When it comes to life implosions, Katie Cavallo might just take the cake. Toxic workplaces and patriarchy in the church. Near-death experiences and the anticipatory grief of losing a loved one. Frustrating chronic illness. Mystical visions. This one's got it all friends, including Thich Nhat Hanh inspired meditation, more Mary Oliver poems and a spontaneous acapella rendition of Woyaya.

Feel free to sing along when life feels muddy and rough ❤️.

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Laura and Mary Lynn share their personal life-implosion  experiences and how their sh*t-hitting-the-fan moments ultimately led to freedom.

**Trigger Warning ** Domestic violence, intimate partner violence, relationship abuse, sexual assault. Please take good care of yourself and feel free to skip this episode if needed.

Domestic Violence Resources:

• Abuse Evaluation Form: https://6zt.a07.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Abuse-Evaluation-Form.pdf 
• Safety Plans: https://drramona.com/safety-plans/

Local San Diego Resources:

• No Silence No Violence: https://www.speakingoutnsnv.org/
• Center for Community Solutions: www.ccssd.org
• Your Safe Place - A Family Justice Center (San Diego): https://www.sandiego.gov/yoursafeplace  
• North County Solutions for Change: www.solutionsforchange.org
• YWCA San Diego: https://www.ywcasandiego.org/help/survivor-solutions/  

National Resources:

• Family Justice Center Alliance: http://www.familyjusticecenter.org/ 
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: http://www.thehotline.org/
• Relationship information for young adults: https://www.loveisrespect.org/
• National Sexual Assault Hotline: https://www.rainn.org/get-help/national-sexual-assault-hotline
• National Organization for Victim Advocacy: www.trynova.org
•  The Network/La Red (Domestic violence hotline for LGBTQIA+): www.tnlr.org/en/24-hour-hotline/
• National Office on Violence Against Women: www.justice.gov/ovw 

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After dealing with some hard things over Christmas, Laura emerges from her winter hibernation cocoon with a dispatch from the switchback. Mary Lynn introduces us to caterpillar goo, the natural cycle of wintering into spring and all the wisdom of Mary Oliver poems. Also, we’re workshopping new ideas for what letting go at Lent looks like for us.

Moving from:  Deprive yourself  -->  Treat yo’ self --> What does the soft animal of your body love?

Tell us what your soft animal part looks like SLASH what does your British butler part want/enjoy/say/bring you?

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We’re wrapping up our discussion of death with tears, laughter, poetry and an amazing interview with Cristina Bernardo Kullberg who experienced devastating loss and death in 2020, including the sudden death of her 10-month-old daughter, Aviva.

Cristina walks us through her grief journey and how her emotions around and perception of death, the spiritual world and being present have shifted. She also untangles the difference between inevitable pain and optional suffering and shares how Aviva’s legacy lives on with the Aviva Women in Science and She Shines LeadHership programs, and Aviva Day in Cameroon on December 16. 

We also discuss our first listener-submitted question (yay Lauren!) about the interconnectedness of energy, nature, science, life and death. Somehow, we also wander into talk of multiverses, the gospel as compost, the real definition of “religion,” shitty first marriages and a hot take on the Mona Lisa.

Thank you for listening loves, this is a long one . 

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Links from this episode

Open Dreams, Aviva Day & She Shines

• Open Dreams - https://www.open-dreams.org/
  • Holiday Giving Silent Auction Fundraiser for Open Dreams (ends 12/17) – https://www.32auctions.com/opendreams
• Aviva Women in Science – https://www.open-dreams.org/avivawomeninscience
  • Aviva Day + 10th Anniversary of Open Dreams GoFund Me - https://www.gofundme.com/f/37fnd262rc
• She Shines Women’s LeadHership - https://www.open-dreams.org/sheshines

Grief & Bereavement Resources

• Baby Aviva Orangutan Diva: A Jungle Quest to Discover Inner Strength - https://a.co/d/2l7ZeZC
• Hans Kullberg’s Bereaved Father Instagram - @Avivasdad
• It’s OK You’re Not OK-  https://a.co/d/02sJyeC
• Refuge in Grief - https://refugeingrief.com/
• Blue Christmas Contemplative Service @ St. Andrews by-the-Sea Pacific Beach  - https://standrewspb.org/events/2023/12/19/blue-christmas-contemplative-service
  • Blue Christmas service is designed to be a quiet, meditative, and peaceful space in the midst of the holidays to remember those we love who have died; to witness to our complicated feelings; to sit with others who are also struggling. 
  • Service is 12/19 @ 5:30pm, followed by Hunger Supper at 6:30pm.
  • A candlelight vigil for those who have died this year while living on the street in San Diego will follow  at 7:30pm. 

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Join us for the second part of our conversation about death where Laura asks resident podcast priest Mary Lynn the questions she’s dying to know the answers to (pun intended) about death. Spoiler alert: There’s no fix to death and we’ll never have it all figured out. And we also talk about botox mummies, Mary Oliver quotes and whether or not eyeballs are provided in heaven.

To ask a question or share a story, leave us a voice note: https://www.speakpipe.com/NotaChillHang

Laura and Mary Lynn kick off the podcast with a super chill topic: Death! Just in time for Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos, we dive into the big D; something we all share in common as humans and also spend a lot of our lives avoiding. Join us as we explore our early childhood concepts (and misconceptions?) of what happens when we die, re-thinking childhood prayers, leather Jesus, ChrEasters, grief, funerals and talking to our kids about death while at the same time trying to make sense of our own mortality.

To ask a question or share a story, leave us a voice note: https://www.speakpipe.com/NotaChillHang