Tag: stress

Q&A: Vibe Check

Q: I keep getting this feeling that something is wrong, but I can’t figure out what. It reminds me of how I felt right before the pandemic hit. Does this mean something terrible is going to happen again?

A: I dunno. Maybe

We’ve all heard/read my rant about how I can’t predict the future and neither can bits of cardboard with pictures on them a dozen different times….

At the same time, I hear you.

Depending on your political point of view, arguably something terrible IS happening. Multiple things. Really bad things.

That alone is enough to give anyone the creeps and make you feel like everything is just …. off.

The card is the Wheel. Some decks call it the Wheel of Fortune. If you look at it through an old school, predictive lens it gets very fatalistic, hopeless, victim of circumstance-y very quickly. I think the real message here is CHANGE.

Today’s card is drawing a little from the Moon card (natural cycles) and a little from the Death card (big permanent changes) but the emphasis is on change.

You are allowed to be in a bad mood. You are allowed to be tired, or worried or uncomfortable – regardless of whether you have a reason or a cause or not.

No, you shouldn’t write it off. Your instincts might be trying to tell you something. Inexplicable fears and worries might be our intuition giving us the heads up that we missed something. Use this as a cue to take another look, see if you can find a reason for this feeling that you missed before.

Writing off these feelings of unease or trying to get rid of it might not be the best idea, but neither do you have to live with it forever.

Some of my favorite second-look, figure out this weirdness strategies are very simple.

Probably the least fun one is to just let it happen. I forget who said it (Dan Harris quoting someone else maybe??) but as a general rule of thumb, emotions are very short-lived. Like 90 seconds short. That seems a bit rapid – fire to me. An emotional funk can haunt you for hours, or off and on for a day or two at the very longest. But normally, it is time limited thing. Let it come, let it go, learn from it, this too will pass. Remembering it is temporary is sometimes all it takes to turn down the intensity of worry.

One the most useful things is to make a plan for whatever is worrying you. We are living through the enshittification of life as we knew it, and it is impossible to plan in the middle of chaos, but any little bit helps. Decide what you want for lunch tomorrow. Check in with a friend, ask a family member how they are doing…anything. The Buddhists got that one right – action (and action plans) really do ease anxiety.

You mentioned COVID…

I think that’s your answer. NOT that another pandemic is coming, but remember when we talked about resonance? Remember how we said energy sensitive people can vibe so strongly with the energy environment that it feels like the fear and worry is their own and not a by-product of the energy soup we swim in every day? Just like pollen can get in your hair from just walking around outside, you can stuck energy muck too.

One of the things this feeling of unease is asking to figure out is whether the source is you, or your resonance.

Try this.

Sit cross -legged on the floor or if you are in a chair, cross your ankles. Then lace your fingers together. This seals and strengthens your individual energy on a grounded, physical level.

Now, lets bring imagination online to help your mental and emotional energies a little. Imagine you are sitting in the middle of a force field or a clear crystal ball. Get comfy in your mental hamster ball of invincibility. If it helps, decorate that mental space with things that usually make you feel happy and empowered – put symbols on the sphere, see a mug of coffee beside you, play heavy metal music – whatever you like.

Now, with that posture and those images mentally in place….what does that do to the feelings of dread and worry? Are they still there or are you pleasantly surprised to learn “HEY! IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPY IN HERE!!”

If this mental & emotional shielding exercise dials that worrisome feeling WAY down, chances are it is a function of resonance. Take a hot shower, or whatever other grounding, centering, clearing things that you like to do. My hunch is that a nice long shower with a clear-your-energy intention might just do the trick.

If the worry is coming from inside the force field, if it is inside the house so to speak…then it is back to understanding an action-planning. THAT is when an ‘action eases anxiety’ tarot layout might help.

Either way, no, this doesn’t mean something terrible is about to happen. Yes, it does mean your emotions are asking you for some attention. Either way, this vibe checks with the message I’ve heard from so many sources about the solar eclipse today, and this early August season in general: stop, watch, understand then act after the energy – um- changes on the other side of the eclipse. The mood will change, always, but you can shield and check the vibes any time you need to.

Take good care of yourself.

Thanks!

