Grief, Gratitude & The Gray in Between

Samina Bari is a corporate leader, 2x best-selling author, and advocate whose life and work explores how we navigate loss with courage and grace. A trusted advisor to CEOs and boards with over $40 billion in M&A transactions to her credit, she brings the same clarity and strength that defines her corporate career to her deeply personal mission of helping others rebuild after loss.

After losing her husband suddenly in 2023, she began speaking and writing openly about the life-altering impact of spousal loss and the process of rebuilding after it. Her second book, Don’t Call Me Widow, offers a first-hand guide for supporting those who’ve lost a spouse, and her podcast After Life continues that mission, helping others show up with compassion in life’s hardest moments. This follows her first book, I Can, I Will, & I Did: Lessons on Life, Love, and Leadership, which shares her insights on perseverance and renewal.

Through both her professional and personal journeys, Samina brings rare depth to conversations about grief, growth, and human resilience.

https://saminabari.com/

Contact Kendra Rinaldi https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Episode themes:

• The Power of a Curated Community: Samina discusses the importance of having a reliable support system after the sudden loss of her husband, Doug, and how her friends naturally coordinated tasks—from writing the obituary to helping in the kitchen—so she could simply grieve.
• Practical Grief Support: Samina shares the inspiration behind her book, Don't Call Me a Widow, which serves as a firsthand guide for people who want to support grieving loved ones but don't know what to say or do. She advises against vague offers like "Is there anything I can do for you?" and suggests specific, thoughtful gestures like bringing tea, checking the mail, or just sitting in silence.
• The Problem with the Word "Widow": Samina explains her visceral reaction to being called a widow, noting the word's ancient origins implying someone who is useless or lacks purpose. She shares how she reframes her identity, emphasizing that she is still a wife and her husband is still her husband, he just died.
• Solo Parenting vs. Single Parenting: Samina clarifies the crucial distinction between single parenting (which is often by choice or circumstance, such as divorce) and solo parenting, where a surviving spouse bears 100% of the emotional burden and decision-making for their children without a sounding board.
• Children Are Not "Resilient" to Trauma: Samina debunks the common societal myth that grieving children are naturally resilient, highlighting that children lack the emotional maturity to process such massive loss and often manifest grief through anger, nightmares, or behavioral changes. She also shares a heartbreaking example of "parentification," where her seven-year-old daughter tried to suppress her own grief to take care of the household.
• Why Year Two is Harder: Samina notes that while support is heavy in the first year as you navigate administrative tasks and the initial shock, the second year can often feel more difficult because the reality sets in that the loss is forever.

Edit B Kiss is a holistic mentor, success habit coach, #1 best-selling author, Humanitarian Award winner, and international speaker. She specializes in guiding individuals from misery to peace within 30 days by integrating ancient healing techniques with neuroscience. Her journey from a 15-year career in petroleum engineering to holistic healing exemplifies her commitment to transformation and personal growth.

https://editbkiss.com

https://www.youtube.com/@MagicalKarmaPriestess

https://www.instagram.com/editbkiss

https://www.linkedin.com/in/editbkiss/

https://www.facebook.com/bkissedit

Contact Kendra Rinaldi to be a guest or for coaching: https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Show Highlights

• From Engineering to Healing: Edit shares her journey of growing up in communist Hungary, becoming a petroleum engineer to travel the world, and how experiencing severe panic attacks led her to seek natural, spiritual healing.
• Healing Modalities Explained: An easy-to-understand breakdown of what Edit practices, including Reiki (cleansing energy and raising vibration), Family Constellation Therapy (healing the family's unconscious pain), and Karma Yoga Healing (transcendental meditation).
• Multidimensional Trauma: Why someone might experience anxiety or triggers despite having a "perfect" childhood, and how our deep-rooted emotions can actually be tied to past lives or our ancestors' struggles.
• Navigating Life Transitions: Edit discusses her work with clients—often in their 40s and 50s—who are navigating divorces, grief, depression, or the heavy feeling of being lost in life.
• The Illusion of Control: The fascinating story of how getting let go from her corporate contracting job was a massive manifestation that pushed her into her true calling.
• Body, Mind, and Spirit Alignment: Practical advice for raising your vibration, including starting a Samadhi meditation practice, using nutritional supplements, and understanding why cutting out sugar, alcohol, and caffeine is vital for mental health.
• Edit's Books: A look into her published works, including On the Healer's Journey (a guide for lightworkers in their "cocoon phase") and her latest release, The Gap Filler Success, which combines grounded strategic action with spiritual tools like manifestation and numerology

