Creative Therapeutic Connections, LLC

11/17/2025

Every stage of play is a stepping stone to unlocking your child's full potential! Each milestone builds upon the last, shaping a bright and boundless future.

11/17/2025

Learn how to recognize an intrusive thought and how to handle it when it happens.

11/14/2025

A gentle word can shift the day
When hearts are feeling low
It’s proof that hope can start again
With just a small hello

A smile can bloom where storms have been
It costs so little, too
It ripples out through stranger’s hearts
And changes grey to blue

We hurry past each other’s pain -
Forget the simplest graces
But kindness lingers patiently
In calm and friendly faces

It isn’t grand or loud or fierce
It needs not even words
Just gentle nods and listening ears
To tell us we are heard

‘Cause hands outstretched, a door held wide
Can start a brighter chain
Then every spark of kindness
Becomes sunshine through the rain

So let us tend this gentle spark
Though times may rush or race
For kindness grows in quiet acts
And lights the darkest place

*****

A little poem I wrote for World Kindness Day today. A reminder never to underestimate little acts of kindness. They could turn someone's day around.

Becky Hemsley 2025
Beautiful artwork (entitled 'Compassion') by Laly Mille

11/10/2025

"One day," said Pooh softly, looking into the mirror, "I decided to stop wishing I was someone braver, cleverer, or thinner... and just be grateful for being me."
He tilted his head, studying the bear staring back at him — a bear who had made mistakes, who had eaten too much honey, who sometimes got lost in the woods of worry, but always found his way back with kindness.
"You’ve carried me through every storm," he whispered to his reflection. "You’ve kept believing even when I doubted. And that makes you rather wonderful, doesn’t it?"
The bear in the mirror smiled. Pooh smiled back. And for the first time in a long while, he didn’t feel like he needed to change a thing.

11/06/2025

Some days you bloom.
Some days you grow roots.
Both matter…

11/06/2025

I know there may have been times in your life when you’ve
stopped dancing, stopped singing, stopped being yourself
because someone was watching you. Judging you.

And you are not the only one to feel this way. But I can’t help thinking that we’ve got it all wrong.

We’ve been taught that we must only be ourselves if it suits other people.

We must only sing if it sounds pleasing to those listening.
We must only dance if it looks good to onlookers.

But we are so wrong.

The birds sing - not because we might listen -
but simply with the joy of being alive.

And the trees dance in the wind - not because it looks good for us -
but because they are alive. Living in the moment. Whatever the moment may bring.

So sing as loud as you wish
and dance as much as you like.

You do not exist for the enjoyment of others.

You exist to be alive.

Properly, fully, beautifully alive.

****

Becky Hemsley 2023
Beautiful artwork by Lucy Almey Bird Art

11/03/2025

11/01/2025

10/31/2025

When You Don't Have Time, Pause

In this busy world
you may not feel you have time to slow down.
Hours rush past,
a blur of noise and tasks,
and you tell yourself
that rest can wait.

When your thoughts are tangled,
when your breath feels shallow,
when the day presses hard against you,
pause.
When you don't have time, that's when you need it most, pause.

Even for a few moments.
Let your shoulders drop,
unclench your jaw,
and listen
to the quiet that still lives
beneath the noise.

You don’t have to step away for long.
Start with a single breath,
a sip of something warm.
Notice the morning light
filtering through the trees outside.
Feel the soft weight of a blanket
around your shoulders.
Simply be,
right here, right now.

These small pauses are enough.
They remind you
that life isn’t only about doing, achieving, or moving forward.
It’s about being,
breathing,
returning to yourself.

Slowing down
doesn’t mean falling behind.
It means meeting the day with presence,
carrying quiet steadiness
into everything you do.

Even a few moments
can reset the world inside you,
letting calm bloom quietly,
patiently,
in the simplicity of this moment.

~ 'Whe You Don't Have Time, Pause' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Heather Stillufsen

10/30/2025

My dad made a good point when he said: "When a flashlight grows dim or quits working, you don't throw it away—you change the batteries. When a person messes up and finds themselves in a dark place, do you cast them aside? Of course not. You help them change their batteries."

Some people need AA batteries—attention and affection. Some need AAA—attention, affection, and acceptance. Some need C—compassion. Some need D—direction. And sometimes, even after all that, they still don’t seem to shine. And that’s okay. In those moments, it’s not about fixing them or forcing their light to return. It’s about simply sitting with them quietly, sharing your own light, offering your presence, and letting them know they’re not alone in the darkness.

Because the truth is, every person has the capacity to shine again—it just sometimes takes patience, understanding, and the gentle reminder that someone believes in their brightness. And in helping someone find their light again, we often discover more of our own along the way.