rain and i stood perfectly
still and was a flower.
Hope | Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Hope has holes
in its pockets.
It leaves little
crumb trails
so that we,
when anxious,
can follow it.
Hope’s secret:
it doesn’t know
the destination—
it knows only
that all roads
begin with one
foot in front
of the other.
🌿 One foot. Sounds small and insignificant but in reality is the embodied action of courage and great heart. This is not so easy. May you begin this new year with one foot and hope.
🌸 Three Quotes | Thomas Merton. Kelly Hayes. Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche.
“It was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts…, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. ... I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.”
— Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
“There’s so much angst and despair radiating all around us,” writes Kelly Hayes. “But if something’s giving you warmth or strength (even just a bit), be sure to uplift that as well. Help others remember that kindness, solidarity, and care are still at work in the world.”
— Kelly Hayes, substack Organizing My Thoughts – She writes about things you should know if you want to change the world.
“The sun—whether or not it is recognized, appreciated, or even seen—is accessible to whomever might benefit from it. In the same way, determine to be constantly gentle and giving to others, without a strategy, without a plan, and without ambition.” — Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche, “Charting the Four Immeasurables”
🌸 Something to Uplift | Close 2024 with Love is in the Air
A great way to bring 2024 to a close with JOY, with 7,000 people gathered in harmony (literally) and togetherness, with hearts WIDE open through song, with a tear in your eye for this world that is really something, even so.
Give a listen to the biggest ever live choir sings ‘Love Is In The Air’ (John Paul Young) in Brisbane. Love is in the air. 7000 new friends + a symphony orchestra in Brisbane, all performing their hearts out.
Let your whole body, heart, mind and soul weep joy, and receive the magic and power of people. This is so darn heart-opening-sweet! (enjoy)
May we enliven our joy and connectedness in 2025!
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🌸 SIGN-UP | Anchor Into A Word for 2025
It all begins with a word choosing you –
Letting a word choose you sounds simple yes, and is not easy.
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Come Join Us!
Friday, Jan 17, 2025
10 am - 1 pm
Wini Nimrod & Julie Fedeli
An ancient practice to anchor your 2025
This ancient tradition is not about thinking our way into a word. It is not about a New Year's resolution word that is a quick-fix, has an agenda of do, make all better, rooted in ‘should’, ‘fix’, or ‘grasp’.
It is about softening, opening into the receptive warm-belly body that listens with the soul’s ear to hear. It is about going below the chronic hum and chatter of mind-noise and tuning into the quiet inaudible whispers of the heart. Here is where a word that longs for you resides.
This three-hour mini-retreat day, we will spend this time exploring practices to explore opening into a word that shimmers on the wind of your heart. A word to grow with, to be ‘Teacher’ for you in 2025.
Learn more details and sign-up here
(Space limited to 18)
All Wisdom traditions have a different name for the same thing: Your Inner Yes, Your Inner Teacher. The Knower. The Deeper Self– the Divine Self, our divine identity who's going through a human experience.
We will ask into the Whispers of the Holy for a Word to be given, to anchor your 2025.
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🌸 Something Lovely to Know About | Healing Vessel. Two Dates 2025.
Registration is now open for two Healing Vessels evenings
February 11 & April 8, 2025
Come Join Us! Healing Vessel is a beyond beautiful evening rich with gentle-beingness, meditative prayer, poetry, live harp music, energy healing and silence.
Together we weave a healing vessel that invites in the sacred, the elements of healing, and music in response to each person’s energy, opening the channels of awareness to support rest, relaxation, centering, and pain relief.
Space is limited: 9 people max.
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🌸 Something to Begin Anew | Reset your Health in 2025
My dear friend, Lynn Bednar, MS, CNS, LDN NUTRITIONIST. Not only a brilliant nutritionist who works 1:1 with clients, is the owner of Walsh Natural Health (an amazing store if you do not already know about it! Check it out in person or online.) is offering two programs to usher in your new year with health and wellbeing.
A 10-Day Detox 2025 (Virtual). Start the New Year With A Comprehensive Detox! Attend a kick-off program on Thursday, January 9th @ 7:00 PM and do the detox January 12th-21st, or any time frame that works best for you.Learn more & sign up here.
A 9-Week Health Reset (Virtual). Feel healthier, more energetic and develop sustainable habits for the New Year. Learn more & sign up here.
🌸 Two Closing Songs + 2024 Playlist | Playlist of Gratitude ✨
A Gratitude-treat to you. A compilation of the Metta Newsletter Music posted in 2024. Give a listen Metta Monday Music Playlist 2024 (70 tracks • 5 hours, 20 minutes). I am so deeply grateful to each of you here, for each read, each share, each offering of warmth and care bloomed over this past year.
Plus, two songs to close our 2024 together:
O Magnum Mysterium by VOCES8 (5:50 min).
This song was sent my way by my dear friend Leslye Colvin, Writer, Spiritual Companion & Contemplative Activist, and a beyond gem of a human being. Someone to know about. Someone to follow.
I listened and wept. Leslye shared in return to me, “Me too… I listened to it repeatedly, it literally brought me to tears. O Magnum Mysterium is a text from the Holy Matins of Christmas describing the wonderment of the animals as they gaze on Christ: “O great mystery and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in a manger!”
Give listen on YouTube here (5:50 min)
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H.E.R. Sings "The Journey" from Tyler Perry's The Six Triple Eight | Netflix (4:28 min)
“All the times you thought you'd never make it through
Felt just like the world just turned its back on you
Didn't stop you
All the times you could've given in, and given up
Times you didn't know if you were strong enough
Still you got through
Somehow it's all part of the plan
The journey…
…
It's the journey
It's the getting there to where you're going to
Going through hell, but still, you're gonna make it through
It's the fire that they can't put out inside
It's a hell of a ride!”
Give a listen on Spotify
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PS. It has been an incredible ride, this 2024.
May there be no holding back in 2025!
We are made too strong for that and when we go through our holy joys and holy sorrows together with our hearts wide, we can go further than ever dreamed possible.
— Wini
🌸 Thank you for being here! What an extraordinary year.
May your heart be full. Thank you for filling mine with your generosity, support and love.
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….Until next week. 💖 ✨
