A Therapist's Rant

Happy Halloween!
 Holiday humor…and distraction from reality. 🧙‍♀️

 This fall season as October ends and November and brings day light savings time and long dark nights with too much wind and rain, the government remains shut down, I will be making plans to take extra food to our local food bank, and giving extra money this year to Meals on Wheels, and The Salvation Army, and worrying about the mother’s who skip a meal or two today and tell you, don’t worry, they aren’t hungry, just to have enough to feed their kids tomorrow. Who in the world would manufacture a food crisis for its people in the richest country in the world by denying federal funds that have already been allocated to feed children, the elderly, and veterans. Deny them quality affordable health care, refusing them a descent good quality life whatever their color of skin. Or close down our Head Start programs across the nation. Really?!!! And then there’s the unconscionable and crippling government shutdown that’s hurting so many. I’ll stop there. And just say….

I’ve been that mother, we don’t stay hungry forever or for long, we fight for our education and our children’s education. We pay it back, pay it forward. We fiercely protect our families from harm at the same time. 

And we are Always grateful! Trust me!

Sooo…ya let’s enjoy a few minutes of distraction, give our kids some candy and have fun and then please… Go VOTE!

 Make a choice to get back to the business of working together for each other, not against each other! Channel your anger, your energy, in whatever way you feel it needs to be done to take personal responsibility to turn this on going incessant arguing and blaming into action and just get busy with the work at hand. To come together as neighbors to clean up this God awful mess that’s happening so rapidly before our eyes. Maybe some of us saw this train wreck coming or might have stepped away from it all. Or didn’t fully understood it because we trusted too much, while working too hard. Or perhaps turned away from it for self preservation or just because they believed differently. Or said out loud or to themselves, that won’t happen here, they can’t do…that. It doesn’t matter. 

What does matter now is that we continue to work peacefully together and in ways that build unifying communities. When we do this good work together we protect each other and demonstrate as a community that we do not tolerate our neighbors being terrorized. 

🧙‍♀️Rant completed from your local retired therapist. Up worrying at 4 am and writing for my own therapy on this Halloween. Anticipating and wondering what the inevitable sunrise will gift us today!

Always Grateful!🕯️🦉🙏🏽

Photo of Sunrise October 30, 2025. La Conner.

Shadow to Light

 

We enjoy walking along Austin Creek close by our place. If you look closely you might see or hear the great blue heron that flew up off the creek bed as I was photographing. We turn and walk along a path of old cedar trees. This peaceful environment is where we reflect and offer gratitude for the love that we are gifted with by so many in our lives. During these seemingly complicated and often frightening times we are living in now, reflecting on life’s small gifts with gratitude is an act of love in itself. 

Anne Lamott published a short article today that was an offering of hope. She said she learned from a friend to go stand in whatever small circle of light you can find when feeling overwhelmed. I liked that.

Step out of the shadow and into any small circle of light, offer up gratitude, widen the circle, brighten the light, fill it with a peaceful heart, caring arms of protection and healing and hopefulness and goodness and hold onto each other.