The Creative Grief Journey

The host welcomes listeners and chats with her sister Denise about having fun, their day trip to the Ringling Art Museum in Sarasota, and an unplanned Goodwill stop that ran long and led to a hanger dispute. They share laughs as part of grief recovery, talk about watching “Sheep Detectives,” indulging in Blue Bell ice cream, and getting lost in the heat before finding the museum. They discuss a playful “picture war,” how proximity changes communication with friends, and the pros and cons of working from home. The conversation includes side-hustle ideas using Facebook Marketplace, a Belize creativity wellness retreat through Helios Recovery in November, dog-sitting Brisket mishaps, playing euchre with beginners, thrifted art projects, and trying budget recipes and local Greek food.

00:00 Welcome and Sister Chat

00:29 Ringling Museum Day

01:03 Goodwill Haul and Hanger Drama

02:04 Ice Cream and Heat Mishap

03:29 Picture War Shenanigans

04:17 Friends and Working From Home

06:00 Vacation Styles and Florida Walks

07:17 Side Hustle Ideas on Marketplace

10:00 Belize Wellness Retreat Plug

11:33 Brisket Dog Sitting Stories

12:55 Euchre Night and Creative Plans

14:30 Budget Cooking and Vacation Eats

16:01 Wrap Up and Subscribe

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]

In this episode of the Creative Grief Journey, the host talks with her guest, Brynnlee, about what grief feels like for a child after her baby brother Willy died when he was one. Brynnlee shares that she felt sad and describes how painting, coloring, and making things together helped her feel happy and gave her no time to be sad. They discuss the different art materials Brynnlee uses, what she likes to paint, and how creativity can help a sad heart feel better over time. Brynnlee also talks about planting and caring for flowers and a special tree, and how she comforts her mom when she cries. The episode emphasizes that grief looks different for everyone, it’s okay to cry, and loved ones can be held in hearts and memories, with an invitation to join a free Skool support community.

00:00 Childhood Grief Intro

00:48 Willys Story

01:30 Coping Through Creativity

02:48 Art Supplies Evolution

04:09 Painting Joyful Details

05:41 Choosing Happiness

06:35 Healing With Nature

07:49 Helping Mom Through Tears

08:19 How Grief Changes

10:05 Closing Support Invite

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]

Discussing how being a multi-creative who once felt pressured to choose one passion, now sees many passions as a gift, a lesson reinforced through grief. While preparing the backyard and cleaning the pool, an unexpected memory of Bradley getting hurt on the pool gate triggers sudden tears, illustrating how grief arrives uninvited in ordinary moments. They emphasize the goal isn’t to stop grief, but to keep living while holding both tears and joy, supported by travel, retreats, self-care, creativity, and community. After realizing they rarely celebrate accomplishments, they recall “ripples” they’ve created, including an act of kindness for Jake—giving him Bradley’s tennis shoes after an overdose—which he later credits as meaningful in his recovery. The episode invites viewers to list hardships they’ve overcome, pursue joy without guilt, and consider the Rooted and Rising Retreat in Belize and the speaker’s Skool group.

00:00 Many Passions Gift

01:35 Grief Hits Suddenly

03:09 Living With Both

04:02 Recovery Needs Community

04:33 Celebrate Your Ripples

05:45 Jake And The Shoes

07:49 Invitation To Create

09:15 Joy Honors Love

09:47 Belize Retreat Invite

11:24 Final Encouragement

Join us in Belize

Here is the info: Belize Retreat

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]

The speaker explores how grief affects both sleeping dreams and “living dreams,” sharing personal stories of losing her father in an automobile accident and later her son, Brad, and how these losses altered her relationship with dreaming. She recounts a vivid, comforting dream Brad’s friend shared—seeing Brad on a rainy Florida beach saying, “Tell everybody it’s beautiful here, and I’ll see you later”—and explains psychological reasons dreams can change during grief, including disrupted REM sleep, stress hormones, trauma, and emotional processing, while also describing dreams as potentially spiritual and mysterious. Shifting to life dreams, she describes how grief can shrink motivation and joy, and encourages rebuilding purpose through focus, vision boards, journaling, and meaningful action, including her work with Ohio CAN (Change Addiction Now) supporting early recovery. She closes with reflective questions to help viewers reconnect with hope, creativity, health, environment, relationships, meaning, and future possibilities, and invites people to join her community, retreats, and coaching.

