09.29.2025. Pearls Under Everything
Hello dear Friends,
“We say we are trying to find our voice, but I think we are really trying to find our ears.”
– Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
What happens when you give your full attention to your heart and listen there, when you give your full listening ear and bear witness to another person's words, cares, and fears? Pearls.
Imagine a lengthy rope of pearls becoming undone, its silk thread breaking. Dozens upon dozens of perfectly round, luminous white balls begin to roll about, dropping widely in all directions—imagine the sight, what your body would feel! Perhaps laughter and wondrous joy would come loose too, watching Beauty—formed by irritation, by the friction of a grain of sand—unwind, run wild and free, under tables and chairs, into corners and curtains!
This past weekend with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer was such a movement of delight! Each person, in their beauty and sorrow, offered tender shares, words that spoke ‘true’ to tears, to the flesh of heart, and to prayers: Pearls.
Beauty is a voice thrumming under everything and it is called many things–words spilling on a page; words refusing to be contained; how we meet the blank page—all pearls of beauty.
Sisters who look like only sisters can, bonded by unbreakable heart threads, whose eyes gleam with tender, unspoken words: Pearls. Glimpses of what others have swallowed: Pearls. There is no right, only true. Tears are true: Pearls. You can swear: Pearls.
It is radical to listen, and then ask what else is here: More pearls. Obey the poem's emerging form. Play. If you know the ending, chop it off and begin anew: the pearl of Pearls. Be generous with yourself—offer the same grace and kindness you would a friend. Where a poem ends matters: this is the wisdom of ten thousand Pearls.
It matters where our life ends, too. “The last note is the flavor that sticks.” May we commit to the salty work of the oyster: let the hurt, irritation, and bitter's bite slip under our sealed shells, lodge its sharp shard into our soft tissue, and trust the slow-wrought work of tenderness and devotion, the luminous Beauty that forms our pearl-light. May love and kindness be the flavor that sticks.
“This too, sweetheart,” and “Oh, hello grief, broken, shy (whatever is here),”
are the pearls to remember how to be with ‘the all of it.’
🍃
Come Join Me Today *
We will begin our time with Calm-Abiding Meditation followed by a Metta Meditation Practice
Drop-in Meditation Monday
All are welcome; no prior experience is needed—just bring an open heart.
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM: Guided & Metta Meditation Practice
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Conversations on the Practice of Meditation
* New Temporary Location: 778 West Frontage Road, Suite 114, Northfield, IL
Donations are gratefully accepted.
Closing here in the heart beats of gratitude,
Love, Wini
Scroll below: Holy 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
Keeping Watch | Hafiz
In the morning
when I began to wake,
it happened again–
that feeling
that you, Beloved,
had stood over me all night
keeping watch,
that feeling
that as soon as I began to stir
you put your lips on my forehead
and lit the Holy Lamp
inside my heart.
For What Binds Us | Jane Hirshfield (Listen here)
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.
🍃 I have reread this poem again and again.
The scars of love, hitting me hard—I know, we each bear—
Flesh ripped open on the untrodden, lost, rough path to sacred union, to ‘loved’; The heart mended stronger, darker, and proud.
I know no other way.
🌸 Three Quotes | Joanna Macy. Alex Elle. Yann Martel.
“A human existence is considered to be incomparably precious because intention is so important and choice so consequential.” —Joanna Macy (if you would like to give a full read, from Tricycle Magazine, "Karma and the Energy of Will."
“There are seasons of life when it feels like joy has packed its bags and left, when grief is the only companion sitting at the table. When there’s no noise, just me, my thoughts, and the hum of the fridge. When these seasons arrive, I no longer run or hide. Instead, I pull up a chair, pour a cup of tea, and ask every ache in my heart, mind, and body to join me” –Alex Elle
“I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.” – Yann Martel, Life of Pi
🍃 Perhaps you know this 'fear' that longs to claim, feed on, and find your Achilles' heel—your softest, most gorgeous, vulnerable heart-spot. This is the place where fear goes for the jugular, holds nothing back, and throws its poison-pointed arrow with the intent to destroy. Yes, it attempts to take you out, kill off, your beauty, your voice, your light-offering to the world. And if not a direct hit—a bull's-eye to the center of your heart—it is happy that at least shattering damage is done.
