The heartbreak of a parent losing a child is a pain like no other. But what about the sibling(s) left behind of the child who dies? When her son, David, was four years old, he was diagnosed with cancer. After a 2 1/2-year battle, he died when his younger sister was 3 years old. Michele shares her perspective of guiding her daughter through sibling loss while navigating her own. Michele of @goodgriefparenting shares how grief is an unavoidable part of life that we will carry forward, and we can s...
Mar 01, 2022•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 88
What happens when you get a group of people together with unprocessed grief? The same thing that happens, likely every day of your life - in unprocessed grief, dysfunction meets dysfunction; baggage meets baggage. We are a society of grievers. Every human being has either lost a loved one, dream, relationship, home, job/career, a pet, or themselves. Amidst these losses, are other relationships in life where others have experienced losses, too. In our dysfunction of not addressing these losses (w...
Feb 22, 2022•15 min•Season 2Ep. 87
Do you want to know where to start if you're tired of settling for the conditions and circumstances of your life? Ask yourself the question Moussa asked himself and start there. What was the question? "What are you trying to forget?" When we get tired of our past circumstances creating chaos and dictating how far we go to reach our dreams, it takes introspection and committing to self-mastery to create change in our lives. Self-mastery embodies Moussa's mission today, but before he got to this p...
Feb 15, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 86
Breaking points - we all have them. But, there are ways you can ride the waves of it without getting pulled down by it. Resiliency has its limits. And, when you've spent years, or even decades, mastering the myths of grief (Don't Feel Bad, Replace the Loss, Grieve Alone, Be Strong, Keep Busy, and Time Heals), resiliency will only get you so far before you reach a breaking point. By creating rituals and routines, you create a system to help make better choices in your grief. Maybe it's going to t...
Feb 08, 2022•14 min•Season 2Ep. 85
When Kimberley was a child, a house fire would change her life as she knew it forever. Both her older and younger sisters both perished in the fire. However, Kimberley wouldn't learn the truth of how that life-altering moment came to be until her 30's. Growing up, Kimberley's father also worked a job that kept the family on the road. As a result, Kimberley found it challenging (and heartbreaking) to forge deep connections with others because they were constantly on the go. Kimberley found her vo...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 84
Curiosity is sorely underestimated. It's not given headlines or attention, but, in my eyes, it's responsible for most inventions. Curiosity has led to some of the world's most significant innovations. If there weren't people who allowed themselves to be led by their curiosity, we never would've evolved from stick rubbing to flint. Someone, along the way, asked themselves better questions or was open to learning something new. Grief makes curiosity seem like a luxury. But, what if we took the one...
Jan 25, 2022•24 min•Season 2Ep. 83
Kristin Sherry is a bestselling and award-winning author, creator of YouMap®, a 2020 Career Innovator Award recipient, and she's also my mentor. Her brilliance is why I am a Certified YouMap® Coach. If you have been struggling with your life path, career, purpose, or what I like to call - a midlife unraveling, this episode is for you! Grief is the loss of hopes, dreams, and expectations. When it comes to what we spend most of our waking hours doing if we don't love it, don't utilize all of our s...
Jan 18, 2022•55 min•Season 2Ep. 82
We have more agency over our physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies than we would like to admit. Admitting that we have power and control over ourselves is admitting that it’s also our job to do something about the issues that plague our physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies. The energy of grief can be like cancer and invade every fiber of your being. It can destroy your relationships, finances, will, and break your spirit. But, what it can’t do is choose for you. You always have a choice...
Jan 11, 2022•13 min•Season 2Ep. 81
What does it take to bicycle 4700 miles, with temps most often over 100 degrees and the wind against you? David Richman did just that as part of a passion project that later became his book, Cycle of Lives, where all proceeds benefit cancer-focused charities. However, David didn’t wake up one day and decide to make Cycle of Lives his mission. Instead, it was years in the making, following the death of his dear sister, June, due to brain cancer. David’s sister’s diagnosis was the icing on the cak...
Jan 04, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 80
Empty Arms Syndrome is a phenomenon most often associated with stillbirth. However, as Corchele's story illustrates, feeling an ache to hold your baby is a very real feeling even if you deliver a breathing child. Ten hours after delivering Breklyn by emergency cesarian, Corchele and her husband were faced with a loss no parent should ever experience. And, the fact that it was completely preventable only added to their heartache. Corchele, and her former husband, turned their heartache into purpo...