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Today’s Tarot: OK Is OK

It’s ok to be ok.

We’ve had a stressful week here in the US. Even I thought we were going to all die in a flash of mutually assured nuclear destruction at the hands of the republicans. (BTW – this is a personal opinion blog and not a public business. As of today, if you are a Republican, support Republicans, want bipartisan cooperation with Republicans, are Chistian evangelical, are Christian nationalist, racist, or any variety of bigot please f**k right the hell off. That energy is not welcome here.)

THAT being said, today is a good day for a shift in focus. Things have been very yang, very outward, very existential crisis lately. It’s ok to turn off the big world news, pull in your energies and focus on you, your immediate personal space for a minute.

You…yes, you. Take just a moment away from the screen. Look around you.

So, how is it? Are you out of the weather? Hungry? Thirsty? Warm/cool enough? Sitting or standing comfortably? Is the room literally on fire? Are you in any immediate danger?

If not, take a deep breath. It’s ok to be ok for a minute.

Sometimes the best dream to chase is being OK with things as they are right here, right now. It is a dream that is forever already true.

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ADA (action dissolves anxiety) Tarot 001

Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee (or tea or adult beverage or whatever you have this time of day) – Action Dissolves Anxiety

Thank you for watching the very first ADA (Action Dissolves Anxiety) Tarot post here on Sage Sips. This feels like the reading layout we need.

If you find this new style of reading helpful please support Sage Sips blog on Ko-fi. Private readings, memberships and virtual coffees all support this always-free to read blog.

Left (what it is, current situation, current energy environment): The Stork – change, upheaval, cycles, deep cleaning

Right (what to do, a good next step): The Tree – Your stability depends on your growth. Increase your awareness, presence, and spiritual center of gravity. Be deliberate. Don’t sleepwalk through the chaos. Do what you can with what you have to grow, to put down roots, to stabilize things as best as you can.

Deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Christopher Butler copyright 2021 all right resserved. Used with permission via https://www.llewellyn.com/about/permissions_tarot (free tarot education, electronic tarot readings)

How Do I Get Through Today?

Go with your first impulse or pause the video to think about which card feels right to you. Restart the video to see the reveal and get your reading below.

Sometimes ‘one day at a time’ becomes one minute at a time, one breath, one moment at a time. Step by step, moment by moment, wherever there is life, there is hope. Even the smallest light can make the darkness step back. Shine your light or at least try to borrow some light from the words of others and darkness retreats – always.

PAGE OF CUPS: Find your comfort. Embrace the thing that gives you whatever tiny bit of comfort that you can, now matter how small or seemingly silly. Emotional support corn chips? Stanley-style comfort bucket? Knit a blanket? Stare at a fish in a cup? Whatever it is that gives a moment of respite is the thing that is needed now.

Cups cards are tied to emotions, intuition and the element of water. There is an element of “let the heart lead” if you felt drawn to this card. Whatever your emotions are today, they are valid and natural. As they bubble up, identify them, accept them, deal with them and release them at your own pace and in your own time. A key emotion today is compassion for yourself, just as much as everyone else.

THREE OF SWORDS: It is just as bad as it seems, but remember that action dilutes anxiety. Formulate a clear-headed plan. Just having a plan about what to do next can help, even if that isn’t what actually happens. Taking action and doing something, anything productive can help. Every little bit counts. Take a deep breath. There. You have it. That’s a win right there.

Swords are about both intellect and action. If you feel drawn to this card, it is a hint to let your head rule your heart for the moment. Emotions are raw, nerves are on edge. Setting and protecting your boundaries is important. Swords protect as well as attack – protect your peace.

Sage Sips blog and YouTube channel are not monetized. Support these public readings through memberships and private readings on Ko-fi. Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!

Holding Peaceful Space part 2

Nine of Wands and Holding Space continues

Two threads are better than one

Hello and welcome to Sage’s Short Sip Tarot where we contemplate Tarot in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today we are picking up on a second thread of meaning that parallels the meanings we talked about in the Hold Peaceful Space post and episode.

Please feel free to go back to that part of this Nine of Wands reading at the link above or in the podcast episode menu.