EricaBaccus.com
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Contact Kendra Rinaldi to be odded to the newsletter, to find out about coaching or to be a guest on the show. https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Show Themes and highlights:

A 41-Year Love Story: Erica details her magical 41-year marriage to John, which was filled with deep connection, independent passions, and a cherished tradition of surprise anniversary trips.

The Alzheimer's Diagnosis: We trace John's 2020 early-stage Alzheimer's diagnosis and his firm declaration that his "brain is his person" and he did not want to live in a "vegetative state".

Navigating End-of-Life Laws: Erica explains why U.S. assisted dying laws fail dementia patients, leading them to seek help from Dignitas in Switzerland where the focus is solely on mental competency.

The Burden of Secrecy: The couple's difficult decision to keep their end-of-life plan hidden from their wider circle to protect John's dignity and avoid defending his choice.

A Final Farewell: How their family rallied to support John's final wishes, including a beautiful last weekend spent playing poker and creating memories with his children and grandchildren.

Planning While Healthy: Erica’s powerful plea for listeners to make and discuss their end-of-life plans while they are still healthy, rather than during a medical crisis

Jermaine Ee is a founder and storyteller interested in three things: how we spend our time, the work we do, and what we leave behind. His career has zigzagged across ed‐tech, logistics, toys, political campaigns, executive search, and impact projects, but the through‐line has always been the same: helping people make better decisions about their money, careers, and futures. He’s run financial‐aid workshops in low‐income high schools, built a startup to help kids confront their fear of math, and worked inside the Venture Capital & Private Equity ecosystem, studying how talent shapes enduring companies. Through Rotary and other efforts, he has helped lead humanitarian projects from Los Angeles to Colombia, Mexico, and Ukraine, working on refugee housing, medical transport, and frontline logistics.

Today, Jermaine spends most of his time on HeirLight, a simple and smart will maker designed to turn one of adulthood’s most avoided tasks into a fast, modern, emotionally intelligent experience. Born in Los Angeles and raised between LA and Malaysia, he thinks a lot about belonging, identity, and the quiet instructions we leave behind for the people we love.

***Since recording the podcast HeirLight is now also available in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Illinois by March 15.

***Chekout this link to get 50% off! www.heirlight.com/en/podcast 

https://www.eejermaine.com/

Contact Kendra Rinaldi to be a guest or for coaching information https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Show Highlights

• Navigating Migratory Grief: Jermaine discusses growing up across different countries like Malaysia and Mexico, and the grief and struggles of being the "new kid" coming back into the U.S. high school system.
• The Inspiration Behind HeirLight: Jermaine shares how a simple lunch conversation with his parents about retirement turned into a mission to create an unbiased, judgment-free estate planning app that helps families—particularly immigrant families—plan for the future without overwhelm.
• Honoring Immigrant Sacrifices: We hear a beautiful, tear-jerking story of Jermaine taking his parents back to Oklahoma to trace their first steps in the U.S., including a poignant moment at a Burger King that reminded the family of how far they've come in just one generation.
• Estate Planning as a Tool for Clarity: We discuss how HeirLight doesn't just record assets, but also captures the user's bucket list, helping them align their finances with what truly brings them joy and contentment today.
• The "Memory Dividend": Jermaine introduces the concept from the book Die With Zero, emphasizing that creating memories early in life allows you to enjoy the "dividends" of those memories for decades.
• Living Intentionally Before Loss: Jermaine opens up about taking his mom to Salzburg, Austria to live out her Sound of Music bucket list dream just eight days before she was suddenly hospitalized, reminding us all not to wait to live our lives.