Dec 28, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Season 2Ep. 79
What is grief? Grief is the loss of hopes, dreams, and expectations. Grief is anything we wish would be different, better, or more. And, no one has to die for you to grieve. Also, because there are more than 40+ losses, it’s a safe bet that you and every person you meet is or has experienced grief. We are taught how to acquire things (or people). We’re not taught what to do when we lose them. Today’s episode is about the loss of hopes, dreams, and expectations, and how our individual beliefs pla...
Dec 21, 2021•19 min•Season 2Ep. 78
What is truth? For many of us, it is what we've been told to believe to be true, without any real evidence or science to back up that truth. After the sudden, tragic death of his daughter, Bob found his open-minded skeptical heart looking for evidence that his daughter's consciousness still existed in some form after her passing. He was having experiences that, years before, he may have dismissed. And yet, in his grief, found himself finding comfort in that which many others often raise an eyebr...
Dec 14, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 77
Katie Carroll had her life mapped out from the time she was a little girl. She knew, from a young age, that she wanted to be a mother one day. However, as she found success in every other area of her life, there was one area of her life that hinged on her desire to be a mother. She was busy in her career as a pediatric ER traveling nurse, had been dating, and all the while, looking for the one who would complete her life and be the father of her children. However, love wasn't coming easily to he...
Dec 07, 2021•52 min•Season 2Ep. 76
This week, I share a bit of my heavy heart as I share my reflections around sharing our grieving voices - including my own. This podcast has enabled me to be a heart for ears for many guests, including Emma G. and Anne. However, this week's episode is also inspired by my grief in real-time. Since 11/14, life has been day-to-day, not knowing what the future will hold for our son. As of this episode going live, he is in the hospital (for the second time after initially being admitted) with an infe...
Nov 30, 2021•10 min•Season 2Ep. 75
Imagine being told you have cancer. But then imagine being told you have cancer for which there was no cure. At that moment, in an instant, life is forever changed. And, although many people hear the words "You have cancer" every single day, fewer hear that the type of cancer they have will, without a doubt, kill them. That is unless a cure is found. Anne shares, in this follow-up, what hearing those words was like and the thoughts that raced through her mind. We talk about what life has been li...
Nov 23, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 74
The ripples of loss reach far and wide within a family unit; often in ways, we don't expect. Emma shares the impact the death of her cousin to suicide has had on her life and that of her family. Emma has found solace in writing her grief in the thirteen years since her cousin Nicky's death, publishing three books since that time. Suicide leaves those left behind having to navigate the displaced anger this type of loss often leaves in its wake. Emma shares how her family grieved together and how ...
Nov 16, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 73
Do you feel like the leader of your life? Do you believe you are leading yourself through grief in a healthy way? You may be wondering what the "healthy way" looks like. Take a moment to consider what leaders do at the start of their day. They don't start their day dragging themselves out of bed, drinking a Mountain Dew, and grabbing a snicker bar for breakfast. Maybe some do, but I would wager to bet those leaders that do this are on the fast track to burnout. How would you show up differently ...
Nov 09, 2021•23 min•Season 2Ep. 72
When Kristine's husband, Richard, suddenly died of a pulmonary embolism while descending on a flight, she had no idea how much she would rely on the tools and insights she had gained while writing several of the books contained in the " Don't Sweat the Small Stuff " series. It was the teachings, many years of personal development work, writing, and support of others that gave her the means to process the grief from, what had been at that point, the most profound loss of her life. Kristine shares...
Nov 02, 2021•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 71
What do Green Beret special forces do and how do they differ from other special forces? What qualities make a leader? How can everyday people become a leader in their own life? What, in leadership, breaks his heart? How does Scott feel about the pullout in Afghanistan, having worked directly with the Afghans for several years? What is Scott's take on grief and suicide prevention in the military? Scott and I address these questions and more. He also opens up about the moment he planned to take hi...
Oct 26, 2021•57 min•Season 2Ep. 70
The one thing I found that my guests Marty Cooper and Ken Ross have in common is that they both embody optimism. Marty can't imagine life without learning and without feeling hope for the future. While Ken, in all of his traveling and adventures, never worries about potential adverse outcomes. Both are optimistic in their way, and both are wonderful examples of what it means to live a life that you'd do over again and not be bored. This is why these two episodes fit perfectly to dig into the top...