Today, instead of thinking about the space within, the nine of wands asks us to think a little bit about the boundary that defines that space.

Last time we talked about the tone and energy and environment of a space, be it a physical space or mental one. The two are parallel. Think of a literal room. If it is cold and noisy and missing a window, would you want to spend the night there? The same is true of our mental and emotional spaces. You might be in a literal unpleasant space but still hold a warm peaceful place within. It isn’t easy, but sometimes one can lead to the other. An inviting and comfortable literal space supports a happy, confident mindset. A happy, whole, and peaceful mindset supports creating a better literal situation. Nature abhors a vacuum and will fill whatever kind of space you hold accordingly.

But you can’t hold or create any space at all without some sort of boundary. A teacup is the classic Zen example. Without its sides, the teacup doesn’t exist. A teacup needs substance, like wood or ceramic. A teacup made from rice paper isn’t going to work for very long. Yet, almost paradoxically, it is the empty space that the teacup bounds and defines and holds that makes the teacup what it is. The space it holds in essence and function defines the teacup. No empty space, no room for tea and it’s not a cup. Only the empty teacup that is holding space can be filled with tea.

That was the main message. The undercurrent of energy, focused on the cup holding the space instead of the space itself.

For an intuitive, energy sensitive person sometimes the teacup is thin to the point of not knowing where the tea begins and air around it ends. To a very sensitive person it’s all tea. For anyone, if the boundary is damaged, the tea is drained away.

I’ve been working with cards and intuition since the early 1990s and reading Tarot professionally for almost – good gravy – twenty years now. In my experience, Tarot clients are an intuitive and energy sensitive group of people. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have been drawn to Tarot in the first place. It takes some modicum of intuition and insight to be able to use Tarot for the inspiration, comfort, personal growth and creative problem solving that Tarot was always intended to provide. (We’ll save my ranting about predicting the future for another day.)

Because of that inherent sensitivity, I did readings with some really uncomfortable people in late 2019 and 2020. Many had a vague sense of something wrong, but couldn’t quite figure out what. Other people felt overwhelmed by one specific thing, but the feeling was stronger than usual for the situation. All sorts of things came to the Tarot Table that year. Many of them felt as if the issue was outside of them, not internal. Even though I was reading for them about their specific concern, it also felt like something on the outside was tapping on their teacups like that movie trope of tapping on a wine glass to get attention for a toast. One reading after another, the message was that they were individually OK but that they were also resonating and vibrating with the high voltage zeitgeist energy of the times. It’s like that physical phenomenon where if you sound a note loud enough, nearby bells or instrument strings that are tuned to that note will vibrate along with it. The stress and fear of the pandemic had all of our intuitive teacups quivering.

When that kind of resonance happens, it can be helpful to think about our boundaries. In other words, when the outside world is ringing your teacup, know your teacup and make it as strong as you can.

Here is an imagination experiment to show what I mean.

Take a deep breath, close your eyes and imagine.

Imagine you are surrounded by something that symbolizes protection to you. Imagine you are are in a submarine or a safe room. Imagine you are in a fort or a castle keep. Imagine you are holding a black crystal or wearing a superhero cape. My favorite is to imagine wearing one of those bomb squad blast suits or one of those hazmat suits with the big clear visors like in the movie Outbreak. Whatever symbol you choose, imagine you are surrounded, safe, and protected from any outside influences on your mood.

I’m not talking about you being attacked by psychic vampires or hexes or being beset by negative influences….I’m just saying leave your stress-y mess at the door and be your own true self for half a minute.

Here’s the thought experiment – when you imagine that protected place, how do you feel in there? If you go into your mental bomb shelter and still feel that something is wrong, then you have a different problem. It isn’t a matter of resonance to outside energies. If you go into your hazmat suit and feel like “HEY! It’s kinda happy in here” then that also shows you what you need to do next.

This mental exercise shows you whether your next step is yin or yang. If you still feel bad inside your imagined shelter, then you need to turn your attention inward with self care, self love and healing. If you feel happy inside your mental safe space, then that is a call to turn your attention outward for a little practical, down to earth planning and problem solving.

You can’t hold space without something to hold it in.

This kind of mental exercise helps you learn your teacup.

