Anxiety is part of being human. Sometimes it arrives as a quiet hum in the background, and other times it feels like it’s taking up all the space in the room. It’s not proof that something is “wrong” with you—it’s a signal from your body and mind that they’re carrying a lot.

Here are some ways to meet anxiety with presence and kindness.

When I reflect on the way I engage with clients, I am deeply guided by principles that sustain a journey of healing, empowerment, and true embodiment. These are values I hold close—values that align beautifully with the core values of Leslie Reiki.

There are moments in life when the ground beneath our feet seems to shift. A job changes, a relationship ends, a new phase begins, or the world around us reveals itself to be more unpredictable than we realized. And in those moments, the steady rhythm we’ve come to rely on can fall silent.

Anxiety rushes in like a tide.

It’s not always loud. Sometimes it hums just beneath the surface—tight shoulders, shallow breath, a foggy mind trying to grasp something solid. Other times, it crackles like static, making it hard to concentrate or sleep. It can come with a litany of “what ifs,” or a hollow sense that something is wrong, even if you can’t name what.

In pulling cards this morning, I received a message of freedom. When I’m working on particular themes or patterns, I often receive confirmation via oracle/tarot card pulls. As it happens, Freedom is my word for 2025. I don’t ever sit down with an intention to choose a word. Often times, the word or phrase will make itself known in meditation, dream state, oracle readings etc. If I don’t acknowledge it or work with it, the messages can become more frequent or insistent. The part of this message that really stood out for me was this: “select meanings that empower you”. It sounds simple, right? When we take moments of quiet or stillness, it’s much more obvious which patterns we are following out of habit or embedded neural grooves.

What do you want your default patterns to look like? Feel like?

I’m writing this the day before the Presidential Election in the US. As a sensitive soul, I have approached this week with a view to providing as much safety, comfort, and goodness that I can. I’m also acutely aware of how much privilege I have to decide I’m not going to watch the returns.

I’m also feeling incredibly raw today. Big emotions, lots of tears, a bit of fear, and a whole lot of gratitude for some amazing communities in which I participate. I don’t have much of a point of sharing this except to say, I see you, I love you, and if life is hard for you right now, be gentle, be open to receive, and show up in whatever way you can.

Our messenger pal, Mercury, gets a bad wrap. Every time we get ready to head into a Mercury Retrograde period, all of the memes and moans of despair surface. Oh no!!!! Everything is about to go to shit!

I call bullshit! Is it fun? No, not always, but Mercury truly assists us by calling attention to that which needs revisiting, reviewing, refining, or retuning. How can you navigate this next retrograde period from August 4th-28th?

Allowing, Grace, Fail Forward, Perfectly Imperfect.

What do you feel when reading those words? If you’re anything like me I usually tense up. I’m not sure where I got my exaggerated fear of failure from, but I do know that I’ve been working on it, with it, and attempting to be curious about it. I absolutely love learning so I’m not so sure how failing would upset me when it just presents another learning opportunity.

About a year ago, I started sharing photos I had taken with the #momentofbeauty on my FB Biz Page. It wasn’t to deny all of the seriousness going on in the world but to give moments to allow appreciation for what is good and right in a sea of overwhelming ugliness.

I have used these photos as a bit of meditation for myself. I am one of those highly sensitive people that does not watch the news as I have a very difficult time shaking off all of the sorrow. Seeking out moments of beauty helps me to stay in balance so that I may be a more effective ally wherever and whenever possible.

Blog Post 10 on Day 11 of Effy Wild’s Artfully Wild Blog Along. I have a bunch of Oracle Decks. I mean A BUNCH. (Shhhhhh, don’t tell Hubby but I bought another one today). I also have some Tarot decks.

I typically prefer using Oracle decks when reading for myself and others. I find their messages to be a bit more “gentle” than Tarot. I do have a few decks that I go to if I’m needing more of a “wake-up or no bs” type reading and others that I use as more like writing prompts for my morning meditation.

As I sat down to write my post for Day 8 of Effy Wild’s Artfully Wild Blog Along, a few ideas popped into my head. As I pondered, I began to think that the first two ideas that came to mind felt too “heavy” for my mood tonight. I set them aside and tried to think of a topic that felt ridiculously simplistic. Then it hit me.

What is your blogging process?