04.20.2026. Ministry of Tender
Hello dear Friends,
“There are two ways to approach inner work: you can start from the assumption that something is broken and needs fixing, or you can start from the possibility that something is whole and has simply gone unrecognized.”
– Cortland Dahl
🍃
On the way to my front door, the hundred-limbed, fluted Eastern redbud stands, a thousand pearls dangle, an unnameable fuchsia pink. My dead mother’s favorite color. These jewels smack me like a Zen master’s encouraging flat wooden stick, wake me from my habituated nod to sleep, wake me to another unnameable—this song, spring’s sound. Yes, birds—and this, this quiet utter of green blades of grass, of trees, of worms and sugar ants, of dark loam, of blue-green narrow daffodil leaves standing in an upward rising of praise and a downward rooting of prayer.
I stand there, stopped, holding breath—not even aware I’m crying until I feel drops; water hits my chest. Confused by empty sky, my tongue licks my cheek. My lips touch this taste of sweet, an ancient salt I know as intimate as prayer.
I watch tears spread and stain my shirt. Let each tear open me like a strand of freshwater pearls breaking loose. Unashamed pink rolls into a run, free across my heart, generous over this earth, not finding a corner to stop.
"Tears are prayers too, they travel to God when you can't find the words."
– Rumi
In these strange times, I sit and wonder why these thousands of tiny, pearl-shaped blooms, rosy and pink, come as heavenly messengers today. I hear, “And why not?”
Research tells us that "flourishing is contagious." We know this to be true. When we are stopped by a clump of bluebells in the woods of our life or on the side of the road, they catch our heart. We are stopped by the sound of poems, prayers, and peeper frogs serenading the bone-black night—the ministry of tenderness in vibration and words— we open. Our breath lengthens, our front body softens, and—if only for one revelatory, fleeting moment—we touch the large-quiet greatness of our aliveness.
We encounter this in other human beings, too. Like catching a beloved friend's or lover’s cold, flourishing human beings—awake and intimate with the gorgeousness of their heart—are contagious. They spark our spark, encourage us from bud to wide bloom, inspire us to see that everything is possible!
Us complex and tender human beings are very much like houseplants, or the in-bloom eastern redbud tree in my front yard, or a forest of trees; we resonate, rise and rotate towards the highest frequency of energy in the room. Something innately inside of us knows how to grow towards the Light, towards the warming sun.
We flourish around others who stand strong in their back body and soft and open in their front too; those who follow what is their true and holy bloom to do, and let go of what is not.
Much like we saw this week in Pope Leo XIV's clean and unshakeable rise in response to the AI-generated image by the President of the United States depicting himself as Jesus—this struck me! This standing, this flourishing in peaceful resistance and speech, devoted to the generous palette of the heart, to the unwavering messages of our kinship, of love, and how to human better — this is contagious!
“Blessed are the peacemakers. The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters.”
– Pope Leo XIV
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There is no in-person Mindfulness and Metta Meditation Practice today.
I am off leading a retreat, Microdoses of Love for Your Nervous System, with two of my dearest, Courtney Riley and Megan Dunne Krouse, and the thirty beautiful souls taking slow time, breathing into active rest with us.
Enjoy the rest of this Monday Letter, poems, quotes, and links, a joyous time letting it birth through. Closing in warmth and care, a heart of gratitude.
And so thankful we are in this complex time together.
Love, Wini
PS: ♥️ and this closing song here ... oh my, holy amen, not to miss!
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🌸 Two Poems. “Why one writes is a question I can answer easily, having so often asked it of myself. I believe one writes because one has to create a world in which one can live.” — Anaïs Nin
How Beautiful the Beloved | Gregory Orr
The secret of life
Is love, which casts its wing
Over all suffering, which takes
In its arms the hurt child,
Which rises green from the fallen seed.
It’s not magic; it isn’t a trick.
Every breath is a resurrection.
And when we hear the poem
Which is the world, when our eyes
Gaze at the beloved’s body,
We’re reborn in all the sacred parts
Of our own bodies: the heart
Contracts, the brain
Releases its shower
Of sparks, and the tear
Embarks on its pilgrimage
Down the cheek to meet
The smiling mouth.
I know the truth! Renounce all others! | Marina Tsvetaeva
I know the truth — give up all other truths!
No need for people anywhere on earth to struggle.
Look — it is evening, look, it is nearly night:
what do you speak of, poets, lovers, generals?
The wind is level now, the earth is wet with dew,
the storm of stars in the sky will turn to quiet.
And soon all of us will sleep under the earth, we
who never let each other sleep above it.
🍃 This poem so poignant for today, written during World War I.
Marina Tsvetaeva was born in Moscow and published her first collection of poems at the age of 18. She is considered to be one of the most renowned poets of 20th-century Russia. Her life is one of intense loss and tragedy. “What she left behind was her poetry: poems full of passion, emotion and yearning; poems about love; and poems about the devastation of a country—and devastation of a life.”
This short video (6:24 min) introduces you to her work, her life, then there are more beautiful offerings to dive into.
🌸 Three Quotes | Katherine May. Mirabai Starr. Rainer Maria Rilke.
“I don’t want to sit like a brooding hen on the nest of my past achievements. I want to keep on going deep into the uncertain act of making, to see the unknown world stretch out before me and to devote myself to exploring it.”
―Katherine May, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
“The Way of Love can be harrowing. It is not a path of convenience. It requires vigilance and discipline to speak for the voiceless, and courage to accept the consequences of ringing the bells that break the spell of complacency. Yet the fruits of such action are sweet. They are wild fruits, and they yield in abundance—enough to feed a whole kingdom, right here on earth.”
“For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.”
🍃 If you are longing to take a deep dive into Rilke, Mark Burrows is an exquisite teacher and translator of his work.
Listen here for this introduction to Mark and Rainer Maria Rilke (4:16 min)
✍️Sign Up For Healing Vessel | An Evening of Sacred Rest, Beneath the Noise
What are you doing on Wednesday evening, May 6?
I am excited to share that Julie Fedeli, Margaret Pasquesi, and I are gathering again to hold the first Healing Vessel in my new office space. Come join us! It’s truly a gorgeous evening of care—of harp music and heart.
This evening is designed as a sanctuary time—a "vessel" where you are not required to do, achieve, or fix anything. You are simply invited to slow down, to listen, and to be; to let silence nourish the soul and to rest into the velvet-smooth whispers of your own heart.
Event Details (Limited to 10 people):
Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Location: 778 W. Frontage Road, Suite 111, Northfield, IL
Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
to speak your
name.
— Thomas Merton
🌸 Closing Song | A Taste, A Song Playing Today "Microdoses of Love” Retreat
May we each rise, a thousand times, a day, in spite of the ache, a holy lyric for our world today:
“all we need is hope/And for that we have each other/And we will rise”
🎧 Rise Up by by Andra Day (2:54 min)
Listen on Spotify, or on YouTube here (4:56 min)
🌸🙏Dedicate Merit | In all Mystical traditions, there is a closing prayer – prayers of blessing, gratitude and protection.
May your heart be opened, hand on chest, press in ‘open’.
May you stand in your holy task, small or large, ‘stand’ – it’s time, our aching world needs our light.
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 sparks of tender-goodness please consider offering your 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. 💖 ✨
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Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.
- Mary Oliver
Website:https://www.wininimrod.com/