What is the antidote to this wordless darkness? How do you stay strong?
You give it words; you name it. You bring it into form. You write. You call your spiritual-bestie, 'I-have-your-back' friend—and say, 'The opponent is dining on me for dinner, and I am believing its story to be true!' You make peace with fear by taking refuge with a friend, one who does not collude, and she or he kindly says, 'What is here, sweetheart?' You begin there: in communion, in words, in a holy peace, a strong amen.
🌸 Shop Here! | Lifting Women– MudGirls & Dorrie Papademetriou (will bring tears)
"Have you heard about MudGirls Studios? If you're always on the lookout for an exquisite, handcrafted gift with meaning—this is the place!
Come be inspired by founder Dorrie Papademetriou and this incredible nonprofit, which is literally making hope out of clay. Give a watch (4:21 min)
Yes, clay transforms into pottery, and in turn, transforms women’s lives. MudGirls Studios began in a women's homeless shelter and is now growing, empowering women facing adversity by offering them training, employment, and a pathway out of poverty through small-batch ceramic art, architectural tiles, gifts, and more.
Please support and learn about this incredible organization, and shop here for the holidays. Every item sold represents a step toward self-sufficiency, helping women reshape their futures. Watch this “You Matter” ceramic bowl get made, here.
"Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women"
— Maya Angelou
🍃
🌸 Something to Inspire | What Happens When You Listen to Your Heart?
Watch this remarkable TEDxWinnetkaWomen, Two Worlds of Wealth (16:38 min) about Susan Garcia Trieschmann, an Evanston resident, passionate about giving youth “throw-away kids” a second chance and helping them create a positive future for themselves and their families.
Susan shares here how she learned to listen with her heart. She founded Curt's Café, a non-profit organization and café in 2012 with the mission of providing job skills training, life skills, and employment opportunities for at-risk young adults, particularly those who have been involved with the juvenile justice system or are facing homelessness and other challenges.
A remarkable listen! An incredible woman to be inspired by, to inspire stitching your dream into the world too!
🍃
🌸 Closing Song 🎶 | The Heart Thunder: Kim Rosen, Wayne P. Sheehy, Chloe Goodchild, Jami Sieber, Jane Hirshfield
“I invite you to take 13 minutes to close your eyes
and let yourself be held, healed and awakened.”
– Kim Rosen, poet, spoken-word artist, and author of Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words.
For 25 years, Kim Rosen dreamed of this symphonic convergence of the gnostic gospel known as The Thunder: Perfect Mind with the final mantra of the Buddhist Heart Sutra, “Gaté gaté paragaté, parasamgaté bodhi svaha”.
“The Thunder: Perfect Mind” (excerpt), a gnostic gospel from the Nag Hammadi Library; English version/translation by Jane Hirshfield, available in Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, edited by Jane Hirshfield.
“Gate, Gate…”, is the concluding mantra of The Heart Sutra.
🎶 Listen on YouTube Here (13:14 min)
🍃
🌸 In all Mystical traditions, there is a closing prayer – prayers of blessing, gratitude and protection.
May wonder and not knowing the ending
be the true guide to your heart's ear.
May Beauty and kindness be your core muscles–,
softening your speech, strengthening your every action.
May you be sheltered, safe, and protected.
Have a blessed day,
Love, Wini 💖
🌸 Share the Light!
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Help spread this tender offer of kindness and care out into the world
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✨ may we bloom more Light.
💞 may we grow more Goodness for the healing of all.
🌎 may each of us stitch more heart-tenderness 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/
