Tag: soulnotes

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

Choosing Myself:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Your health is not something you can replace. Choosing yourself is self care…and self respect.

Paying attention to your body’s reality rather than to the pressure of what you think you “should” be doing or what other’s thoughts about it are…is self care…and self respect. When you do not lead by example in this way, the more you push through, the more you are expected to push through…and your body continues to become depleted.

In “helping” professions, we are conditioned to push through, show up, sacrifice, and prove our dedication. Yet “I must value my own health” is “self help” for recovering from any illness, most especially an acute illness that takes you down suddenly and requires patience, care, time and medical treatment to heal.

There is something profoundly different about the choice I have recently made about self care, self respect and self preservation…

A “Me First” mindset…not in a selfish way, but in a selfless way…

The realization that ‘I am worthy of care’ is a profound rite of passage.

When one has spent a lifetime caring for others and is finally giving herself permission to extend that same compassion and grace to herself…it reveals the quiet courage of self preservation…and that she, too, is worthy of care.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

Those Were The Days:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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I want to bring back landline phones and in person conversation…NO TEXTING…

I want to bring back pick up sticks and jacks to play with, Toys R Us, going to the neighbors house or having them to mine for coffee in the morning where they just walk in without having to knock.

I want to sit in a drive in theater and watch a movie with my love, read more books from the library, sit with my son in a coffee shop and catch up, get a mani/pedi with my daughter, grow all of my vegetables in my backyard and share it with my neighbors…join an in person book club.

I want to listen to “old time rock and roll”…music that made us swoon, made us dance, made us feel pumped and euphoric…connected us to each other…

And…I want cell phones and AI to be obsolete.
I even want my dairy delivered by the “milk man…”

I miss the simplicity of a time when people spent more time looking into each other’s eyes rather than into their screens…where the world that felt a little slower, a little kinder, a lot more authentic, and a lot more human…

Presence…Engagement…Closeness…

Ohhhh…THOSE were the days. 💕

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

Just Breathe:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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There is nothing more frightening—and humbling—than losing the ability to draw in the air that surrounds you—the oxygen that sustains life itself.

Breath is more than a biological function…it is a metaphor for freedom.

Our breath is our most accessible tool for intervening with our physiology in real time. When the body becomes so depleted that breath is no longer readily accessible…it reminds us that what sustains us is both finite and precious.

We are reminded of the fragility of things we sometimes take for granted. This is where humility and gratitude emerge.

We rarely notice the gift of breath until access is denied. In that moment, every effortless inhale becomes an expression of freedom, gratitude, and grace.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

Dating – Love, Wendy

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Dating is optional for me.

My bills are paid. My home is clean and peaceful. My bed is big. Peace already exists in my life. It is non negotiable…I cherish my autonomy…

If you enter my life, bring honesty, integrity, kindness, laughter, and ease.

Anything less does not add value to the life I’ve worked hard to create.

Love,

Wendy

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

And…I Do See You:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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After starting my life over at 54 years old, it took a great deal of courage…

Now, after fourteen years, I have grown into the woman, mother, grandmother, friend, and teacher I choose to be, and I am proud of who I continue to become…”Proud” as in earned…not boastful.

I embrace every opportunity to learn, grow, and keep an open mind and heart. Each day, I look for ways to make someone smile and leave our encounter feeling seen, valued, and cared about…

And I do see you…

By living my truth, celebrating my successes, and learning from the moments that call for a do-over, I continue to shape a life that reflects my values, purpose, and intentions…

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

Welcome Home:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Home is not always a place…
Home can be a state of mind, found in any setting when we are with people who make us laugh, help us feel seen and heard, make us feel safe to just ‘be,’ show up consistently and stay present through life’s ups and downs, and remind us that we are loved…even when we don’t feel lovable.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

The Many Forms of Love:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Love is not a single emotion, even though we try to contain it within one word.

It stretches across countless human experiences. It lives in long-term partnerships where people continue choosing each other through the passing years and decades, not simply existing beside one another. It exists in enduring friendships that can withstand silence and distance, resuming effortlessly without resentment or explanation. It appears in the overwhelming tenderness of a parent watching a sleeping child, a feeling so deep and unguarded it can catch the heart off guard…and the heart of a grandmother that spills over with joy when her granddaughter runs across the room, arms wide open, and jumps up into them.

Love.

