The May 2026 Edit
karma, histamine blockers, AI, and blue moons
Wow, the month of May was not exactly what I expected. You can probably tell there has been a heaviness over me, and I thought the rope of angst would have been cut by now. Instead, it is an unexpected slow rip of the fibers, one by one. A life lesson, I guess. We cannot control the way it unfolds.
I planted seeds on the May 1st Full Moon, and they are all sprouting up, ready to be harvested soon. Two kinds of peas, kale, chard, lettuces, arugula, tomatoes, herbs, peppers, and cucumbers will all make their debut in my pottery bowls this summer as salads, garnishes, and sauces. Promising to nourish me as I have nourished them. At least I have gardening season when times feel heavy!
Here are some of my favorite discoveries and moments from May, using the six pillars of The Recipe for Being Well as my guide.
The Emotional
I am sitting on the couch with my children watching Inside Out, one of the greatest movies Disney/Pixar has ever made, and I just realized the entire film is essentially a visual representation of Internal Family Systems therapy. Each emotion is a part, each part has a job, and when one of them hijacks the control panel and runs the show, everything falls apart. Joy spends most of the film trying to run the show and keep Sadness out of the way, which is one of the most accurate depictions of a manager part I have ever seen in a children’s movie. The whole arc is about what happens when you exile a part, pushing Sadness to the margins because she feels inconvenient or counterproductive, and how that exile eventually creates more chaos than the feeling you were trying to avoid in the first place. By the end, Riley does not heal because Joy wins. She heals because Joy finally lets Sadness do her job. That is parts work.
Speaking of parts, I could not finish All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert, and let me tell you, I tried hard. Never before have I read a book that felt like my body was being infected by the story being told. It is a tale of codependency at its worst, and ultimately I saw parts of my past self in her story, which was likely why I put it down.
The Physical
On my early journey of perimenopause, I have been exploring interventions to help me weather what feels like a 26 day cycle of unrest. I feel good about four days each month, day four after my period until right before I ovulate, and then it all crashes down hormonally from there.
I have been reading up on MCAS and how taking H1 blockers like Allegra and H2 blockers like Pepcid can help with inflammation and perimenopausal symptoms. This month I am going to take them consistently post ovulation and will report back. Below are two great articles about hormones and histamine. I also switched up my cortisol supplements to this one, and so far, I love it.
The Spiritual
I was today years old when I learned what the term “once in a blue moon” means. I always assumed it was just a poetic expression for something rare, which it is, but the origin is genuinely interesting. The phrase dates back to 16th century England when a blue moon was considered something impossible. Over time it evolved, and now a blue moon technically refers to the second full moon in a single calendar month, which only happens about every two to three years. Which is fitting, because this May we have two full moons — the Flower Moon on May 1st, which I planted my seeds under, and a Blue Moon on May 31st — today!
What is your Karma? This podcast explains it in a way I had never heard of before. Elise Loenen’s guest Janine Slome is an intuitive and numerologist who breaks down what karma actually is, where it comes from, the different types, and what you can actually do about it in this lifetime. Yes it’s a little woo, which I love, but it’s also educational and creates a digestible framework.
The Vocational
Conversations surrounding AI are hard to avoid these days — I hear people talking about it everywhere I go. The sibling/co-founders of Anthropic (AKA Claude), Dario and Daniela Amodei, sat down with Oprah for a conversation that is worth listening to even if you think you are not an AI person. They talk about the ethical weight of building something this powerful/evil, their refusal to remove safety guardrails when the Pentagon asked, and what it actually means to be a public benefit corporation in an industry that is moving faster than any of us can actually track.
Should you change careers? Liz Moody always has the best guests for these kinds of questions.
The Relational
Strangers has been a topic of conversation across many of my friend groups. Honestly, I did not take issue with the privilege in the book since the author spent considerable time naming it herself. I loved the story of healing and uprooting generational patterns. If you have not read it, I would highly recommend it. Another great one I read? Bitter Sweet. It reminded me of My Last Innocent Year but I liked it even more — the story line felt richer overall.
My friend Erika sent me the article below, and it relieved some (some!) of my angst about how our parenting journey has been going. I did not co-create two children who sit quietly turning pages in their rooms, building blocks, or doing art. No, no. I got the kind that climb on counters, talk extremely loud, and have big, big feelings all the time that other kids seem to have less of.
A more accurate metaphor for what parents do is this. You set the stage. You don’t write the play.
You can choose the materials, the lighting, the rough acoustics. You can keep the stage safe. You can show up reliably and respond to what unfolds on it. What you cannot do — what the science is fairly clear you cannot do — is direct each scene. The child arrives with a script you didn’t write, in a body whose temperament was set before you held it, and walks into a nonshared world of peers and chance and one teacher in third grade who said the right or wrong thing on the right or wrong day. The play is theirs.
The Authentic Self
Although this month and most of 2026 have been heavy, I do feel like I am coming into the newest version of my self. My Next Self, if I may:) I have some incredible projects lined up, and know that when I look in the rearview mirror of 2026, I will see it as a painful and yet beautiful season of change, growth, and courage. I will have more on this soon!
Until next month,
KBW
Kari Brunson Wright is a leadership coach and consultant in Seattle, Washington. To get in touch about potentially working together email hello@karibrunsonwright.com For more, join me on LinkedIn and Instagram, or book a discovery call.