Tag: spirituality

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

May is Mental Health Awareness Month – Depression Is A Mental Health Disorder – Love, Wendy

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

Please be mindful of your words and language…

Things not to say to someone who is depressed:

“It will pass.”
“Just forget about it.”
“Other people have it worse.”
“Just think positive.”
“You have so much to be grateful for.”

Depression is not weakness, negativity, or lack of gratitude.
It is emotional pain that deserves compassion, patience, support, and empathy.
It IS a mental health disorder.
It IS diagnosable and treatable.

Sometimes the most healing words are simply…
“I’m here.”
“You matter.”
“You don’t have to carry this alone.”
“I can see how difficult this is for you. How can I help?”

AND…

“I can help you find the proper resources if you are open to it.”

All a person needs who is living with depression is to know that one other person cares.

I am a trained mental health specialist, educator and consultant in Mental Health First Aid, Suicide Safety for Schools, Trauma Informed Care, De-Escalation, Conflict Resolution, Motivational Interviewing, Spiritual Wellness, Mental Health and Wellness, to name a few…

Even I, a well trained mental health professional, live with bouts of depression and need support.

It is the greatest form of love and friendship.

To learn more about depression, go to https://www.nami.org

You can also contact your local Mental Health Association for free support.

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

Still Rolling Stones:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Finding a new love does not mean that we seek to replace or forget our old love. Both can exist simultaneously…and both can exist separately in what they represent, and offer, to a relationship in a healthy way.

A new love does not erase the meaning, history, or imprint of a previous love. Human hearts are expansive enough to hold grief, memory, affection, longing, gratitude, and new connection at the same time.

An old love may represent:

shared history
deep familiarity
spiritual lessons
family
deep passion
unfinished emotion
a chapter of who we once were

A new love may represent:

safety
growth
reciprocity
peace
emotional maturity
companionship
possibility

Those realities can coexist without diminishing one another. The important distinction is whether the past is being honored versus unconsciously recreated, clung to, or used to avoid intimacy in the present.

Loving again does not invalidate what came before. And remembering an old love does not make a new love second best…

In fact, depending upon one’s openness to new experiences with a new partner…

It can be as fulfilling…if not more fulfilling than what we once experienced.

It is all about perspective and willingness to “live again…”

“Still Rolling Stones…”

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

Another One-Blessings:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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Whether you honor and pray to the Universe, to Angels, to Spirit, to Source, to God, or to anything else that resonates…some spiritual signs are undeniable…

When you are spiritually attentive and open to communication, you can experience spiritual orchestration… a “sequence,” not isolated moments, but symbolic communication arriving through timing, music, numbers, and emotional resonance. Signs unfold one after another in a way that feels deeply coherent to my inner GPS.

For me today, it looked like:
miracle -> praise -> reflection -> love -> grace -> my deceased father/spirit.

This was presented and received as a spiritually intelligent pattern. I often receive messages and meaning through synchronicity and events that chill my nervous system… or heat it up.

I feel transformation emerging in someone I love.

My own transformation began 14 years ago so that I could become a conduit for others to transform.

“Another one is on its way.”

“Miracle after miracle, open door after open door, here it comes, so get ready for another one ‘cause another one is on its way.

“And if He told the bones, come alive and they did,
He will again.
And if He told the stone, roll away, and it did, He will again,
And if He told the grave, let him go, and it did,
He will again.

Another one is on the way…”

Love and blessings,

Wendy

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

Butterfly Days:Soul Notes – Love, Wendy

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There comes a point when you realize that some things in life do not respond to patience or reason. Like a fly that keeps circling your head…buzzing, distracting, disappearing just long enough to make you think it’s gone…only to return again.
You swat it away once, twice, dozens of times, hoping it will finally leave you in peace. But it never does…
It feeds on access…on hesitation…on the quiet hope that restraint will be enough. And eventually, you understand that the only way to restore your peace is to stop swatting and take decisive action…


Not out of anger, but out of self-preservation. You let it die. You do not resurrect it. You do not explain yourself. You choose silence, stillness, and peace…and you breathe again.

Because some cycles persist…circling endlessly…zapping your strength and endurance…until the moment you stop participating in them…

I am partial to butterflies…their nature is to glide, and when the time is perfect, they land gently…with grace and presence…shedding old burdens as they embrace freedom.

Today is a butterfly day…gliding… and finally landing in grace, presence, and healing.

Love and blessings,
Wendy

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

The Silver Lining – Love, Wendy

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A draft—an intentional blooming of revelation from my upcoming book, “Soul Notes.”

