June 17, 2026

Do you ever have those days when your mind feels like it has too many tabs open? I'm there today! Yikes! And...I apologize for being a day late with my note this week....

When you have too much on your brain, it feels like you're in a place where you're not exactly sick or falling apart. But you’re scattered, tense, a little overstimulated, and maybe even a bit snappy with people who don't deserve it.

This is one of the reasons I love aromatherapy so much.

Not because essential oils are magical. They’re not.

There's a LOT of science now about how and why essential oils work. And although they smell amazing, the actual scent isn't why they work.

They work especially because aromatics give us a simple, practical way to pause, breathe, and give the nervous system a little bit of supportive input. And honestly? Sometimes that tiny pause is enough to keep the whole day from running off the rails.

Here’s one of the simplest aromatic resets you can try:

Place one drop of essential oil on a cotton ball, tissue, or aroma strip. Hold it several inches from your nose, breathe normally, and take three to five slow breaths.

That’s it.

You don’t have to set up a diffuser, or make a fancy schmancy blend. You don’t have to turn it into a whole project.

Some lovely oils for this kind of simple reset are lavender, sweet orange, bergamot, cedarwood, frankincense, or even rosemary if you need more clarity and focus rather than calm. Or try a few drops of your favorites and let them mingle!

The key is to choose the oil intentionally.

Ask yourself what you need.....

If you need to settle down, then frankincense, cedarwood, or vetiver might be the order of the day.

Or, if you want to brighten your soul a bit, then bergamot! Grapefruit! Orange will do, too.

For focus and concentration, how about a bit of rosemary? Or peppermint? Or both?

Maybe you just need to breathe and come back to yourself....Well, I love rose, cardamom, and some bergamot for that, but you get to choose for you!

That one question can make aromatherapy so much more useful than simply thinking, “What smells good?”

Aromatherapy doesn't have to be complicated to be super valuable. Sometimes one drop, one breath, and one small pause is the best, most beautiful place to begin.

Here are some helpful resources:

​The 21-Day Joy Course​

**21 days of researched-backed, short and helpful exercises. Includes videos for each day plus two complete texts and of course, plenty of herbal and aromatic formulations to support you!

NOTE: This course is included inside the Family Herbalist Certification program and also the Confident Herbalist Tribe (so don't buy it if you're enrolled in either of these). We no longer sell this course outside of special links like this one, occasionally.

If you're under stress and the world has you down...then you might really find this sweet course helpful and enjoyable!

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Yummy! Chamomile and Mint DIY Lip Scrub!

This share is just for fun....and some super soft lips. It smells delicious, and it's pretty tasty too. But don't eat it! If a little gets into your mouth, just rinse it out...It's not meant to be food. 😂

I'll put a picture of it below, if I can find it....

​Chamomile and Mint DIY Lip Scrub​

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Here's a video I made about 3 years ago, but the content is still very relevant today. It's about my top 11 essential oils I use every day, just about... plus why I use them and how they work.

​Top 11 Essential Oils for Daily Use​

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Encouragement and Inspiration

I was pondering my super long and never-ending list of chores the other day. I recently heard that all the things we have to do are "open loops" in our mind. These are like open tabs on your computer.....

Good grief!

If my mind is anything like all the open tabs (loops) on my computer, where I have two different browsers open at all times, and each has anywhere from 10 to 50 tabs open....

Well, that's just scary. But, I suspect it's true....

One of the things I MUST get done, and FAST (because this chore has been lingering sadly on my deck for anywhere between one and two months now, depending on the plant) is to plant the plants that are dying a slow death out there. It's nearly the end for some of them, I am very ashamed to say.

This chore is one I see as I walk past the window every day. It's causing me (and them) a lot of trauma.....

IMPORTANT: I love writing my Encouragement and Inspiration notes in my newsletter, and based on replies I get, I think you might too. Did you know I've been writing these since March 12, 2017? But I've been told my newsletters are way too long. And this section isn't exactly "herbal."

​Therefore, I've begun a Substack site/email where I can write this special section to my heart's content, and they can be as long or short as I want. The goal for my writing over there is frankly...to help me process many of my own thoughts. And then enjoy the feelings that ensue. And finally, to improve my life, and hopefully yours, too.

Most of you know, if you've been here for any length of time, that I'm certainly not perfect, and in fact, I'm a bit of a mess.

So this new space is for you to enjoy my messy middle, to hopefully gain more joy/peace/hope, and to learn about how I've learned through my life coaching trainings (plus life experiences) to manage my thought life....so you can have a more peaceful mind, too.

​I'd love to have you join me there! (It's free)

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Student Win--Healing an Abscessed Tooth

One of my readers sent this case study to me a few weeks ago. I thought you might enjoy this testimonial, and really know: Herbs do work! She asked to remain anonymous, and she's a Texas mom....

Here you go:

"My 8-year-old had gotten her first abscessed baby tooth in February. We did the usual routine of going to the dentist to get antibiotics and an extraction. (Side note: I was thankful for the experience, and the practice was awesome!) Other than the fact that she broke out in a rash for one of the two local anesthetic shots they gave her, everything went smoothly.
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Not a month later, the matching tooth on the opposite side abscessed. Now that I knew what the cost of the process was to get it taken care of conventionally, I was desperate to try something different.
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With my husband’s blessing, one of Heidi’s herbal profile books, and practical application from my ex-RN mother-in-law, I came up with a healing protocol for the abscess. I had my daughter swish a diluted-in-water thyme-and-garlic glycerite (homemade) over the infection, then swallow it for immune boosting, multiple times a day.
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There was some improvement with that, then I added oregano. I opened an Oil of Oregano pill a couple of days later and had her rub a drop of it on the site 3 times a day.
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The swelling started going down immediately, and after a week the infection was completely gone. We kept the treatment up a few days longer just in case.
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Now we’re working on EVERYONE’S teeth to heal/prevent cavities."

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If you're wanting to learn herbalism, and even though we've already started this new group of students in our family herbalism programs (it's been SO fun meeting this group of students!), it's really still not too late to join on in. We're six weeks out from our Celebration Day!

Is it time for you to get your family's medicine chest going...for real?

Hugs, Health, and Herbs,

Heidi

​P.S. Don't forget to join me over on Substack! (It's free with paid options) My goal is a hope-filled article a week, and maybe even some posts in the Notes area, while I learn more about using it well. If you do subscribe for my complete Encouragement and Inspirational thoughts over there, please give me grace as I learn how to build it out correctly....

This is that Chamomile Lip Scrub I shared the link for above....
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