The Wounded Healer

A Journey in Radical Self-Love

By: Andy Chaleff

Narrated by: Andy Chaleff

Do you accept and love yourself - fully and completely, with no judgment, holding nothing back? What blocks you from doing so? How would you experience life differently if you were able to do so? The Wounded Healer is one man's journey to answer these questions.

After his first book, The Last Letter, Andy Chaleff took a leap of faith. He dropped everything and drove alone for three months coast-to-coast across the US. In dozens of sessions, he asked people the same question: If you knew someone in your life would die tomorrow and you had one last chance to express feelings to him or her, what would you say?

You are now Andy's travel companion. See your own struggle with self-acceptance reflected in his as he confronts his deepest fears, demons, and critical inner voice. As he breaks through inner blocks and learns to love himself, find your pathway to the same acceptance. With humility and vulnerability, Andy invites you to embark on your own journey to find liberation through the power of radical self-love.

©2020 Andy Chaleff (P)2020 Andy Chaleff

Just the story I needed to hear

In 2016 on January 9th I lost my younger sister to a heroine overdose, she was 32, and I was 36, she left 3 children behind, five months and a day later, after setting a boundary with my mother for the first time in my life, I was not going to allow her to behave and conduct herself in a way at my house with my own three children, and I was so sad about my baby sister, who was my person, who died so unexpectedly from a 5 dollar capsule of heroine laced with fentanyl, she only did half, $2.50 was what my sisters life ended up costing, and my mother had been toxic my whole life with her own addictions and she was also bipolar, and this loss gave me the strength to say, no mom, I can’t deal with your crazy behaviors, I am sad too, this was literally the first time in my life of 36 years that I did not put my mothers feelings above my own, she was baker acted by the hospital where I live and 2 days later the psychiatrist called to see when I would be picking her up as she had lived with me and my husband and children for 12 years after her marriage had become toxic, and so when the psychiatrist asked me this, I set my boundary and said, no, she can’t come here, tell her to call her estranged husband. The psychiatrist immediately said that he was afraid of what she might do, and I said like kill her self, as he had 17 attempted suicides since 1993, to which I replied, well I just can’t live in fear of that anymore, I am making this decision as a mother not a daughter, please tell her to call her estranged husband, 2 days later, five months and a day after my baby sister, my mother took her own life in the house of her estranged husband, after I refused to let her come home. I also have to say I was raised by only my mother as my father was a severe alcoholic and she left him when I was 3 years old, he died of cirrhosis when I was 12, and my older brother went to Jail for 18 years when I was 14, so it was just me, my mom, and my baby sister. I had been taking care of them both my whole life, and now, in a mere 20 weeks and 1 day they were both gone, since then I have been on my own journey to understand my codependent role in my family and how it was my role to put everyone else first, it has been quite an emotional roller coaster ride of emotions, acceptance and forgiveness for them but mostly for myself. I have been recently connected with spirit, after four years ago 1 year after their death, in 2017, I was at such a loss, I googled how to heal a broken soul, and Google said three things 1- learn to say no, get a hobby and lastly find your faith, I based every decision from that moment forward on these three things, I left teaching after 14 years and started a sea glass art, and driftwood business, to which I named beautifully Broken, this was from the hobby I picked up due to Google, in 1 years time, I had collected about a living room full of sea glass and shells and driftwood, as I live in Key West Florida, I collected so much sea glass in that one years time that I often tell people that I have collected it my whole life, I learned to said no, and I got the hobby thing down , the last one finding your faith was a little bit harder, it has taken five years to finally get that number 3 requests from Google, as it has just recently finally happened that I have found my faith, which is too long to put in this review just trust that I have and I did as I have been on this spiritual journey, I had recently heard of the wounded healer, and decided I wanted to read it, when I saw this book, with definitely less reviews then the original book the wounded healer that I originally was looking to read, but something told me that this was the wounded healer book that was right for me, and since I have been learning to listen to my own intuition, I decided to go with my instinct and read this one instead. And boy, am I glad I did, there was so much in this book that resonated with me, I learned so much about my own situation in this book, and have already been implementing the authors approach to dealing with the most scariest thing and then adding and it’s fucking great, I will also be utilizing the last letter, approach, to help to continue healing and mending my very beautifully broken soul, I want to thank the author for allowing me on his own journey of healing as it was also part of my healing journey to listen to his, and in turn I too was healing and accepting my own, it is such a beautifully written and honest truth about all of us who are trying to heal from the amazing thing that is our life. I really loved each chapter as they each had a different lesson and surprisingly I could relate to each one. Although I was not a privileged child and I grew up with a young single poor mother who was also a alcoholic and addict, very different from the authors childhood, even though my experiences were very different, the common ground of what we all feel in this life, regardless of the circumstances of those feelings are the same. This was such a beautiful and uplifting book to read, as it made me realize we all have suffered and we all can heal. I also really enjoyed the chapter about not being responsible for taking care of everyone, and that it is ok to not feel obligated to be with someone who is toxic to our wellbeing, and it’s fucking great. I am not sure how to explain how wonderful this book has been for me, and my gratitude to the author for writing it, and not worrying about going global, I have actually never written a book review but felt compelled to with this book, as I wanted the author to know that his writing helped, and touched a 41 year old woman in Key West Florida who has been on a very long journey to heal her beautifully Broken soul. So thank you Author, what I got from this book, well let’s just say that yes, you have gone GLOBAL IN MY BOOK, this book was tremendously helpful, thank you for all your vulnerability, and easy to understand advice that completely resonated with me and I have already started implementing and applying the tools taught and explained in this book, since the first chapter. It has already helped me so much, and it’s only been 2 days! I am SO GLAD YOU DECIDED TO GO FOR IT, AND BE A AMAZING AUTHOR, thank you from my healing heart to yours. Jamie Kirkpatrick