Tag: healthandwellness

BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Soul Notes, Write Pray Recover

NEVER LET THE TRUTH INTERFERE WITH A GOOD STORY:SOUL NOTES – LOVE, WENDY

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Through both my lived experiences and my field experiences, I have learned that those who lack emotional intelligence are often emotionally immature people, lack self-esteem, and experience accountability as an attack.

Accountability threatens the narrative when someone’s self-image depends on being the innocent, misunderstood, or “always right” person.

Taking responsibility for their words and behaviors is unlikely because it threatens the story they need to believe about themselves and portray for others…

When the truth threatens their story, they are sticking to it…


“NEVER LET THE TRUTH INTERFERE WITH A GOOD STORY.”

Love and blessings,

Wendy

BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Write Pray Recover

SEPTEMBER IS SUICIDE AWARENESS MONTH – LOVE, WENDY

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September is Suicide Awareness Month…

I had the opportunity to implement my training as a Mental Health First Aider and Suicide Safety instructor yesterday in two separate incidents. And last month, I was called to use both of these trainings for a dear friend who just lost his wife to suicide. 

I am a certified trainer and would encourage you to take this 8 hour MHFA training.

In today’s culture and climate, we all need to practice our own self care in order to live with mental and physical health, and to know how to support someone else who does not have these tools.

“Mental Health First Aid gives you the skills to recognize when someone is facing mental health or substance use challenges — and the confidence to be their first source of support. Whether you’re helping a loved one or handling your own stress, MHFA offers real-world training and tools to cope with mental health challenges.”

I had experienced a physical health emergency Thursday after work requiring steroid treatment and complete bed rest, and Friday morning as I was recovering, I received two (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) requests for assistance.

Both are doing well this morning.

Sometimes words can guide and support, and as a Mental Health First Aider and teacher, I knew exactly how to use my words as my guidance and support for these precious souls.

For information on becoming a Mental Health First Aider, go to https://mentalhealthfirstaid.org/

In addition, IN HONOR OF SUICIDE PREVENTION MONTH, I AM AVAILABLE VIRTUALLY TO PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING TRAINING: 

SUICIDE SAFETY FOR SCHOOLS

APPROXIMATELY 2 HOURS

I am a certified trainer licensed by the Suicide Prevention Center of NY State.

This workshop offers the following goals in prevention and awareness:

To review the importance of suicide prevention

Describe characteristics of at-risk students

Outline your critical but limited role

Clarify your building referral process

Identify school and community resources

Talking about suicide in the classroom

What every teacher should know

Understanding warning signs

Understanding protective factors

Understanding a “warm hand-off”

Email me at wendyblanchard044@gmail.com

Text TRAINING to 845-263-4094.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Soul Notes, Write Pray Recover

Peace Begins With Me:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Remind yourself daily and often “I do not need anyone’s permission to experience peace. It is my choice and my right…and I mindfully cultivate peace in every decision that I make and every person that I engage with…

”Peace begins with me.”

Do not cower, do not apologize, do not deny yourself your birthright to live in peace and wellness.

If they don’t understand your journey and they choose to abandon you…their loss…

Keep going forward with humility and grace.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Soul Notes, Write Pray Recover

On Character:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Character is revealed in how you treat people whose choices are not aligned with our own beliefs and values. 

One’s beliefs are simply a small piece of their tapestry…

We must always appreciate the entire intricacies and richness of the whole cloth.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Soul Notes, Write Pray Recover

Sobriety and Reality:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Having so much free time is exhausting.

Free time is wonderful when we’re using it to live.

But…when there’s an enormous amount of unstructured time during a difficult emotional season, it can reopen a wound for every memory, every what if, every comparison, every loss to bleed once again into the present moment…and feel like death.

And this summer break has given me a lot of time to reflect on my 14 years of “wellness in recovery “ from prescription drug addiction…write…re-process and practice acceptance…intermittently, if I’m being honest.

I have recognized patterns. I have grieved. I have learned to change my environment in my grief in order to re-center myself.

I recall the woman I once was…and the life I once had.

And…I also recognize the woman I have become.

Sober, Independent, inspiring, passionate, productive, and dedicated to my 14 years of sobriety…second to none.

But reflection doesn’t always feel like healing while we are “living” it.

Sometimes reflection deeply hurts before it integrates.

I’ve discovered that reflection can be both a gift—and a burden.

It can highlight how far we’ve come…while simultaneously reminding us of all we have lost.

And…I continue upon my journey…one moment at a time…carrying my past with me as a badge of honor as I return to a full schedule tomorrow as an educator…

And I rise once again.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Soul Notes, Write Pray Recover

Off Duty:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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You don’t have to stop loving someone in order to stop accommodating the behaviors that are destroying your peace…You don’t have to keep participating in the cycle that leads to a wild goose chase.

If you are a follower of my work, you have read the words I write and speak often…”Peace begins with me” My peace is non-negotiable. My peace is my power. And most recently I made the decision to NOT share my whereabouts, relationships or activities on social media because I have come to realize that, “Privacy protects my peace.”

You can step away from an unhealthy relationship or situation, protect your peace, and allow one to live with the consequences of one’s own lack of emotional work.

Let go of trying to save them.
This isn’t abandonment.
This is a boundary.

