1.26.2026. Refusing to Narrow
Hello dear Friends,
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it—always.”
— Gandhi
(The closing quote in Anne Lamott’s Substack post; a helpful read)
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“Oh my God, oh my God, he was only helping!” he screams, filming on his cell phone over the sound of whistles blaring and loud shouts. “OMG, what did you just do?!” He screams, “Oh my God!!!” as gunshots fire—ten shots—leaving Alex Pretti murdered, motionless on the ground. ICE agents continue to fire into his dead body. (See his parents' statement below.)
This is where we are now. I am sure you all here are watching, feeling the horror, the incredible pain, and the overwhelm, too. Citizens coldly killed. Yes, people are scared—beyond scared, there are no words—and the people in Minnesota are sharing videos. People are speaking out—holy amen! Ordinary people, like you and me, doing what they can. How can we not hear Elie Wiesel’s words here?
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe.”
We must not turn away from this world. My meditation teacher would always say, “You must be able to face the hard-difficult, watch both the horror, the terror, and the beauty of this life,” fiercely saying it is important not to shut our eyes or go numb in our hearts. “You must hear, be witness to the awful-awful, let it rub you below your skin. You must let it burn your heart open, burn you awake. This too is part of the path.”
As a practice, she would have us watch movies or news that was hard and painful to bear to help cultivate a stable internal ground—the skills of paying attention, one of the fruits of meditation—for exactly these moments: when horror is breathing its burning flames right next to us; when what we trusted as democracy, fair and true, is dissolving like what is happening in our country and outside our own front doors and lawns; and for the inevitable ruptures of being human—life “lifing” us—that gut us: a heart-wrenching divorce, a loved one’s death, an incurable cancer diagnosis, being unable to pay your rent, buy food, or pay your medical bills, the terror of the body and mind sick and aging, meeting our own death—all the losses of this life.
Today, grief is my heart and, yes, prayer. It is so clear, we must each do our own small and mighty part, whatever that may be. We must stay kind.
We must turn toward resources that gladden our hearts, widen us like the arms of a banyan tree, move us to beauty, and whisper wondrous into our bones. This is one act of resistance we can each do: refuse to let fear, bitterness, or the misuse of power narrow our hearts. I do believe that is the game plan here—the use of muscle power and intimidating fear in hopes that we, the people of the United States, will stay quiet and “play nice.” We all know the outcome of that already; it happened in Europe during the last century.
Right now, two profound marches are occurring simultaneously. I am watching both closely—maybe you are, too? There are thousands of people protesting in the streets of Minneapolis, walking with signs in the freezing cold, crying out for justice; and there are the 19 Buddhist monks now on day 92, walking in single file through the freezing cold, their feet crunching on snow-covered ground in North Carolina, crying out for peace.
Both are marching. Both are peace-walkers. Both are asking us to stay present to this human experience—the beauty and the terror. Both are living testimonies to the power and beauty of the horizontal current of energy that has been gaining momentum and coming into form on our planet since the turn of the millennium, moving us from a patriarchal (“power over”) to a matriarchal energy system.
This does not mean “gender-female.” Rather, it is an underlying force—a gridline of energy supporting human standing with human, where the qualities of mutual, collaborative communion, equality, equanimity, and compassion are the currency.
“If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.” — Joanna Macy
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Gratitude pouring & Happy New Year!
Love, Wini
PS …more goodness below, made with ♥️
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🌸 Two Poems. “Poetry can tell us what human beings are. It can tell us why we stumble and fall and how, miraculously, we can stand up.” ― Maya Angelou
WHAT THE NIGHT IS FOR | Jan Richardson
Oh my heart,
if we could cease working
on our sorrow
like we were trying
to stitch together
shattered glass.
This breaking
is not for fixing,
as though
if we could just find
the fitting tool,
everything would tumble
into its place,
joined and whole.
Perhaps it is time
to let the shards lie
where they have fallen.
Perhaps it is time
to let ourselves
sit and weep
over them.