Melissa Rymer is a certified recovery coach, author, and survivor whose work centers on helping individuals heal, rebuild, and regain self-trust after emotionally unsafe or high-conflict relationships. Using a trauma-informed and spiritually grounded approach, Melissa guides people in understanding relational dynamics, strengthening boundaries, planning safe transitions, and rebuilding financial and emotional stability to create lives rooted in clarity, confidence, and emotional safety.

She is the author of Grieving the Narcissist: Mourning the Love You Thought Was Real, a book that explores one facet of the healing journey many experience after leaving an emotionally manipulative relationship. Melissa is also the co-founder of the Victim to Warrior Method, where her work emphasizes long-term recovery, personal empowerment, and life after survival.

https://victimtowarriormethod.com/thegray  https://www.facebook.com/v2wvictimtowarrior https://www.tiktok.com/@v2wvictimtowarrior https://www.instagram.com/v2w_victimtowarrior/ https://www.youtube.com/@v2wvictimtowarrior

To get more information about coaching with Kendra Rinaldi or being a guest on this porcast reach out. https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Show Highlights:

• The "Sneak Attack" of Narcissistic Abuse: Melissa shares her personal story of meeting her ex-husband in a church recovery group, explaining how predators look for empathetic victims and mirror their lives to appear as the perfect "soulmate".
• The Mask Slips: A look at how the charming "Prince Charming" facade eventually falls away, leaving victims isolated, questioning their reality, and trying to fix an impossible situation.
• The Warning from a Professional: The pivotal moment when a marriage counselor refused to treat Melissa and her ex-husband together, privately warning Melissa that she was married to a narcissist.
• Understanding the Abuser's Psychology: We discuss how a narcissist's need to belittle others and their inability to accept failure actually stems from deep-rooted low self-esteem.
• Why It's So Hard to "Just Leave": Melissa breaks down the shame and self-isolation that keeps victims trapped, and why leaving a narcissistic relationship is a dangerous "war" that requires an exit strategy.
• From Victim to Warrior: How Melissa found love again with her current husband, John, and how they turned their shared experiences of surviving abuse into a business that helps others safely escape and recover.
• Grieving the Illusion: We explore the profound grief that comes with narcissistic abuse—validating that it is necessary to mourn the loss of the person you thought they were and the future you thought you would have

Lillian Eve Moore is a trauma expert and teacher known for her surgical precision, radical love, and optimistic approach to transformation. With more than twenty years of experience, she helps clients resolve trauma with uncommon speed by blending somatics, nervous-system work, energy medicine, and mindset tools, teaching them to work with themselves so breakthroughs become fast and lasting.

Her Treasure Hunting framework views every part of the psyche as precious material for creation. Trauma isn’t something to move past, it’s raw potential that, once alchemized, becomes the foundation for a life that wasn’t possible before. Influenced by motherhood, entrepreneurship, global travel, and a deep relationship with nature, Lillian’s work is both deeply human and profoundly efficient. Through mentoring and online programs, she guides clients into clarity, courage, and creative power.

Connect with Lillian Eve Moore: https://www.lillianevemoore.com/

Contact Kendra Rinaldi: https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Show Highlights & Themes:

