03.02.2026. Hope Insists
Hello dear Friends,
“There is another alphabet, whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky.”
— Dejan Stojanovic
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Isn't it a surprise how, in this world aching with brokenness, hope never does die? How hope is a sermon with wings. Is a bird—as Emily Dickinson writes—that perches in the soul, sits in our soft bodies, and sings and sings and sings, even through the horrible, hard storms. This never stops to stun me, summon me to the Sacred.
The news in our nation each week is turbulent. The seams of our world are unraveling, and— hope still beats her wings.
February still released her long-held-in breath; the smells of spring still seep upward from the frost-covered ground. Flocks of snowdrops—small white flowers with wings, the first flowers to break hard ground—will soon bloom unabashedly, regardless of the erratic weather, the newsfeeds, or the algorithms designed to give us more of what we want to hear, further divide us, and sow fear.
Flocks of everyday, ordinary people—angels with unseen wings—will continue to band together, stand for what matters, bloom songs and poems, hold open doors, and offer small, generous acts of kindness. This is what the heartbeat of humanity, what hope does: it insists. It is "the tune without the words—that never stops—at all."
Hope recognizes itself in another. It sparks inspiration!
Through the work of neuroscientists Richard Davidson and Cortland Dahl at the Center for Healthy Minds, we are learning that to live a flourishing life, "Inspiration" is the first foundation. Their decades of research show that inspiration is a skill. Holy amen—this is infectious news!
Yes, it starts initially with a spark. We meet someone; we love their mojo, their Light, their warm-hearted goodness. A wide ‘yes, yes’ ripples out from our chest. An interest is sparked; they are an inspiration, a role model. We want ‘this’.
This inspiration breathes hope—a chance. But there is an unseen glitch: the nature of a spark is that it fades. Like any relationship, sparks too need to be fed. If not, before you know it, the slip of "time" will have dined on your sincere enthusiasm, and your incorruptible hope rolls back—tucks in, way, way under your ribcage to protect its sacred song.
This brilliant, kind understanding of inspiration—its origins rooted in the Latin inspirare, "to blow into, breathe upon"—as a skill, as a practice unto itself like meditation, going to the gym, or brushing your teeth before bed, offers us care. We can grow this muscle of inspiration with repetitive sparks. Dahl says:
“Inspiration needs to be fed—a million sparks. Inspiration needs to be viewed like a practice unto itself; it's like keeping gas in our cars versus filling up once. And then what happens? This is the blind spot: inspiration fades. Bursts of enthusiasm die.”
Imagine this world with a million sparks aflame, dazzling as the night sky peppered with stars, or a field on a warm summer evening blinking alive with a million fireflies. What if we fully live from our spark—keep this flame in our hearts fed—and in turn kindle others' sparks, knowing this is how we and the world will flourish.
This alone is an act of resistance, an act of peace, medicine in dark, fractured times—perhaps this is our most holy, sacred task to be "light-sparkers." This is the world I see. This is the world I bone-know, even though I may never see it fully actualized in my lifetime—this is hope’s song. This is Mystery, loves strike, spark to spark!
“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”
— L.R. Knost
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Gratitude, always.
Love, Wini
PS: More goodness below—two poems, three quotes, and things in between to inspire the heart. And, TWO closing songs!!! Always made with ♥️.
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🌸 Two Poems. “Every new poem is like finding a new bride. Words are so erotic, they never tire of their coupling.”― Stanley Kunitz
The Place Where We Are Right | Yehuda Amichai
From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.
The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard.
But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.
Getting to Know I Don't Know | Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Sometimes, too certain I know what love is,
I miss love.
It’s like thinking water is waves,
not seeing water is also the depths of ocean,
the muscle of river, the body, the air,
ice, snow, fog, clouds, mist.
Sometimes, longing to hear certain words,
I neglect to hear the words that are spoken.
Or craving a certain touch, I disregard
all other touch, and my skin believes it is starving.
There is beauty beyond beauty, love beyond love,
opening beyond opening, an apple inside apple.
Let my prayer be I don’t know.
Let me find the door inside the door,
the glimmer inside the glimmer,
the human inside this woman.
The god inside of god.
🌸 Three Quotes | Kate Bowler. Margaret Renkl. Etty Hillesum.
"Let grace go first. Let it carve a path, however small, and show that even the tiniest efforts can multiply in love."
— Kate Bowler, The Everything Happens Podcast
“Tonight the black sky is spitting out ice, and the green sap rising will likewise turn to ice in the dark. Some of these frail green things will be blasted forever, but most will live. Life is what life does. We, too, will live. In the morning we will wake and rejoice, for we are once more among the living.”
―Margaret Renkl, The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year
“Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.”
— Etty Hillesum, "Who is Etty Hillesum and why should you read her?" (8:34 min)
🌸 One-Day Retreat | The "Microdose of Love" with Courtney, Megan & Wini
“The work begins with you and your inner landscape.”
Reset, Restore & Rise: Spring Renewal in Uncertain Times: If you’ve been feeling the weight of the world lately, consider this your invitation to exhale. Join us on April 20th to Reset, Restore, and Rise. Think of it as a day-long microdose of love for your nervous system.
Check out the full details here. Space is limited to 30 beautiful souls. We invite you to claim your space. We can't wait to be with you, spark each other's beauty, hold space for you.
🗓️ Monday, April 20 | 9am - 4pm
🌿 Elawa Farms, Lake Forest, IL
🕊️ We offer a sliding scale of 3 fees to support our community.
💌 To join us, please Venmo or Zelle your payment to Courtney.
“The work is to become gentler and more compassionate despite the troubles plaguing the planet. That is true strength, and that is what begins to turn the tides to love.”
– Jack Kornfield
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🌸🎶 Two Closing Songs | Music for Hope In Uncertain Times
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers (Emily Dickinson) - Namoli Brennet and Amy Protscher. Beautiful. A poem in song needed for our troubled times. Give a listen (3:21 min)
"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the Gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I 've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Allison Russell - Superlover ft. Annie Lennox “I don’t know how to pray so I offer up this song… This song is a prayer, a protection spell, a plea. This song is a belief. And a question. Are you a Superlover? Give a Listen (5:09 min)
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🌸🙏 Dedicate Merit | In all Mystical traditions, there is a closing prayer – prayers of blessing, gratitude and protection.
“May you feel your song of hope—a heartbeat against your ribs—reminding you that you are Love, a divine spark of the Beloved.
When the seams of the world feel unraveled, may you find the courage to bloom unabashedly, just like the snowdrops breaking through the frost.
May all beings be safe and protected; this I wish for everyone.
May we awaken fully to help all beings.”
– love, Wini
Have a blessed day 💖
🌸 PS. You can find all the newsletters archived on my website.
These newsletters will always be free—and if you appreciate receiving these weekly offerings grounded in tender-goodness please consider offering support through Buy Me a Coffee, 🌸 venmo (Winifred-Nimrod) 🌸 or zelle (wininim@gmail.com) 🌸
Thank you, I am a one-woman, two-finger typing, unfolding her thousand-petal bloom.
✨ May we bloom more Light.
💞 May we grow more Goodness for the healing of all.
🌎 May each of us thread our heart-tenderness, our Beauty, into the fabric of our planet.
….Until next week. 💖 ✨
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.
- Mary Oliver
Website: https://www.wininimrod.com/