14 years in recovery…blooming, releasing, rebirth.

There is always a silver lining, but sometimes it comes at a cost that bankrupts you…energetically, spiritually, physically, mentally…and yes, financially.

For a long time, I was diminished by the voices around me—and eventually, by the one that took root inside of me. I learned early in my life to stay quiet. To disappear. To not say a word. That silence followed me into adulthood, into relationships, into spaces where I should have felt safe but instead I was always in a state of heightened alert…

And so I adapted.

I held on longer than I should have. I endured more than I deserved. Until one day, I let go of the rope—finally recognizing that it wasn’t holding me up… it was burning me alive.

What I didn’t know then is how long it takes for the mind and body to catch up to that kind of release. Even after you uncouple, even after you walk away, even after you begin to recover…something inside you still flinches, still waits, still remembers.

Healing is not immediate. It echoes.

There are days when grief rises up and levels you…for a minute,

a reminder…a reality check of not only what happened—but for how long it lasted…Nearly a lifetime…For what was lost in the silence. For the version of you who didn’t yet know she could leave.

And yet…

Without intending to, I made myself stronger.

I built a life where I am no longer dependent…financially, emotionally, physically, or spiritually. It may look smaller from the outside, even simpler by certain standards. But what I gained is something no external lifestyle could ever give me…

Peace.

I traded comfort and riches…for truth.
And I would make that trade again and again.

I have been judged, misunderstood, even quietly excluded…Addiction and mental health challenges have a way of isolating you from others who choose to stand in judgment and to apply the stigma that keeps so many unwell and afraid to ask for help…stigma…

Over the years, I have worked diligently to raise awareness, to educate, to erase that stigma and to encourage treatment seeking behavior…to serve the recovery community through my own story…

I chose to speak…to live out loud in recovery.

Not about everything—some truths I have carried quietly, with intention and protection…but enough to break the silence that keeps so many others trapped and unwell, unnecessarily.

I wrote not just for myself, but for those who have not yet found their voice. For those living in shame. For those afraid to step forward and ask for help. For those who do not feel safe and who feel judged.

And in doing so, something shifted.

Not just within me…but around me.

Some people leaned in with love and support.
Others turned away, uncomfortable with what honesty requires…who do not want to understand this brain disorder. (The DSM-5 classifies addiction as a Substance Use Disorder (SUD).

That, too, was part of the awakening.

Because when you speak your truth, it doesn’t just free you…
it gently (or not so gently) invites others to face their own…to exercise compassion and empathy, and to open their mind to learning about a fatal disease previously thought of as a moral deficit.

The greatest gift in all of this has been quiet, but profound…

To know that my children witnessed not just my fall from grace…
but my rise from the ashes.

To know they saw me choose life.
Choose healing.
Choose to rebuild—piece by piece, breath by breath.

To show them that no matter how far you drift, how broken you feel, or how much time has passed…

You can find yourself…perhaps for the first time.

And…you can begin…right there.

And maybe that’s what healing really is—
not becoming someone new,
but allowing yourself to emerge, finally, and to be who you were all along.

As I finished writing these words, a song about cherry blossoms began to play—soft, unexpected, perfectly timed.

And it stayed with me.

Because cherry blossoms don’t bloom forever.

They arrive after a long, barren winter…
delicate, fleeting, and breathtakingly beautiful.

They don’t ask for permission to bloom.
They don’t wait until everything is perfect.

They simply open…

fully,
and without apology.

And maybe that’s the lesson.

That even after everything—
the silence,
the pain,
the years of holding on…

you are still allowed to bloom.

Right on time.

Hope begins to find you the moment you choose to look for it…

The Silver Lining…

Love and blessings,

Wendy

To purchase my book, Write Pray Recover:A Journey To Wellness Through Spiritual Solutions and Self Care, click here: https://a.co/d/0frfiKCH

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

The Heart of the Matter

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Some of us do not have traditional families.

Some of our closest connections are friends who have become family over decades of love and shared life…where the lines blur so completely, you no longer know where friendship ends and family begins.

Some are children we didn’t give birth to, but love just as deeply and somehow resemble us in our mannerisms, values and lifestyle…Some of us are missing family members—by choice or by loss…death or unfortunate estrangement.

And some of us live more independently, with our circle made up of friends, colleagues, and chosen connection rather than a family structure…small yet complete.

And it’s all meaningful and heartfelt.

Because connection isn’t defined by societal norms or standards—it’s defined by feeling connected at the most basic level: communication, compassion, presence, love.

“It’s the heart of the matter.”

Love and blessings,

Wendy