So, it’s time I told you a secret…

When I was a little kid, I sucked my thumb… much to my parents’ dismay.

Mom tried to bribe me out of it. Dad was more of an ominous outcome sort. You know… everybody will laugh at you and you’ll have crooked teeth forever.

They meant well. It just didn’t feel good, or help much at the time!

Update… I do have crooked teeth which I’d bet is way more of a genetic thing than I could grasp when I was six.

And, I’m eternally grateful that I managed to quit on my own, long before I began scrubbing for the Vet in surgery, while I was in high school.

I still need help coping with anxiety sometimes. Kind of ironically, my hand-washing fetish kind of helps! And so does understanding things like neuro-linguistic processing and prayer dots.

At this particular moment in time, I’m glad to have choices because I am, in fact, pretty anxious about – you know – the future of the world.

You, clever reader, have already guessed that one of those strategies is prayer dots. Or dots of intention. And, I suspect my need for a place to make dots had something to do with my #workinprogress bear insisting on leaving her brown bear costume behind and claiming her inner Panda!

The photo, above, is where we were Tuesday night.

One secret before we go on… dots do not all need to be round!

Here’s where we were this afternoon, after a whole lot of news and ready for a nap…

I’m hearthtending today, in the Red Thread Cafe Classroom and suspect there will be more time for dots along the way. First, though, a moment for the curious counselor who lives inside me.

What if… maybe – just maybe – we helped our Littles learn some things that would help them manage the anxiety that comes naturally from the unknown, without shaming or blaming them for just trying to get through the day?

Some ways to use our feelings to create something em-power-ing where it seemed there was nothing. Kind of an Abracadabra kind of adventure…

That’s how this painting began. A recent booth at a book festival. A blank canvas. And a whole bunch of Littles thrilled to learn that they could think a word and make a dot and get just a bit closer to something they hoped for. And a bunch of open-minded Bigs, willing to learn along beside them.

I know… if you’ve been hanging around more than 10 minutes you’ve probably heard this message before. For me, it’s one of those as many times as it takes kind of things! And, there’s another secret thing hiding there next to the bear!

Yep… Filters!!! The whole pinky-purple, triangle shaped thing is a somewhat gentler representatin of the 2-3 Billion bits of information coming at me, and you, and all of us in any one moment.

And, the making of the dots is one effective strategy for coping with all of that. For me, it goes kind of like this…

A half hour of news.

Then, as many dots as I can make out of a puddle of paint about the size of a quarter. The fingerprint kind are easier on my wrist than the paintbrush kind, and more sensory, too.

And, yes… I’ll probably wear paint clothes with my Good Trouble button when the Legendary Husband and I set out for our hot date to vote on Friday.

My dots, of course, are for Hope! We Fiercely Compassionate Rebel Grandmothers are like that!

ps… one great way to introduce your Littles to the whole dot deal is with their very own copy of A Creation Poem… Just click here to order yours! (And, hurry! The ones in stock ship faster!)