00:00 Grief And Dreams

00:49 Personal Loss Stories

01:47 A Comforting Dream

03:18 Why Dreams Change

04:42 Spiritual Meaning Of Dreams

05:54 Awake Life Dreams

06:57 Purpose From Pain

08:58 Focus And Attraction

11:46 Write These Questions

12:35 Joy And Aliveness

13:04 Creativity Prompts

14:12 Body And Energy

15:01 Home And Environment

15:55 Relationships And Support

16:48 Meaning And Legacy

17:14 Future Vision Questions

17:39 Closing Encouragement

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]

How grief can pull you into survival mode, making you stop dreaming, planning, and caring for yourself, and argues that healing isn’t “moving on” but coming back to yourself without toxic positivity or denying the pain. 

How grief affects the nervous system and brain—fatigue, depression, guilt about joy, memory issues, decision fatigue, increased cortisol, low dopamine—and emphasize that neglecting yourself isn’t laziness but overwhelm. 

This episode offers practical “baby steps” and bigger steps to rebuild identity and safety through movement/strength training, decluttering, creativity, nourishing routines, community, and retreats, and discusses visualization, neuroplasticity, and intentional action (including a personal story of manifesting a Florida home).

Inviting you to a day-long Younique Wellness retreat in Bellevue, Ohio focused on creativity, nourishment, nervous system regulation, and community.

00:00 When Grief Erases You

00:41 Coming Back to Yourself

02:03 Why Self Care Stops

03:37 The Healing Pivot

04:56 Tiny Habits That Rebuild

06:57 Creativity and Flow State

07:52 Manifestation With Action

11:13 Dream Home Visualization Story

13:58 Let Yourself Desire Again

15:10 Baby Steps vs Big Leaps

17:45 Retreat and Community Healing

19:24 You Still Get to Live

20:15 Final Goodbye and Subscribe

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]

Dawn explains that grief affects the body as well as emotions, often causing deep exhaustion, heaviness, brain fog, pain, sleep and appetite changes, gut issues, immune crashes, and nervous system and hormonal disruption. Drawing on personal experiences after losing her son and later a father, she describes “grief brain,” difficulty thinking, and how society’s pressure to “keep going” conflicts with a body stuck in survival mode. She challenges common beliefs such as needing to be strong or that time alone heals, emphasizing restoration and rest. Small, consistent actions—journaling, making the bed, stretching, walking, sunlight, cooking, music, and simple creative practices like doodling—can build momentum, support dopamine and endorphin release, and help move grief through the body. There is a free Creative Grief Journey Skool community, journal prompts, and upcoming retreats in Belize and Ohio.
00:00 Grief Lives in the Body
01:41 Physical Signs and Survival Mode
03:13 Grief Brain and Trauma Fog
04:49 Symptoms Checklist and Nervous System
07:44 Grief Myths and Permission to Rest
08:57 Tiny Habits and Creative Healing
12:41 Self Soothing and Momentum
14:25 Community Support and Retreat Tools
16:16 Nature’s Pace of Healing
18:16 Closing Encouragement and Share

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]

In this episode, the host shares a personal shift in her grief journey, describing grief and life as ongoing works in progress and suggesting grief can be a catalyst for joy, abundance, freedom, and contentment. Drawing from Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret, she outlines three steps—ask, believe, and receive—and explains how vision boards and detailed visualization (including her goal of owning a Mercedes-Benz) support manifestation alongside consistent action. She recounts a difficult week of missing Brad and how returning to gratitude, creative projects, and supportive, like-minded people helped her shift. Examples include receiving a $500 escrow refund, improved health through consistent weight training and nutrition, new job opportunities, finding a lost iPad, and booking a better-paid wedding portrait. She encourages morning routines, journaling, gratitude lists, and joining her Skool community or seven-week Creative Grief Journey Method program.