Don’t save this quick little boundary check just for when times are tough and situations are stressful. The nine of wands came along today to remind us to pay attention to energy boundaries and healthy psychological and emotional boundaries at other times too. Try the mental exercise when things are fine. Learn what it feels like when things are OK both inside and out so you can recognize when things are OK inside but you are reacting to stress from outer collective energies.

Tend to your teacup so it holds good space for your tea when you need it to, so to speak.

Thank you so much for reading and listening!

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Dance

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee

Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is “The Performer” from the Alleyman’s Tarot by Publishing Goblin LLC used with permission.

This is one of the cards I’ve never seen before, and just like always I try to read it before going to the deck’s guide book. When I haven’t seen or read the card before, I approach it just like reading a pip card like we talked about with the two of disks recently. Going into this card cold is the best of both worlds. There is a picture with lots of intuitive prompts, but no preconceived theme to box in the interpretation.

Too bad I got nothin’.

My first thought was “violin guy” and that was about it.

With a little more staring and contemplation, something I’d read finally came to mind from my old natural health reading. I can’t for the life of me remember much less cite the source, but I once read that it was a common thing for indigenous healers to ask when the patient stopped dancing.

It times the illness. It gives insight into the illness through the lens of mind-body connection. Western medicine (however begrudgingly) acknowledges that perceived mental stress can affect physical health. They also admit the benefits of exercise and activity. The mind-body connection flows in both directions. Poor physical habits and lifestyle can have a negative impact on mood just as much as stress can worsen disease. The converse is true. Healthy interventions on either side of the mind-body equation can benefit the other side of the equation.

Dancing is more than just physical activity. It is art and self expression and one of the most joyful things a human can do. I remember seeing interviews with Desmond Tutu when Apartheid ended in South Africa. He said he must dance with the rest of his people in his joy. Recently, on social media, I saw a post about the oppression of Native American culture in the past and how the person in the video dances now for all those who could not before.

No performance, no dance is empty unless we make it so. Even if we dance alone, we dance with our own humanity. Don’t stop dancing.

Thank you so much for reading and listening! I appreciate your time and attention. Any likes, subs, shares, follows, questions or comments you can spare are greatly appreciated too.

The blog and podcast are not monetized in any way and depend on audience support. All private readings ordered on the blog website, memberships, and proceeds from the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi all help me to create and produce these free to access Tarot readings for everyone.

Thank you again. See you at the next sip!

Busy isn’t bad

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Two of Pentacles.

When you look at a fine art sculpture the space it defines around it as sometimes as much a part of the composition as the space it occupies. Today’s card has a little of that energy. It’s not a caution energy, but it isn’t quite straightforward advice either. It feels a little like a power slide into a parallel parking space in a movie, or one of those internet memes where Wong portals in, gives some disturbing trivia and leaves out the same interdimensional portal.

Or maybe that’s just me because I’m a lazy, lazy girl.

If someone says “self care” to me, my first thought is coffee, readings a good book or taking a nap. The thing that the Two of Pents pointing toward is the fact that mental rest and re-balancing is not dependent on physical inactivity. Physical rest is easy. In modern America, we need a reminder to easy up on the mental stress.

You can do stuff without stressing over it. Arguable, you do more stuff and do it better when you are in a calm, relaxed state of mind.

This goes along with that Two of Coin’s quality of dynamic equilibrium. Maintaining balance often requires movement and adaptation. Spinning things are more stable, like a top or a bicycle or a gyroscope.

The sweet spot is a balance between activity and calm, being physically busy but not psychologically stressed about it.

Taoist philosophy describes it as wu wei. Chinese is notoriously difficult to translate. Sometimes wu wei is translated as inaction or not-doing. That isn’t to say that Taoists somehow think things will magically get done while we sit and to nothing. The translation “effortless action” seems more apt, especially in the context of this card. Both wu wei and the two of pentacles are pointing toward physical activity without mental stress.

A sense of accomplishment and productivity is a pretty nice feeling at the end of the day. Mental stress is not. A significant amount of stress is pressure we put on ourselves. It is almost as if we think easy things are somehow less valuable or less worthy of our precious little time. Again, the two card points us toward a sweet spot of balance. You don’t want to underestimate, neglect or minimize a situation, but you don’t want blow a molehill up to be Mount Everest either. That’s the balance the Two of Pentacles brings to us today.

