Grief Begins With Love With Julia Samuel
Summary
Esther Perel introduces acclaimed psychotherapist Julia Samuel for a profound discussion on grief, redefining it not merely as a response to death, but as an experience that begins with love and can act as a portal to healing. Perel connects her work on eroticism—defined as vitality and a life force—to resilience, drawing on her parents' Holocaust survival to illustrate how actively engaging with life and joy is crucial even amidst deep trauma. Samuel further elaborates on the intertwining forces of Eros and Thanatos, providing practical frameworks like the "dual process model" and "pillars of strength" to accommodate loss, find growth, and expand our capacity for love and presence.Episode description
Psychotherapist and bestselling author Julia Samuel invites us into a profound exploration of the twin forces of love and loss. With warmth and wisdom, she examines how grief reshapes us, how love anchors us, and how the interplay between the two defines the human experience. In a culture that often avoids pain and over-romanticizes connection, she offers a more honest, more tender path: one that honors vulnerability, embraces emotional truth, and helps us find meaning in both sorrow and joy.
For more from Julia Samuel go to https://www.juliasamuel.co.uk/ Her books are Grief Works, This Too Shall Pass, and Every Family Has a Story. Julia’s Sub Stack Community is her personal space for meditations, weekly reflections, resources and videos on mental health and emotional well-being, including exclusive community webinars for paid subscribers: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/ Her podcast,Therapy Works, is available at https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/therapy-works/id1646616622 and her instagram is @juliasamuelmbe.
This panel was recorded at Esther Perel’s Annual Sessions Live event, entitled Mating in the Metacrisis: Connection, Polarization, and Eroticism in a World on Edge. For more information on the event and how you can watch it now, please go to www.estherperel.com
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