00:00 A Shift in Grief

01:37 Finding Joy in Ordinary Moments

02:24 Happiness Is Inside

04:07 Law of Attraction Basics

05:36 Visualization and Vision Boards

06:47 A Grief Dip and Reset

08:15 Programs and Community Support

09:07 Life Happens for Me

10:42 Money Miracle Example

12:25 Vision Board Tour

13:18 Consistency Creates Change

15:08 Jobs and New Opportunities

16:51 Contentment and Unexpected Wins

19:46 Letting Go to Move Forward

20:32 Applying This to Grief

23:21 Daily Routines to Shift Energy

24:47 Closing Invitation and Goodbye

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]

The speaker, a nurse practitioner who has experienced multiple traumatic losses, discusses how grief commonly disrupts sleep through rumination, intrusive thoughts, stress and hormone changes, noting research that up to 91% of people with complicated grief have sleep problems and that untreated insomnia can worsen depression, anxiety and PTSD. They recommend cognitive behavioral therapy and share practical sleep-hygiene strategies: consistent bedtimes, reducing screen time and moving phones away, keeping the room cool, creating a wind-down ritual, using calming music or guided meditation, breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, limiting caffeine after noon and avoiding alcohol. They also mention options like occasional melatonin, potassium, essential oils, herbal teas, journaling (including dream journaling), mantras, and possibly weighted blankets, emphasizing persistence, seeking therapy or short-term medical help if needed, and finding support through community and lifelines.

00:00 Grief And Sleepless Nights

01:48 Why Grief Disrupts Sleep

03:49 Help Options And Therapy

05:06 Bedtime Routine Basics

07:11 Music Breathing Meditation

09:24 Caffeine Alcohol And Relaxation

10:57 Natural Sleep Supports

13:52 Journaling And Support

17:04 Mantras And Final Encouragement

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]

The speaker shares a recent experience of feeling immobilized by grief despite trying coping strategies, emphasizing that “vegging out” isn’t failure and that grief isn’t something to fix but to manage through normal ups and downs. They introduce practical five-minute “grief hacks” that can be used anytime and explain why they work: breath-work (including longer exhales and box breathing) to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and vagus nerve; writing it out (handwriting preferred) to engage the brain, reduce amygdala reactivity, and declutter thoughts; body movement/dancing to release stored emotions and regulate the nervous system; Healing Touch with hand-over-heart and supportive mantras to self-soothe and release oxytocin; stepping outside/grounding in nature to reduce cortisol and reconnect; and creativity (drawing, doodling, coloring, bilateral stimulation) to lower stress and activate reward and flow states. They also suggest gratitude or spiritual rituals, building a morning routine, and joining their free Skool community with journal prompts.

00:00 Feeling Stuck in Grief

01:21 Unhelpful Coping Habits

02:50 Five Minute Reset Plan

04:42 Breathwork for Calm

07:24 Journal It Out

12:38 Move Your Body

14:47 Healing Touch Self Soothe

16:56 Step Outside and Ground

19:06 Creativity as Medicine

21:41 Gratitude and Wrap Up

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]

The host returns after a pause and explains stepping away due to feeling overwhelmed and taking a stressful full-time, on-call job that they later resigned from. 

After leaving, new aligned opportunities emerged, including joining a retreat in November in Belize and collaborating with Younique Wellness in Bellevue, Ohio on potential art classes and a day-long retreat, alongside deeper self-healing through a creatives group with Garrin Ase, revisiting The Artist’s Way, daily exercise, and making hearts for The Great Mother March. 

Drawing from major losses—her father and her son Bradley—she emphasizes grief as non-linear, advocates creativity, conversation, and simple daily “grief lessons,” encourages asking others for notes and memories, and previews a seven-week grief recovery program plus a free 30-day journaling email prompt. 

00:00 Welcome Back Update

00:54 Why I Paused

01:09 Quitting the Job

02:06 New Retreat Opportunities

02:32 Wellness Center Collabs

03:43 Investing in Healing

04:38 Free Journaling Challenge

05:21 Art Hearts Practice

06:29 Discipline and Guidance

07:13 My Losses and Why

08:59 Podcast Is Back

10:04 Grief Lessons and Community

11:13 Brad's Memory Book

11:50 Ask for Support

14:54 Season Preview

15:57 Meta Glasses Tech

16:40 Final Thanks

🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟

Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE

🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE

Dawn's Info:
Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova
IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239
Email: [email protected]