• Grief as a "Portal": Lillian explains that grief is not something to be "healed" or "fixed". Instead, it is a beautiful portal that connects us to the eternal and the transient nature of existence.
• Trauma vs. Grief: While grief is a natural initiation, trauma acts as "undigested information" that can block us from fully moving through the grief portal.
• The Past is "Fiction": Lillian shares a profound perspective that whatever you experience in your mind is real to your body, regardless of objective facts. Because of this, the stories we tell ourselves about our past trauma can be rewritten to support our healing.
• 3 Steps to Process Trauma: Discover a simple formula for working with trauma: 1) get in touch with the wound, 2) give it kind or accepting attention, and 3) utilize the body's natural metabolism (like walking, EFT tapping, or EMDR) to process it.
• Manifestation for Trauma Survivors: For those whose nervous systems are dysregulated, standard "law of attraction" advice can feel invalidating. Lillian reframes manifestation not as acquiring things, but as an identity question: "Who do I want to be?".
• The Treasure Hunting Framework: Learn how to retrain your brain to look for "berries instead of tigers" by actively seeking evidence of love and goodness to build a new, healed identity.
• Nothing Cannot Be Healed: The episode concludes with a powerful message of hope—there is absolutely nothing that cannot be healed.

In this solo episode, I share my recent reflections after attending three different memorials.

We often avoid going to funerals, memorials, or celebrations of life because we are afraid it will be too sad or that it will "bum us out". However, I want to share how these ceremonies can actually be incredibly inspiring and uplifting experiences centered around an immense amount of love.

I discuss the beautiful and unique ways these families chose to honor their loved ones, who all lived into their 80s. You will hear about a beautiful at-home memorial that perfectly captured a mother's sense of humor with prank plastic spiders and her favorite recipe cards. I also share the story of a gentleman whose eulogy highlighted his incredible journey of moving to the United States, learning new languages, and validating his studies to build a beautiful life.

Key Takeaways from this episode:

• Funerals are about love, not just sadness: While there is certainly grief, the core of a memorial is the immense love present for the person who passed.
• Personalization brings deep comfort: Honoring a loved one's specific quirks—like their love for cats, cultural food, or even playing pranks—helps attendees connect with their memory and share wonderful stories.
• Witnessing the end of a life can inspire the rest of yours: Hearing about these lives lived with such profound purpose deeply inspired me. Having just turned 50 myself, these memorials made me reflect on how I want to show up for my family and live my next 30 years with intentionality and presence.

I invite you to listen and perhaps reconsider any reluctance you might have about attending a funeral or memorial in the future. I would also love to hear about your own experiences and what you have learned from the memorials you have attended!

Contact me on my website: https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/ or on Instagram

Jenny Robinson Clark is an author, former dancer and actress, and homeschooling mother of four. Inspired by motherhood, healing, and mindfulness, she wrote Are You Here?, a heartfelt children’s book exploring connection, grief, and the magical signs that remind us we are never alone. Jenny is passionate about meditation, creative living, and building meaningful moments with her family. When she’s not writing or baking sourdough, she can often be found in a hip-hop dance class with her husband, Travis Clark, her biggest supporter.

Travis Clark is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and founding member of the pop-rock band We the Kings, whose music has connected with fans around the world through heartfelt lyrics and high-energy performances. Throughout his career, he has remained passionate about creating music that brings people together and tells meaningful stories.

While his accomplishments in music have shaped much of his professional journey, Travis considers his most important role to be that of a devoted husband and proud father to his four children. Family is at the heart of everything he does, inspiring both his life and his creativity. Balancing life on the road with life at home, he strives to lead with love, gratitude, and purpose — believing that his greatest success is found not on stage, but in the memories and moments shared with his family.

 Order your Book here www.jennyrobinsonclark.com 

Free Printables for Children

Song by We the Kings "Are you here?"

Connect with Kendra Rinaldi to be a guest on the podcast or for information about Grief Coaching and Grief Education Workshops 

In this episode, we cover:

