Melissa Sherman - Calming Creek

01/31/2026

If your dog or cat has felt more reactive, tense, or unsettled lately, you’re not imagining it. Between extreme weather, disrupted routines, and a Full Snow Moon landing alongside Imbolc, many nervous systems are under strain, human and animal alike.

This piece is about why behavior shifts happen now, and how listening changes everything.

Dog & Cat Behavior • The Full Snow Moon • Imbolc • Household Stress

01/28/2026

We’re taught to keep pushing, even when our bodies are asking for rest. Slowing down can feel uncomfortable, or even wrong.

Slowing down takes on a different meaning when we understand how closely our nervous systems are tied to the dogs and cats we live with. 🌿

A few small shifts you could try:
✨ put your phone down for a few minutes
✨ sit with your animal without asking anything of them
✨ pause before responding to whatever comes up
✨ take three intentional breaths

I wrote more about this in this weekend’s Substack post if you want to learn more 🤍

01/25/2026

About 50 yards from my back door, a pair of bald eagles nest high in the cypress each year. I hear their calls and watch them tend their young, keeping vigilant watch over the land in a way that feels both protective and calm.

This is their third year returning to this tree. I watch them build, protect, teach, and move with such clarity and purpose. There’s another pair nearby too, so the land feels alive with them right now.

Spending time with them grounds me, especially on days when the world feels like more than I know how to hold.

Things feel heavy and fractured.

Eagle spirit reminds us how to hold a wider view, not to rise above what’s happening, but to see more clearly within it. To stay rooted to the earth and to one another, even as we take in the bigger picture.

Eagle teaches us:

⭐ unity over separation
⭐ clarity without losing compassion
⭐ presence without turning away

Our animal teachers don’t ask us to escape this moment.
They show us how to stay human inside it. 🦅

01/22/2026

Have you been following the monks’ walk for peace? Their dog Aloka recently had surgery, and seeing them reunite warmed my heart 🥹 I need more of this please!

We need connection.
We need each other.
We need our dogs.
We need love. ✌️

01/19/2026

This weekend was intense in the best way. Deep work. Real connection. A lot of care and trust in the room.

I love these people, and I’m grateful for the space we held together.

I’m still letting it settle. Work like this reminds me why tending my own nervous system matters for how I show up.