07.07.2025. Parade Candy
Hello dear Friends,
No In-Person Metta Meditation Today
( On Retreat For a Few Days)
“It’s okay for the heart to be broken over the world. What else is a heart for?”
– Joanna Macy
“The tragedy unfolding in Central Texas—the flooding, the dozens killed, the many still missing—has left so
many of us feeling shaken.”
— Maria Shriver, Sunday Paper
Too Much Rain in Too Short a Time. 4 months' worth of rain fell in just hours. 12 children went missing, swept downstream. It was a girls' summer camp; the river overflowed in the blackness of night, rising 26 feet in 2 hours. How could they have known? This morning, the news showed 1987, the same river and a school bus of teens swamped by a wall of rainfall; the headline read: "Flash Flood Kills 10."
Breaking news buzzed on my phone—I froze watching the 5-year-old baton twirlers holding up the Fourth of July Parade—11 tight, red, white, and blue bowed buns prancing proudly down the middle of the candy-strewn Americana street. No one could take their eyes off them. We were all watching—us parade-goers—like we were waiting for parade candy, waiting to catch their joy.
What happened next is a blur, a slow-motion drop of tears—this sweetness and the tragedy, the unfolding news of the Central Texas Flooding, hundreds of miles mixing with the ache of this world. How can any of us digest this? Touch the horrific: the call, the police coming to your front door, your daughter, your son gone, missing. A parent's heart ripping. A nation's heart ripping on Independence Day.
A bow of gratitude–
Thankful we are here in this aching, tender world together,
Wini
Scroll Below–2 poems, 3 quotes, 1 sparkle closing song, and goodness between. Made with ♥️.
💌 Know someone who needs a little goodness for their heart? Please share! If this was forwarded to you, subscribe for your own copy
🌸 Two Poems to Share
Of Gravity & Angels | Jane Hirschfield
There are names for what binds us:
strong forces, weak forces.
Look around, you can see them
the skin that forms in a half-empty cup,
nails rusting into the places they join,
joints dovetailed on their own weight.
The way things stay so solidly
wherever they've been set down --
and gravity, scientists say, is weak.
And see how the flesh grows back
across a wound, with a great vehemence,
more strong
than the simple, untested surface before.
There's a name for it on horses,
when it comes back darker and raised: proud flesh,
as all flesh
is proud of its wounds, wears them
as honors given out after battle,
small triumphs pinned to the chest --
And when two people have loved each other
see how it is like a
scar between their bodies,
stronger, darker, and proud;
how the black cord makes of them a single fabric
that nothing can tear or mend.
Out In The Fields with God | Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday,
Among the fields, above the sea,
Among the winds at play;
Among the lowing of the herds,
The rustling of the trees;
Among the singing of the birds,
The humming of the bees.
The foolish fears of what may happen,
I cast them all away
Among the clover-scented grass,
Among the new-mown hay;
Among the rustling of the corn,
Where drowsy poppies nod,
Where ill thoughts die and good are born
Out in the fields with God.
🌸 Three Quotes | Marion Woodman. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. Joanna Macy.
“I am remembering, gathering together the prodigal parts of myself and welcoming them home.” — Marion Woodman, Bone: Dying into Life (one of my all time favorite books–by a wisdom elder of our time, a woman a head of her time, Marion Woodman)
“For those who have come to know God, the whole world is a prayer mat.” — Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
“The biggest gift you can give is to be absolutely present, and when you're worrying about whether you're hopeful or hopeless or pessimistic or optimistic, who cares? The main thing is that you're showing up, that you're here and that you're finding ever more capacity to love this world because it will not be healed without that. That was what is going to unleash our intelligence and our ingenuity and our solidarity for the healing of our world.”
🎶 Listen to Joanna Macy. If you're not familiar with her profound work, please take a moment to nestle into this short video: The Great Turning with Joanna Macy (11:48 min). You'll want to hang on her every word–the dying of old ways and the emergence of new ones, offering wisdom to us on how to accept what we cannot change and live through it—allowing our souls to stand at the wheel. We still have choice, we still have hope. Care. Curiosity and Courage. Be fully present in this world.
🎶And this interview will bring you to tears, along with her tears, Joanna Macy | What Could Possibly Go Right? (36:09 min)
“The sorrow, grief, and rage you feel is a measure of your humanity and your evolutionary maturity. As your heart breaks open there will be room for the world to heal."
— Joanna Macy
(I have heard Joanna Macy, 96 is not well, she has a chest infection. She is one of the most beloved wisdom elders-teachers of our day, send a prayer.)
🌿
🌸 Sign Up ✍️ | 4 Spots Open. Healing Vessel Tuesday, August 12.
If you'd like to attend the final Healing Vessel (for now, until I find a new space), reach out and let Gina know. As you know, it fills up fast and space is limited.
Date: Tuesday, August 12, 6-8:30pm.
Go to my website to learn more.
✨ I need to relocate my office and meditation space by August 31st. If you know of a lovely space, please share with me!
🌸 Closing Songs 🎶 | The Sparkle Song by Florist
It is a sweet song to close this newsletter with– give a listen. Florist is an indie folk band formed in 2013 and led by singer-songwriter Emily Sprague.
Lyrics:
Sparkles in the morning
Today the sun is hiding
You look out the window
I hope that you see something pretty
Isn’t it amazing
That we get to share this life
In all Mystical traditions, it is a great practice to close your practice, your day, your sacred offerings with chants and prayers of blessing, gratitude and protection.
"May you take refuge in the quiet of your heart,
let the ache of this world open you.
May you rest into the Holy's landscape of warmth and care,
Let it guide and protect you.
May you love this world as it is—
full of the glorious and horrific, the medicine needed for the heart.
May all beings be safe and protected."
Have a blessed day,
Love, Wini 💖
🌸 Share & Support Metta
Thank you for being part of this community. 💌 If Metta brings light to your inbox, please share it with a friend who needs a dose of tender kindness and care.
Enjoying Metta?
Your small donation helps me illuminate our precious world with more light.
✨ may we bloom more Light together.
💞 may we grow more Goodness for the healing of all
🌎 may we stitch more heart-tenderness into the fabric of our planet.
*Venmo : https://venmo.com/u/Winifred-Nimrod
Zelle: wininim@gmail.com or 847.312.9313
….Until next week. 💖 ✨
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.
- Mary Oliver