• The Inspiration Behind the Art: Jenny shares the emotional journey of moving back to Florida to care for her mother, Debbie, during her cancer treatments. She recounts the profound peace of her mother's passing at home, accompanied by a beautiful sign: three deer that laid outside her window for three days and walked away just as she took her last breath.
• A 3 A.M. Divine Message: After attending a Joe Dispenza retreat with the intention of reconnecting with her mom's spirit, Jenny woke up in the middle of the night and channeled a beautiful poem.
• Turning Grief into a Song: Travis (lead singer of We the Kings and Jenny's husband) shares how he took Jenny's late-night poem and turned it into the emotionally resonant companion song, Are You Here?,.
• Creating a Toolkit for Children: Jenny and Travis explain how the poem naturally evolved into a children's book. With stunning, hopeful illustrations by Elisabetta Fantone (who was also grieving the recent loss of her father), the book serves as a "toolkit" to help kids understand grief, process the unknown, and look for signs from their loved ones.
• Healing the Inner Child: We discuss how this book is not exclusively for children. For adults experiencing "grief brain" who cannot focus on a novel, this book offers simple, grounded beauty. It also provides an opportunity for adults to heal their "inner child" if their own childhood grief was never acknowledged or processed.
• A Mission over Ego: Jenny shares her ultimate mission for the book: to get it out of the stores and directly into hospitals, grieving centers, libraries, and schools to help families navigate their darkest seasons with hope and connection

Nancy Watson has been practicing yoga since the year 2000. In 2019, she experienced a traumatic loss and realized that the only thing that made her feel a tiny bit less awful was continuing to show up on her yoga mat. She completed her yoga teacher training (YTT-200) in 2022 and knew that she wanted to help others to discover the ways that yoga can be helpful in grief. She went on to achieve a certification in Compassionate Bereavement Care Yoga from the MISS Foundation and began offering Yoga for Grief classes in January 2024. Nancy is currently the only yoga teacher in the Northeast Texas area who leads yoga classes specifically for grieving individuals.  She loves sharing what she calls "the yoga magic" with her participants, both in her grief-focus classes and in her "regular" yoga classes. Find her on Instagram @yogaforgriefdallas or on Facebook @yoga.for.grief.dallas.

yogaforgriefdallas.com

Contact Kendra Rinaldi to be a guest, get the newsletter  or for a complimentary coaching session: https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/

Show Highlights:

• A History of Silent Grief: Nancy reflects on losing her father to a brain tumor at age six in 1967, and how her family’s refusal to talk about him shaped her early inability to process loss.
• The Loss of Adam/Emily: Nancy opens up about the sudden death of her child, who was born Emily and later transitioned to Adam. She discusses the complex layers of her grief, including the feeling that she had to grieve her child twice.
• A Tiny Bit Less Awful: In the harrowing months following her child's death, Nancy found that stepping onto her yoga mat—even if she cried the entire time—was the only thing that made her feel a "tiny bit less awful".
• The Parallels of Grief and Yoga: Nancy and Kendra explore how grief, much like yoga, should be non-competitive and non-comparative. They discuss how grievers must honor wherever they are on a given day, just as a yogi must accept their daily balance on the mat.
• Quieting the "Mean Mind": Nancy explains how yoga breathwork helps regulate the nervous system and how mindfulness can help grievers step back from the cruel things their "mean minds" tell them.
• The Yoga for Grief Workbook: Nancy shares the journey of creating her workbook, which is designed for all bodies and includes short, accessible yoga flows (both floor and chair versions) and guided meditations

En este episodio, quiero validar la pesadez y las emociones encontradas que trae esta encrucijada. Hablamos sobre cómo nuestros roles cambian drásticamente: pasamos de ser los "managers" de nuestros hijos a ser sus consejeros, y al mismo tiempo, nos convertimos en los cuidadores de nuestros padres. Es un proceso lleno de duelo por la dinámica familiar que conocíamos.

Si te sientes abrumado tratando de estar en dos lugares a la vez, este episodio es para ti. Te comparto mis reflexiones sobre el mito del "balance" perfecto y tres herramientas fundamentales para sobrevivir esta etapa sin volverte loco: priorizar tu autocuidado (ponerse la máscara de oxígeno primero), soltar la culpa y apoyarte en tu comunidad.

Quiero que sepas que te veo, te entiendo, y estás haciendo un trabajo increíble sosteniendo ambas partes de tu mundo. ¡Date mucha gracia y paciencia.

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