When Mike Bernhardt’s wife died in 1991, he turned to writing poetry as a tool of healing. He later solicited the poetry of other people whose loved ones had died, receiving hundreds of submissions from around the world. The result was Voices of the Grieving Heart, first published in 1994. The new, expanded edition contains over 160 selected poems, essays, and images by 83 contributors who share their journeys through loss, grief, and transformation. After retiring in 2016 from a career in IT, he began to write a travel blog and essays. His award-winning work has appeared in Deep Travel: Souvenirs from the Inner Journey, DIVER Magazine, and many other print and online publications.

In this episode we talk about meeting this first wife, her death, his grieving process, dating after loss, writing his book, grief dreams in the book, and his grief dreams of his wife.

You can find more about Mike here: https://mikebernhardt.net