One of the most important lessons that I have learned in my 14 years of recovery is that the only person I can save, change or heal…is myself.

There is a difference between “I don’t love you anymore.”and “I love you, but I am no longer willing to lose myself trying to save you.” Trust me…there is NO situation where we can save another unless we are asked to step in to assist…and even then, it is not our burden or work to carry. We can simply guide according to one’s stated desires and needs.


And perhaps the deepest healing is realizing that your nervous system doesn’t have to remain on duty for someone else’s life…otherwise, it tends to “arrest” our own lived experiences.

Affirm: “I am not responsible for rescuing people from places they choose to remain.”

Stand in your power…

“Peace begins with me.”

Love and blessings,

Wendy

BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Soul Notes, Write Pray Recover

“Shhhh” Culture:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Move Quietly.

Although I am a writer and an author with a following of wonderful souls…I’ve learned that not every move needs to be announced, explained, witnessed, or understood.

There is a stunning freedom in stepping out of the need to let others know where you are, what you’re doing, who you are with…or what comes next.

Peace comes from reclaiming that privacy.

Those who are walking beside me in real time will share the view. I no longer desire anyone observing my life from the sidelines.

I can simply live it.

Soft. Confident. Intentional. And just a little mysterious. 🤫✨

Love and blessings,

Wendy

BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Soul Notes, Write Pray Recover

Come Wonder With Me:Spiritual Wellness-“Soul Notes” – Love, Wendy

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Some of my deepest writing doesn’t begin with me sitting down to write…it begins at 2 or 3 a.m., when I awaken with words and vivid pictures already formed in my mind…

A spiritual bolt?

Another” awakening”?

Or simply the Universe refusing to let me sleep until I pay attention?…

Come wonder with me…

I’ve been developing a theory of spiritual wellness centered on four interconnected pillars which I have coined and copyrighted…

Connection, Consciousness, Curiosity, and Consistency and how their synergy can lead us toward deeper meaning.

This emerging theory has become the foundation of my upcoming book, Soul Notes, and I’m excited to share the beginning of this lifelong exploration with you…

COME WONDER WITH ME

I have questions that have awakened something in me.

Come wonder with me.

Because the more you explore, the more there is to explore.

The more you learn, the more you realize there is still so much to learn.

The more you question, the more questions you’ll have.

And perhaps there is no final chapter because we have not yet arrived.

Perhaps this is the journey.

At the heart of my upcoming book, Soul Notes, is a theory I have been developing and contemplating for a long time about spiritual wellness.

Not spirituality as a set of prescribed beliefs.

Not certainty.

Not having all the answers.

But an ongoing state of connection, consciousness, curiosity, and consistent exploration of meaning.

I propose that these are the four pillars of spiritual wellness:

CONNECTION
Our relationship with ourselves, with nature, with the gorgeous and mysterious Universe, and with the spiritual dimensions of our own subjective experiences.

CONSCIOUSNESS
The awareness that we are not isolated beings, but part of something larger connected to one another and to something beyond ourselves, soul to soul.

CURIOSITY
The willingness to keep questioning, exploring, discovering, and remaining open to a variety of eventualities that we may not yet understand…and perhaps we never will.

CONSISTENCY
The practice of returning to that exploration again and again, allowing ourselves to continue to question and wonder, while integrating what we discover into our lived experience in real time as we understand it.

Together, these four pillars create what I think of as a Synergistic Loop of Spiritual Wellness:

Connection → Consciousness → Curiosity → Consistency → Deeper Connection

Our curiosity drives us deeper into consciousness and connection.

Our consistency anchors those discoveries into our everyday lives.

And then we return to connection again…only a little deeper, a little more conscious, and with even more questions.

There most likely will never be a definitive answer.

And that is okay because…

The more I learn, the more I learn.
The more I question, the more questions I have.

And I find that exhilarating.

Because maybe spiritual wellness isn’t about finally arriving.

Maybe it is about remaining awake enough, curious enough, connected enough, and open enough to keep exploring…to continue to wonder.

There is no final chapter because I haven’t arrived.

And neither have you.

This is the journey.

This is Soul Notes.

Come wonder with me. 

Love and blessings,

Wendy

BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Soul Notes, Write Pray Recover

STRUT…DON’T WALK:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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For years I walked around with gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe…slowing my pace and keeping me from moving forward.

Yesterday, I finally yanked off that stubborn, sticky piece of gum and threw it in the trash…

A twelve-year marathon that “trained” me to walk with discernment, and to never again dance with the devil.

No longer dragging my feet…

Strutting into my autonomy for the distance and finally standing in my power.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

BOOK, Harmonious Health 4 Life, Soul Notes, Write Pray Recover

Restoration:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Serenity and peace are an early Sunday morning walk, taken slowly and purposefully…listening to my favorite music and watching the pond water ripple as the wind gently blows across its surface.

Nowhere to rush to, but excited to get home to bake fresh gluten-free Chinese almond cookies…then enjoy a beautiful cup of coffee while looking around at the haven I’ve created and thinking about how far I’ve come in these past 14 years of recovery. My heart is filled with gratitude.

Serenity and peace are cultivated intentionally, in whatever ways we choose to create them.

Simple. Strategic. Single-handed.

Restoration isn’t complicated. It’s intentional.

Love and blessings,

Wendy