Busy isn’t bad when it is balanced with inner calm. Mental rest and quiet is still self care, even when it happens in the center of a storm of external activity. Moving meditation is the perfect example, and a perfect way to practice mental calm in the middle of physical business. Walking meditation is very much a part of some Buddhist traditions. Of course, Tai Chi is the best known example of meditation in motion. Which circles back around to one of my very favorite Alan Watts quotes “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about god while one is peeling the potatoes. Zen spirituality is to just peel the potatoes.”

It’s ok for things to be busy. It’s just as ok for busy things to feel easy while you do them.

Thank you for reading and listening. The blogcast and YouTube channel are not monetized and depend on reader and listener support. Email Tarot readings purchases here on the blogcast site, Tarot Table memberships and buy me a coffee donations all contribute to the creation of this Tarot content. Your likes, subs, shares and follows are always appreciated!

See you at the next sip!

A Sip of Tarot: No Big

Today’s card is the two of pentacles.

Most of the time we say it is a card about balance. It’s also fair to say it is about dynamic equilibrium. Think of a spinning coin or a bicycle in motion or a toy top or a gyroscope. There of lots of examples of things that keep their balance through motion. I’ll leave it to the physics people to explain how that happens and angular momentum and such.

The Tao Te Ching reminds us of a similar but very very broad principle: Living things are supple, able to be in motion. Stiff and motionless is, well, dead.

Movement, and by extension movement as a gateway to balance, is the normal way of things. Feeling overwhelmed when there is too much going on is also the normal way of things.

Life can be a juggling act. Multitasking can make each individual task seem bigger than it really is. But try not to let it get to you. Simplify as much as you can, then have at it. You got this!

Thank you for watching, reading and listening to A Sip of Tarot from TaoCraft Tarot blog and Clairvoyant confessional podcast. You questions and comments are always welcome.

Tesla coils and the Ringing Bell

Today’s “sip of tarot” card was the Chariot.

I’ve been thinking some more about it, so I guess today we are getting a whole cuppa Tarot here on the blog. This is one of those print/blog only posts exclusive to the website I’ve been yammering about. I hope you’ll take a look at / give a listen to the new “sip of tarot” (almost) daily one card meditation readings that are all over the place too. Besides all that, I’m feeling very fond of the Chariot card today. It’s energy is pointing toward mindfulness more than mere attention.

Mindfulness is not only consecrating and connecting but it is protective, healing and self-saving on the esoteric level. Here’s what I mean:

Many people who are drawn to Tarot (or any psychic/intuitive style) readings tend to have an above-average degree of energy sensitivity themselves. In late 2019 and early 2020 I had a long run of clients and blog readings that focused on resonant energy. It’s one of those physics things that I may not explain well. The best example I know came from being in the room during a violin lesson. When one string is pressed correctly to make a certain note, when you play that string, a nearby open (untouched) string that is tuned to that note will vibrate too. If you correctly press an E string to make it sound a G note, the open, untouched G string will vibrate and sound a little bit too.

Intuitive, energy sensitive people people will resonate with communal, cultural, zeitgeist energies much like the G note open string vibrates along with the fretted-to-make-it-a-G-note string in the violin example.

Pay attention when that happnes.

On the physical level, pain is a signal that something is wrong. All sorts of physical symptoms can signal a problem.We pay attention to those, or at least we should. If the danger is high enough, our reflexes will pay attention for us.

The same is true in the emotional realm. Feelings of something being off or wrong or troubling are worth your attention just as much as physical symptoms. The tricky thing, especially if you are energy sensitive, is knowing when a bubble of emotion is a genuine internal state that needs your attention when that thing you feel is actually a resonant vibration, a response to external energies.

