This year feels different – heavy, terrifying, enraging, yes – but instead of retreating, self-isolating and mourning, we are hungry for connection and community. We are taking stock of our resources. Some are limited, like our time on earth; others are boundless, like our capacity for giving and receiving love. How do we maximize and nurture goodness in the time we have right now?
Our 2025 Murmurations books are meant to guide us toward what matters, and help us recognize the quiet, mobilizing power of love in all its forms.
October 17th: The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
About the book: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.
As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”
As Elizabeth Gilbert writes, Robin Wall Kimmerer is “a great teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world.” The Serviceberry is an antidote to the broken relationships and misguided goals of our times, and a reminder that “hoarding won’t save us, all flourishing is mutual.”
Bring a snack or drink to share. Chill yoga and book discussion guided by Tanya Reynolds.
At Abide West at Willow Room Collective
15810 Detroit Ave, Lakewood, OH
Sliding Scale $5 - $30
for $5 use code MUR5
$10, MUR10
$15, MUR15
$20, MUR20
$25, MUR25