And then perhaps
we scatter them—
into the soil,
into the sky,
it does not matter
where.
Let them take
their place.
Let them shimmer
like a constellation
in all that darkness—
sky-dark, soil-dark,
at home in that strange
and radiant solace
that knows
what the night
is for,
how it takes
the broken things
and sets them
shining
to light our way
from here.
Present | Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
I open the moment as if it were a box
and, shocked by the cruelty I find,
I want to close the lid.
Want to pretend I don’t see the tears,
don’t hear children screaming.
I want to not feel my own heart whacking
like a club inside my chest.
In the myth, Pandora closes the lid
on hope and keeps it locked in.
But more than I want to close the box,
I want to keep it open.
I want to stay with the ache.
I want to be with what is real.
What is real: I keep the box open.
What is real: There is no box.
What is real: Sometimes I fear
there is no hope left. And sometimes
when I am very still with what is,
hope flutters inside me. How?
I don’t know. But its small wings
open like prayer inside my breath.
🍃 In troubled times, when I do not know how to meet this spinning world, I turn toward our poets, the mystics, and our Dharma teachers. I take refuge in prayer and sacred texts. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is one of my go-to poets, a poet I rest into. Her latest book, The Unfolding—which is well worth a purchase—is a deep reservoir of words and silence, grief and beauty, sorrow and praise.
Here on my bedside table are a few other poets I am loving right now: James Crews, Andrea Gibson, and Kathleen Hirsch
And a book of prayer that I keep near, Barbara Mahony’s latest book, The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text
🌸 Three Quotes | Meister Eckhart. Andrea Gibson. Susan and Michael Pretti.
“The most important hour is always the present. The most significant person is always the one facing you. The most needed work is love” — Meister Eckhart
“I decided I was too soft to last. But then I decided to be even softer.” — Andrea Gibson
“We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.” — Susan and Michael Pretti: Statement from the family of Alex Pretti
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🌸 Two Tender Offerings | Two Books
Just Finished Reading: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. It is a gorgeous novel, her eighth book, but her first published book, I did not want to end. A book about grief and disappointment, a book about love and tender beauty. I read it for my book club and—here with both my hands up in the air—it’s a high recommend!
Katie Couric interviewed her (1:47:37 min) “at the end of the book it will cross you over to tears”, true, I cried, and I miss the letters of Sybil Van Antwerp. It is a great listen, on audible too.
Currently reading: The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully by Frank Ostaseski. I am reading and listening, too; to hear this incredible heart teacher read his own book is very powerful and moving. I am only just beginning, but here are the "Five Invitations" if you feel pulled:
Don’t wait. welcome everything; push away nothing.
Bring your whole self to the experience.
Find a place to rest in the middle of things.
Cultivate "don’t-know" mind.
“Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most.”
— Frank Ostaseski
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🌸🎶 Two Closing Songs | The Course & Madonna on the Curb
The Course (3:39 min) by Ayla Nereo, the words, who will be course, will it be your great grand-daughter/My darling/ Who'll fetch the water?/What will be it's course from the source– what we each carry for healing the ancestral lines, holy amen.
Madonna on the Curb (3:34 min) by Jonatha Brooke. May we not turn our eyes away from the women with babies begging on city curbs and exit ramps.
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🌸🙏 Dedicate Merit | In all Mystical traditions, there is a closing prayer – prayers of blessing, gratitude and protection.
“May you turn towards the teachers, poets, and mystics, and news reporters who are not for hire that nourish and gladden your heart.
May you find beauty, simple, a square patch of morning light on your bedroom wall.
May you rest into your own goodness, feel the beat of your own heart, miraculous and alive.
May you reach out to a sacred friend, send kindness and more love into our holy troubled world.
May all beings be safe and protected, this I wish for everyone. May we awaken fully in order to help all beings.”
– love, Wini
Have a blessed day 💖
🌸 PS. You can find all the newsletters archived on my website.
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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/
