Episodes

Roshni Kavate and Rebecca Servoss noticed in their own grieving the lack of services to support grief, especially for people across all identities. They committed to creating a new paradigm for grief support, built on hope, joy, and the strength of the human spirit. Their organization, Marigolde, they sought to support grieving boldly, loving tenderly, and celebrating the blooming, visceral transformation that unfolds in grieving people. As two nurses trained in offering support and committed to...

Growing up with a father who was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer when she was seven, Laurel Braitman was taught survival skills from then on. Out of her own fears she embraced the lessons, hoping they would prevent the terrible possibility of losing her father. Of course, this isn't what happened. But Laurel would be well into her adulthood before she realized there was one key skill she hadn't learned- how to grieve. Finally mature enough to tackle her complex feelings, and unable to avoid ...

When a horrific explosion happened in Beirut, Dalal Mawad was living nearby and felt a compelling urge to help. As a journalist she naturally searched for ways to tell the story. But what was the story? The explosion happened against the backdrop of inhumane conditions in the Middle East, a collapsing infrastructure in her country, Lebanon, and an unclear picture of what led to the terrible event. In the end, Dalal chose the tell the story through the experiences of the women affected by it; wom...

After Ann Anderson Evan's beloved husband killed himself, she wondered what could have led him to such an end. He had not seemed suicidal, or deeply depressed, or haunted by demons. She imagined it must be some secret misery he didn't share even with her. She thought they had shared everything! Over time she came to believe that he was transgender. Could his belief that he could never share that part of himself have led to life being too painful to continue? It would take all the skills she had ...

When a declining parent needs help, it creates a delicate balance of care and acceptance. Marsha Gray Hill thought she had found that balance, even as her mother began to show signs of dementia. But then, COVID ripped the rug out from under her, making it impossible to support her mother as she would have liked. In the end, the pandemic was what ended her mother's life. In the process, Marsha learned too much about attitudes towards elders, inadequate support structures and a lack of understandi...

Darnell Lamont Walker makes it his life's mission to seed joy everywhere he is. How do his callings intersect? He is a children's television writer, a death doula, a filmmaker. In every case he hopes to inform, encourage and uplift his audience. In the end, all he does is about supporting everyone he encounters to heal, to make room for joy and to love ourselves. Join us as we talk about how he sees his mission and all the things he does to further it!

The cause of anxiety and pain in our bodies can't be reduced to any one explanation. But in Jen Soriano's book, Nervous, she follows the threads of her own struggles to the personal, familial, cultural and intergenerational threads of her own physical pain and anxiety. Scientists are now recognizing that the traumas of our ancestors live on in us and can be felt for generations. How do we heal ourselves from all the injuries we carry. Jen makes a powerful case for the restorative properties of c...

Once, we were all children, incapable of protecting ourselves from the adults around us. If they were cruel and abusive, it laid tracks in us that made it hard to love and be loved, to see our own beauty and to become who we were meant to be. Wen Peetes knows this experience deeply, because it it her own. Recognizing what she needed to heal and speaking honestly about what has helped her find her way to a wonderful life led her to write Inner Child Healing. She encourages others to use the tools...

Audrey is a fictional character who resembles her author, Gail Marlene Schwartz. They both suffer from anxiety. They have both lost friends to suicide when they were young. And they are both queer women constructing the families they dream of, with the nuanced questions that implies. In writing the book, what did Gail rely on from her own experience? Did writing it contribute to a better understanding of herself? And what does she hope readers will learn from the story?

Glenn Hileman's parents lived a love story for the ages. Their story ended together when the East Troublesome fire in Colorado took their lives and the home they had built and loved together. Their son, Glenn, needed action to go forward with his grief. He mobilized the community to begin rebuilding and wrote a book telling their story. Although true, their lives feel almost like a novel! Sometimes home is a place and sometimes, even when that place is lost it lives in the hearts of all the peop...

Through his experience coming to terms with the death of both his parents by murder when he was just fourteen, Scott Stabile grew to commit to a life led by love. His commitment extended not just to forgiveness and compassion for those who perpetrate acts of violence violence or damage, but even more primarily to himself. As a strong advocate for self acceptance and love, he works tirelessly to encourage others to find a place of compassion for themselves, believing that this will lead to a grea...

When J.J. Duncan's son died of cancer at the age of eleven, she fell into a deep grief she was unable to find her way out of. But as an executive producer and story teller, she jumped at the chance to work on The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, a series exploring the wonder of the Swedish custom. Unlike her own experience, the Swedish cast members were able to walk towards death unflinchingly and J.J. found her work on the show ultimately healing, offering her a way forward from the worst....

