"Connection is the antidote to control."

In this episode of Restorative Grief, we're exploring how the need to control everything in our lives, especially in times of grief, leaves us feeling disconnected and burned out.

The key to healing isn't in fixing every problem, but in returning to our core values and reconnecting with ourselves and others.

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"Whatever deserves collapse has a container here."

Ned Buskirk wants you to live fully alive by embracing the fact that you too, will die.

Our grief stories deserve a space for expansion, expression, and the energy of an audience. Through his nonprofit You're Going 2 Die, Ned and his team are bringing diverse communities creatively into the conversation of grief, loss, and our shared mortality.

Links + Resources from this episode:

• You're Going 2 Die
• YG2D on Instagram
• The YG2D Podcast
• Restorative Grief Patreon & bonuses
• Restorative Grief coaching
• Connect with Mandy on Instagram

"Estrangement draws a line between what we can accept and what we cannot. By holding compassion for ourselves and others, we create space for growth—even if it happens apart."

This week's conversation about grieving through estrangement is a primer for either side of the loss. Whether you are the one setting the boundary or you are the one feeling the distance, this essay is an invitation toward yourself through one of the most painful and misunderstood experiences of loss.

Links + Resources from this episode:

• ​Join the Restorative Grief Patreon!
• ​Learn more about 1:1 coaching opportunities
• ​Buy Mandy’s book on grieving
• ​Subscribe to the Restorative Grief quarterly

"You'll never know unless you try."

Jason Lange wants every man to get emotional. In his work as a men's embodiment coach, Jason teaches men how to invite their suppressed emotions to the surface and moving toward a more embodied way of living.

This conversation goes beyond men, however. As human beings, we can learn to navigate spaces to create a greater sense of safety for ourselves and others. We simply have to give it a try.

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"It is often that which is left unsaid that reveals the most."

In this week's conversation, we're exploring the power of active listening as a grief supporter for others and particularly as a griever for ourselves!

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"Honoring where you are matters until you are ready to move into something new; but until then, we don't push."

Momoko Uno's experience quarantined in an Australian hotel for two weeks led her to lean into the writing career she'd always wanted. What started as a way to process the pain of waiting to see her terminally ill mother became the transformational expression that turned a quarantine journal into the raw and moving memoir "Fourteen Days: A memoir of love, loss, and quarantine hell."

Links + Resources from this episode:

• Momoko's book
• Connect with Momoko
• Become a Patron
• Learn more about Restorative Grief coaching

"Unlearning begins with removing the ‘good/bad’ binary and moving toward a spectrum of wellness."

Grief is often seen through the limited lens of good vs. bad, creating barriers to fully understanding and engaging with our emotions. But what if there was no "bad" way to grieve? What if we could reframe our approach to grief by unlearning these binaries and embracing a spectrum of experiences instead? In this episode, we’ll explore how unlearning societal expectations of grief allows us to move toward healing that is both authentic and expansive, especially in a world that still stigmatizes loss.

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"Everything is connected."

Dr. Rosemarie Rutecki wants you to eat the foods that make you happy - more specifically, the foods that make your GUT happy.

Connecting the dots between our gut health and the wellness of our mind, emotions, and spirit are crucial and Dr. Rosemarie's work is a low-barrier entry point to learning how to support our holistic grief work with food as medicine.

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"How do we move forward with advocacy in these spaces where anger, grief, and politics seem so overwhelming?"

The emotional toll of politics cannot be glossed over, and in my own life, I needed a whole new word for it.

Angriefolitical explores the emotional collision of grief, anger, and politics, offering insights on how to navigate these charged conversations with empathy, self-awareness, and a commitment to collective healing.

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"This grief is so hard because we cannot control it."

We’ve all experienced something unique in our grief stories, but when it comes to sibling loss, there are some aspects even the experts don’t understand.

Sibling loss is a woefully underrepresented area of grief support, so when Annie Sklaver Orenstein lost her big brother, Ben, she realized her work as a qualitative researcher could be a great gift to the community of sibling loss survivors.

Her book, "Always a Sibling: The Forgotten Mourner’s Guide to Grief" is a masterclass in self-awareness and cultivating the type of support you need through the loss of a sibling (and anyone else, of course).

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