Oct 19, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 69
Ken Ross has a theory for the way he lives his life and, it didn't come to be without the influence of his mother, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Ken and I dig deeper into his life experience growing up in a home where grief, death, and dying were a daily part of life and the topic of conversation. His mother, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's first book, On Death and Dying , was the conversation starter for society to take a deeper look into the dying process and all of the feelings one goes through. She started...
Oct 12, 2021•1 hr 31 min•Season 2Ep. 68
What does the wizard behind the one invention that has transformed society around the globe have to say about optimism, failure, and learning? Marty Cooper has been coined the name the "Father of the Cell Phone" but, there's more to him than being an inventor of one of the most societal-altering devices. It took ten years to see his dream come to fruition, and it nearly didn't happen. In our conversation, we explore optimism, failure, the importance of learning, and so much more. We get a peek b...
Oct 05, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 67
When you find yourself the observer of a situation that brings up some emotional dis- ease for you, it may be helpful to say the following to yourself: “I don’t know what I don’t know.” This helps me to feel better when I have felt wronged in some way or when I find myself raising an eyebrow at a situation that may or may not involve me. Society isn’t short of judgment and criticism these days. I think there’s plenty of it to go around the world a few times. However, each of us can help change t...
Sep 28, 2021•15 min•Season 2Ep. 66
There are psychics and then there are psychic mediums. Do you know the difference? Sirry shares the difference between the two in this week's episode. And, there's so much more that we cover in this conversation including: Her grief growing up, things she's experienced as an adult, and what her grief is today. What her thoughts are on the afterlife. Her thoughts on religion and mysticism of life as it relates to mediumship. Cultural differences in self-care when it comes to grief. What happens t...
Sep 21, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Season 2Ep. 65
As a parent, if you had to choose between your child's best interest or what you personally wanted, you would likely choose what’s best for your child. However, what if that decision meant your child wouldn't be with you full-time? Kristjana was faced with a gut-wrenching decision that hung over her head for weeks on end until a moment of clarity struck her like a lightning bolt. But, it came with a whole lot of heartache and guilt. Not to mention one that made a lot of eyebrows go up and whispe...
Sep 14, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 64
Through the challenges and struggles of life, we often find our strength and learn what we're capable of as we search for meaning in our pain. This episode shares two stories of the tenacity it took to dig deep, while also acknowledging the need for help and support and seeking it for themselves. Rachel battled with her husband for two years as he fought hard to beat his cancer, only to lose his fight to ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) in the end. Eric battled the struggle of guilt after find...
Sep 07, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 63
It was a great day; nothing seemed off with his daughter Zoi. They enjoyed a meal together; she headed to her room while he went downstairs to do some computer work. Sometime later, before heading to bed, he went to say goodnight to his beloved daughter, Zoi. The music she loved blaring from her stereo; he opened the door only to see an empty bed. What he discovered next changed his life forever - changed him forever. No parent should ever have to experience the death of a child. And, it feels l...
Aug 31, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 2Ep. 62
Eight years following the death of her husband from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Rachel reminisces on the love she lost and also the pain and lessons that came from his death as well. Rachel found purpose through her pain in writing about her experience, which later became her book , and also through cancer advocacy. In this episode, she shares the story of her husband's diagnosis and death two years later, as well as how she found her way to feeling better. On top of the loss of her spouse, sh...
Aug 24, 2021•52 min•Season 2Ep. 61
Grief can either suck the life right out of you or, it can build you into the most compassionate heart for others who will look to you to lean on for support in their grief. They say grief shared is grief diminished, but many people find sharing their grief difficult. Some turn to writing as a way to express and soothe the soul like I had and like my guest, Faith shared, in episode 59. Or, they turn to others in support groups or friendships, only to be let down or disappointed, as my guest Sher...
Aug 17, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 60
On a day like many others, Faith had taken her daughter, Elizabeth, to a doctor’s appointment to investigate Elizabeth's knee pain. What was thought to be an innocent visit to the doctor, who suspected the issue was nothing serious, quickly turned the family’s life upside down. After an X-ray and further testing, they learned Elizabeth had Stage IV osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. They didn’t know it at the time, but Elizabeth had one year to live. The last three weeks of her life were on Hospi...
Aug 10, 2021•39 min•Season 2Ep. 59
