This episode is a post-illness reflection on what happens when all our plans and aspirations get waylaid and we end up getting nowhere that we had planned to be. It includes:

• How my end of year plans got upended
• A metaphor of going NOWHERE on a forlorn highway
• Why nowhere is exactly the right place to be (Now Here in fact)
• How inspiration arises when the ego runs out of certainty
• Why this matters during the holiday season

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In this episode I discuss "immortality projects" - a term coined by Ernest Becker to describe the ego's efforts to escape the fear of death. This episode includes:

• What type of "projects" the ego creates to hide from death
• The cost of denying death
• Why denying death makes us vulnerable to cults, conspiracy theories, and manipulation
• Why we need to awaken to our Higher Selves, our witnessing and observing selves, and help the ego surrender to our own higher wisdom
• Why even "death work" can be an immortality project for the ego

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Today I'm sharing Thich Nhat Hahn's 4 elements of true love, which is a Buddhist perspective on love that I find valuable. This episode includes:

• Loving-kindness: May you be truly well
• Compassion: Your pain is not separate from mine
• Joy: Your joy is my joy
• Equanimity/Freedom: Love that doesn't possess or control

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In this episode I talk about the timing of delivering bad news and the experience of carrying that bad news until the moment it can be shared. This episode includes:

• The weight of carrying bad news
• The divine timing that sometimes asks us to wait
• Why pausing is a survival skill in our current hurry-up society
• How synchronicity can occur when we slow down and allow for pauses
• The value of saying Not Just Yet

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In this episode I'll share insights from my recent Substack post on the metaphor of the butterfly life cycle and why as a society we are in a "chrysalis phase" right now. This episode includes:

• The need for grief rituals - both individual and collective - as we navigate this time of dissolution
• Why forgiveness is an essential part of grief work
• Why each of us must find our own unique form of creativity to bring to the world
• How to protect what is new and fragile
• Recognizing other "imaginal cells" in order to collaborate

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This episode is Part 2 on the mini-series on dealing with the fear of death. Today we look again at the 5 doorways of exploring death and I share verses from The Tao of Death that can help us contemplate the deeper meaning of each doorway. The episode includes:

• Why we need to go within to learn about our fear of death
• How to "die before we die" by releasing ego attachments
• Why we must learn to live in the present moment rather than the imagined future
• Connecting to something larger than ourselves
• Speaking and connecting to others about our fears of death

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In this episode I share some thoughts from ChatGPT along with my own about how to deal with our innate fear of death. Next week I'll continue with this topic and share some wisdom from The Tao of Death but first we begin with a deep dive into death. This episode incudes:

• What if we dive beneath the fear of death instead of trying to rise above it

• Look beneath the fear
• Learn to die before you die
• Practice presence
• Connect to something larger
• Speak the fear aloud

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In this episode I share how to use the Disney film Frozen 2--which I've been watching on repeat with my 3 year old granddaughter--as a catalyst for conversations about loss and grief. Here are some tips for using the film and a discussion guide you can download for your own family movie night. This episode include:

• Frozen 2's backstory of grief
• Elsa's Hero's Journey in the film and what we learn from it
• Anna's journey through overwhelming grief and how to talk about it
• Teaching moments for families
• How to talk with children after the movie

Get the discussion guide here

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In this episode I share how my own grieving process was helped by experiencing the visible evidence of mourning I encountered when traveling through Italy (as written in Wild and Holy). This episode includes:

• How grief is visible in Italy but repressed and hidden here in the US
• The cost of repressed grief to our emotions and physical body
• How shared grief can be healing
• The connectedness we can experience through grief is needed in our society to heal our divisions
• How to make our own grief more visible
• How to help others share their grief more comfortably

Please check out the Kickstarter campaign for my new book Wild and Holy!!

Learn about my books here

Check out End-of-Life University Podcast

Read my latest Substack post

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In today's brief episode I share some thoughts about how my travels through Italy revealed to me that grief is a powerful source of creativity if we face it directly. This episode highlights the poetry of Andrea Gibson, whose journey through cancer sparked luminous creativity in the midst of grief. This episode includes:

• How grief breaks us open to allow creativity to emerge
• Grief becomes fertile ground for creative ideas to flourish
• How grief can become a medicine, as described in Andrea Gibson's poetry
• Grief as a transformational fire that burns away what doesn't matter
• How grief ultimately connects us will all humanity and creativity can create a ripple effect of hope and innovation

Please check out the Kickstarter campaign for my new book Wild and Holy!!

Learn about my books here

Check out End-of-Life University Podcast

Read my latest Substack post

Make a donation here