When you are a professional reader, knowing that boarderline is part of the job. Take it from someone who has been paying conscious deliberate attention to that boundary line between internally generated feelings and externally sources resonance for a looong time – it’s HARD to do. It’s easy to think that funky mojo feeling is all you, and equally as easy to blame your stuff on the outside world (looking at you Mercury-retrograde-o-phobics)

It’s hard, but isn’t the place for blame, either. The trope of “setting boundaries” tends to feel like blame or fault or failure if one energy is mistaken for the other. That isn’t the case. From one point of view, those boundaries are just arbitrary. Our inner emotions are part of the outside whole just like we as individuals are a seamless part of the entire wholeness of the Cosmos. No matter how much we might wish otherwise, the outer world does have an effect. The mind-body connection flows both ways.

So how do you know when your bell is ringing for your attention or when the outer world is a hammer ringing your bell?

Protect.

Think of that boundary between inner emotion and outer resonance as a protective layer rather than a border fence. That is especially helpful when the uncertain feelings are frightened or anxious, as was the case early in 2020 pandemic an lock-downs. For a sensitive, the fear and worry of that time was almost palpable.

The energy has indeed shifted. More on the out-there social zeitgeist energies another time.

Imagination is fuel for intuition. Visualization is imagination in overdrive. Imagine…visualize that there is something surrounding you and insulating you from outside influences.

One way to think of it is like a force field or energy shield in science fiction. Or think of it like Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak. Or a tent or room or cave that you can go into. Here is a fun one for you science and physics folks – a Faraday cage. Metal cages isolate the equipment inside them from stray radio waves. Or the metal cages that contain tesla coil arcs (like “Arc Attack“)

But anyway….the next time you feel worried, or anxious, or just not yourself, or that things are just feel off and you can’t figure out why – imagine you are surrounded by your energy-isolating protection layer of choice.

If it is outside cultural group energy ringing my bell, then the imagined shield feels good. It feels like a sigh of relief. I remember the first time it worked for me. I’ll spare you the details, but I was faced with a barrage of negativity and a legit stressful family-in-the-hospital stress.

You know that feeling when the neighbor stops using the leaf blower and there is a sudden, jarring, blissful silence? It’s kind of like that. My first thought was HEY!! It’s actually HAPPY in here! In that moment, you know it is the outside and not an internal emotional injury.

If you imagine eliminating the outside influence, but still feel something is off. Pay even more attention. But for goodness’ sake don’t take that as personal blame….take it as a hint to get help or at least do some serious self-care.

It isn’t a 100% guarantee either way, but it is a helpful mental exercise. Since that experience of shutting out the waves of negativity for a little while, it is my go-to visualization/meditation when things feel a little hairy. It refocuses my attention away from the stress and on the here and now. If it’s happy “in here” then it’s just resonant funky mojo and will pass. If it is gnarly “in here” then it’s time to do something, although that will often pass too.

My Tarot Valentine: Don’t Romance Hangry

It’s a reflex.

It’s so easy that it is almost impossible to stop yourself from snapping at loved ones when you are stressed, cranky, tired, hangry or pushed to the limit by whatever. It’s proximity, just like the nerve reflexes your doctor checks with the little rubber hammer thingy. Particular nerve reflexes are wired so that they basically short out across the spinal cord and bypass the brain entirely. Your leg moves with the hammer boink without you thinking about it or willing it to do it…or not do it. It’s the same brain-bypass that lets you snap your hand back from a hot pan so you don’t get burned.

Reflexes bypass language editing centers. I don’t know about you, but when one of those injury avoiding ‘ouch’ reflexes happen, it is usually accompanied by at least “OW” and usually a swear or two. Reflexes happen faster than cognitive processing, they don’t go all the way to the brain and have a shorter distance for the nerve impulse to travel, for a simplified way to look at it.

The same is true when we are under stress. It is quick and easy to take it out on loved ones because, with any kind of luck, they are relatively close at hand. The stress has a short distance to travel. If you are the stressed one, it is hard to stop yourself from doing that. If you are the one in the splash zone of your loved one’s stress, it is hard to stop yourself from getting reflexively defensive and splashing a little bit too.

I’ve learned this from my spouse who is a freaking saint to put up with me my crankies, but taking care of yourself is an act of love for the ones you are closest to. Get a nap, have a snack, whatever it is that works to manage your stress…DO it. You’ll be doing a favor for your own mental health as well as giving a token of affection to those who you love…and who love you.