There is also the love that remains after loss through divorce or death. This is the quiet love that lingers long after someone is gone, revealing itself in small reflexes and moments of remembering those that only the two of us experienced. Reaching for the phone to share something before realizing they are no longer there is itself an act of continued love. This enduring attachment is not weakness or error, but something profoundly human…

Love.

It is present in a “Good morning, Honey” text, or a text from a neighbor who says, “just checking in. Do you need anything…” and in the excited greeting from a beloved pet, or a friend remembering something small you shared weeks before and calls to ask about how things turned out. It is present when someone takes the time to say, “Have a wonderful day,” or “Drive safely.”

Love is expressed in a co-worker taking the time to stop to ask how you are, and really listening to your response…offering a hug on a day when love feels elusive. It is the moment your FaceTime call comes in from your family or a close friend exactly at the moment you are longing for their presence.

It matters to recognize these forms because love surrounds us far more often than we notice…and in today’s culture and climate…we need to hold onto all of the gifts of love that surround us…in real time…and within our memory…

Notice them…Embrace them…

These moments may seem ordinary, yet they are woven into the fabric of what makes life meaningful…where we are seen and heard.

Many years ago, Steve said these words to me, “I will be your witness.”

LOVE.

Thinkers like Seneca wrote that “a person cannot truly live well by existing only for themselves; to live fully, we must also live for others.”

So love despite the uncertainty. Love despite the inevitability of loss. Choose closeness over emotional distance, presence over self-protection. Allow yourself to care deeply, even knowing the risk, because that willingness to love is part of “witnessing” the most beautiful and meaningful part of one’s life.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

Holding Space for the “Ands” – Dancing Slowly Through Life:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Music is one of my greatest lifelines, and moving my body to the songs I love is a kind of euphoria I never want to lose.

Last night, knowing my spinal challenges and Lupus required care, I still got lost in the music—“Hurts So Good” (pun intended). I stood up beside Dan at the restaurant table and began to move with joy and exhilaration…and belting out the lyrics. 🙂

He gently put his arm around my waist and said, “Please be careful… you don’t really want to ‘hurt so good.”

And…he was right.

Afterwards when I got home, I lay awake convinced I might have re-fractured my spine. I even considered going to the ER. Thankfully, this morning I can breathe again—literally—and my body is okay.

And…lesson taken to heart.

It is frustrating at times, learning to honor a body that has changed. I can’t dance the way I once did. And…I am deeply grateful that I can walk with ease, work, and share life with the people I love.

I am holding space for the “ands” in my life.

I have limitations, and I still live a full, meaningful life in a body that has carried me through illness, addiction, heartbreak, loss, and even seasons when my spirit felt broken.

Life looks different now—but the “ands” remind me it is never black and white. There is so much life in the shades of gray.

I can still dance—more gently. I can still sing at the top of my lungs. I can still feel the music “move me”, experience nature, and words deeply, in ways that honor who I am today. I can still feel the euphoria when my grandchildren shriek with joy simply by being in my presence—just as I am.

I embrace the challenges and the experiences that bring me deeper self-awareness in my aging body, uncovering new strengths and resilience as I live into this evolving version of my life.

And that, too, is exhilarating.

It really is about how we choose to embrace change…and, choosing new perspectives.

We create the trajectory of our new normal.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

The Beauty of Friendship and Companionship:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Although we both live with our “one and only forever loves” deep within our souls, we enjoy a close friendship…laughing, talking, walking, dancing, hugging, eating… sharing. Tenderness. And it is a pleasure-filled space with ease, grace, emotional maturity, and pure joy. We meet each other exactly where we are with absolutely no expectations.

Last night, we realized our friendship has been growing organically for a year…a friendship based on mutual understanding, similar interests, spiritual practices, like-minded values, emotional maturity, truly caring about each other and our hearts, and respecting the forever loves we each carry in different ways—through loss, distance, and the passage of time… the forever loves that remain in our souls, though no longer beside us on life’s path.

There can be great beauty in companionship that is warm, attentive, emotionally safe, and deeply fulfilling. Perhaps at this stage of life, some of the most meaningful relationships are not the ones that promise forever… but the ones that bring tenderness, presence, ease, and aliveness into the days we are living right now.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

Boundaries:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Even the most loving and compassionate people have their limits…

It’s called boundaries.

One of the greatest acts of self care is to quietly remove yourself from situations and people that repeatedly and purposefully disrespect your soul, negatively impact your mental health, and hurt your heart.

Self care is the actions that we take to achieve wellness…and wellness is where we stand in our power.

Love and blessings,

Wendy