May 2026 – Page 2

This, as you may well have heard, is a therapist trick for helping folks get un-stuck. Specifically, it’s from the school of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The basics are simple… we behave, intentionally, as if our longed for feeling, outcome, or way of being is already ours.

Here’s a timely example… What would I do today if I wasn’t terrified by all the craziness in the world?

And, yes… me doing this – crunchy fingers on the key board, thinking of you, is one example! Words of perspective and hope in the midst of the crazy.

Here’s another example… push the button to trade news for Joan Baez and all my hippie-dippy summer camp song buddies! For real!!! (At the very least, it’s better for my blood pressure!)

I’m actually writing about this sort of “As If” in my upcoming Tweens/Teens book, too. You know… the difference between choosing and claiming our own beliefs -vs- feeling stuck with what THEY insisted we believe!

This is where things get complicated. THEY are not all the same! THEY have different desired outcomes! My mom was a THEY. Well, actually, she was a WE! And she firmly believed that the way WE stayed safe was by doing everything the way Granny did it. The way we’d always done it!

(Ironic that this post is insisting on appearing so close to the holiday known as Mothers’ Day!)

It took me a long time to realize how much of my lifetime, Mom spent being scared. We moved – a lot, while she had essentially lived in one home until she married. Her experience was that the way Granny did things worked.

Here’s what I learned along the way, though… it wasn’t really the fruitcake cookies that kept us (mostly) safe. Nor the notion that we didn’t talk about the things which should never have been happening. And, in this moment, I can only speak for me.

Acting as if I could do things differently than the way we’d always done some of the ones that really, really weren’t working is a big part of how I got here. And why spreading the word matters to me!

Or, as Carl Jung phrased it…

We are not what happened to us, we are what we wish to become!

So, here’s my question… if you did a bit of acting as if what you wish were already true, what might be more likely for you? What kind of mattering might begin happening???

And, yes… it’s going to take a whole bunch of us!

ps… don’t tell, but the shortbread cookies that come in the red plaid wrapping are pretty close to Granny’s butter cookies 😉 😉

pps… there are about 87 things in the portrait of Our Lady of Fiercely Compassionate Abundance that are NOT the way “we’ve” always done them… and they help! Wanna talk??? 45 min. My gift. Your dream. And some big possibilities for as if, now! You’ll want a cuppa, something to write on & with, and a bit of red thread if it’s handy! Just click here and the calendar elves will hook you up!

I learned a new thing this week. Well, ancient really, but new for me! You see, in all my years in school, we never covered Beltane! Just in case this is new for you, too… Beltane is also known as May Day, the ancient Gaelic festival marking the beginning of summer, especially in places like Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man.

And, yes, I have ancestors from those parts of the world.

The painting you see, above, from a couple of years back, was feeling chatty on Friday night and I could hear her in my dreams, even though she lives way out in the studio. Some research was in order!

First, though, the Moon. I love fingerprint dots… especially for elements of nature. I think it lets me imagine what Creators must have felt when they looked out on the Moon that first evening.

Then, the being. Her name is Isla which is Scottish for moonlight or halo.

Her hair insisted on being amethyst crystals, also made with fingerprint dots. Amethysts carry the energy of peace, clarity, and spiritual wisdom. Some consider them to be nature’s tranquilizer… soothing anxiety, enhancing intuition, and improving sleep. (And yes, I already found the biggest amethyst crystal in the house and placed it on the table beside my pillow!)

Then, there’s the crystal at her throat. Blue Kyanite is used in crystal healing for aligning all the chakras, aiding meditation, and enhancing communication. One source describes its power as helping to unblock, activate, and align our authentic voices. The biggest one I have sits by the chair where the writing happens!

Given the fact that the Legendary Husband and I had early-voted on Thursday afternoon, all that authentic voice stuff sure feels like it fits!

And you’re right, of course, if this conversation seems a bit far afield for a grandmotherly, USA public school educated nurse, teaching elder and pastoral counselor. Here’s the thing… I believe in learning new things. Even the really, really old kind! In fact, I’m working on a book chapter about the Dead Sea Scrolls and continuing to learn along the road. Continuing to learn and make choices!

For this moment, though, there’s a very important teal-colored line ready to join my #Apothecary painting and you can’t keep that kind of energy waiting!

This is one of those days when I’m pretty sure that creating is one of the very best ways to learn!

ps… my non-gmo, heirloom Mugwort seeds are making their way to the garden even now and, yes, there’s even more new learning going on! (Stay tuned!)

pps… there is, indeed, broth in the freezer which means it’s time to fire up the cauldron and make soup! Soup is magic, too! Ready for some magic in your world??? Just click here for my legendary secret formula! (I suspect you’ll love the title…)

Month: May 2026

Acting “As If…”

Of magic “they” didn’t cover in school…