Adoption is a loss that often lives in the shadows, both in the world and inside of adoptees. Losing everything you've ever known before there are even words to name it, when you are an absorbent, unformed human being can take a lifetime to understand. But it is only by recognizing the loss that adoptees can claim their birthright; a life of beauty and meaning. Michelle Madrid knows this territory from both directions. She is an adoptee and an adoptive mother. She dedicates herself to helping ot...

Facing illness at a young age unravels every plan you had. When Jennifer Cramer-Miller was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease at 22, she had to rethink what life would look like. Through kidney transplants, dialysis and a never-ending need for medical care, Jennifer slowly learned to find the joy anyway. Refusing the be defined by illness, she nonetheless became an advocate for many other people facing what she had. Over time, she was able to claim the title to her book, Incurable Optimist and...

Through her own losses and those of the patients she worked with as a palliative care doctor, Karen Wyatt learned the value of telling our stories. Writing became a meaningful and compelling practice for healing and now, she offers what she learned in her latest book, Stories From the Dark Night. she offers practical guidance to write about grief born of decades of experience with death, grief and transformation.

After the death of her husband left her a young widow, Elaine Roth had no idea how she would make a new life for herself and her children. What would their lives look like now? She struggled to take care of herself, which led to a career as a Pilates instructor. And she struggled to envision love in her life, which led her to write a novel, The Midnight Garden. Her heroine's name, Hope, embodied the quality Elaine herself wanted the most to feel. Imagining a way into the feelings she would have ...

How does an Arab-American girl, moving across the middle east as her father follows his career, find her identity? And how is that search impacted when personal tragedy rocks her family? Kathryn Abdul-Baki started her life in the United States but then lived in Iran, Jerusalem, Kuwait, aware that her mother was different from the Arab mothers and that she, too, was different. Her relationships with those outside of the expat community grew as she grew, and Kathryn struggled to see how she fit in...

When Kevin Campbell's beloved diead after 22 years together, he couldn't bring himself to create music from the experience. It felt too painful to express his grief, even in his comfort zone; music. But over time he realized that in order to move forward he needed to express through his art the aspects of his feelings after the loss. Stages, his latest album, is the result. Capturing all the feelings that arose from his loss, he did find a way to move forward.

Kenya Aissa has had many careers that all have one thing in common; healing in the context of trauma. A thirty year career as a social worker in the child welfare system deepened her awareness of how responding to our traumas informs our lives going forward. She has since integrated her yoga and wellness practices into her healing work. Her book Sacred Girl: Spiritual Life Skills for Conscious Young Women, gives young women valuable skills to respond not only to their personal traumas but also t...

The Last Love Note tells the fictional story of a young widow trying to find a way to move forward. Its heroine, Kate, has continued to parent, work, and keep her sense of humor but has had very little time to give her grief the space it needs. How many others in these modern times are in the same situation? The author, Emma Grey, knows first hand what happens when loss drops into your life and nothing else stops. Join us as we explore what led her to write the book and how the writing helped he...

During the COVID pandemic Becky Wilkes moved her parents in with her rather than tolerate being unable to see them. In the final stages of their life together, she had the opportunity to witness first hand the love that had sustained them and how it showed itself until death, and after. Her photographic essay captured in poignant detail their physical decline and their love. It opened a door to the heart of love; walking each other home. What was it like to come so close to her parents' fragilit...

What holds us back? How do past unresolved traumas, small and large, continue to control our lives and responses? Melanie Smith set out to discover for herself what was holding HER back. In the process, she learned invaluable lessons about how to loosen the hold her past had on her. Freeing herself from a life that didn't fit her, she found a joy beyond her imagining. And now, she uses teh principles she learned to walk with others to their destiny and best life.

When dementia comes for someone we love, how do we maintain connection and relationship? For Suzanne Finnamore it takes accepting that her mother, in her final stage of dementia, lives in another country; Suzanne has needed to learn the customs and accept the differences. When she can accept, there is room for magic, including the magic of living as if there is no death; where everyone we ever loved is still alive. Suzanne is able to see the ways in which her mother is still herself and still vi...

Finding herself still restless after the death of her husband, Judy Reeves sold everything and set out on a one year voyage around the world. Only a few of her destinations were planned and most of them could be cancelled at a moment's notice. Thus unfolded an experience of discovery; who was she now, a single woman, a widow? What would the next phase of her life look like? In the solitude of her travel, writing and walking her way through the year, she discovered herself in a fresh new form. Sh...