Once, a few years ago, a student came running into class in an extreme state of excitement saying, “Ms Weaver-Kreider! I just discovered something amazing! I always thought that flamingos were like unicorns or fairies, but I just found out that they’re real!”

What a delightful discovery! To learn that something you always thought was mythical and magical actually exists! The absolute epiphany of that. The hope. Yes, it is indeed truly amazing.

Last week Keri, one of my beloved niblings*, wrote to tell me that she’s been seeing that flamingo story in her own self as she explores her own deep truths, and finds out who she is. She told me recently that she feels like she’s finally learning to love herself, discovering who she really is, and finding that discovery extremely satisfying. She said she feels like the girl discovering that flamingos are real. This thing, this elusive thing, that she’d always imagined was possible but slightly mythical is actually real! What a delight!

When you are on a journey of self-discovery and inner exploration, new fantastical creatures like unicorns and flamingos keep popping into existence. What a poetically rich way of looking at it.

May you find your flamingos.
May you find your flamingos!

(*Nibling is the inclusive term for niece/nephew. I love it. Though every one of them is taller than me, some by more than a foot, they’ll always be my niblings.)

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Gratitude List:
1. We’re on the way out of the tunnel. If you don’t experience winter blues or sadness, if you love this season, it’s hard to describe. It’s not about hating the cold or the darkness. It’s being exhausted to your bones. It’s exhaustion at a cellular level. Weary. I am doing all the right things: light therapy, drinking the teas, sleeping a lot, exercising more, eating good protein and well-balanced meals, yoga, breathing, meditation, grounding. The only real cure is for the sun to come back. And we’re on the way there. This one sounds much more like a complaint, but I think the context is important to express how grateful I am to be on this side of the winter tunnel. Every day, a little more light.
2. My colleagues. Part of the reason I am eating well is that in January someone brings lunch for everyone every day. Part of the reason I am being really good about exercising is that we’re doing our January Step Challenge right now. Some of these people are really competitive, so I’m not sure I am a great asset to my team, but I am plugging along, and getting a lot more steps than I would otherwise, which is the point.
3. The ruby-crowned kinglet we saw on the balcony this week. Such a little bunting of a bird, with a tiny touch of red on its head.
4. Fountain pens
5. Flamingos. Both the actual birds, and the delightful inner discoveries.
May we walk in Beauty!

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“Solitude is not an absence of energy or action, as some believe, but is rather a boon of wild provisions transmitted to us from the soul. In ancient times, purposeful solitude was both palliative and preventative. It was used to heal fatigue and to prevent weariness. It was also used as an oracle, as a way of listening to the inner self to solicit advice and guidance otherwise impossible to hear in the din of daily life.” —Clarissa Pinkola Estes

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“No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.” —Elie Wiesel

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The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

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“In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.” —Wangari Maathai

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“Language helps develop life as surely as it reflects life. It is the most important part of the human condition.” —Jane Yolen

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“It is through beauty, poetry and visionary power that the world will be renewed.” —Maria Tatar

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“And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”
—William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”

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As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses
For the people hear us singing, bread and roses, bread and roses.

As we come marching, marching, we battle too, for men,
For they are in the struggle and together we shall win.
Our days shall not be sweated from birth until life closes,
Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread, but give us roses.

As we come marching, marching, un-numbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread,
Small art and love and beauty their trudging spirits knew
Yes, it is bread we. fight for, but we fight for roses, too.

As we go marching, marching, we’re standing proud and tall.
The rising of the women means the rising of us all.
No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life’s glories, bread and roses, bread and roses.
—James Oppenheim

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“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.

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“Be kind to yourself—especially when others are not yet ready to affirm your favorite parts. Love at least one person more than they deserve.” —Bishop Meghan Rohrer

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“We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own – indeed to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. Recognizing that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come.”
―Wangari Maathai