Learn Something about Grief…

  • Listen to this episode to learn about:

    • social taboos around death, dying, and grief

    • the science of bereavement

    • how the funeral industry has shaped our society’s norms around death & dying

  • Listen to this episode to learn about:

    • What forgiveness is

    • How to reach forgiveness

    • How forgiveness relates to grief

    • How it can free you from judgment, anger, and pain

  • Listen to this episode to learn:

    • What it means to soften grief and let it move through the body

    • How to use breath work and tapping to soften the grief

    • The importance of feeling our big emotions (“what comes out of the body will never make you sick”)

  • Listen to this episode to learn more about

    • Dreams we’ve had about dead loved ones

    • Connecting with our dead loved ones

    • How dreams help us to process emotions

    • Lucid dreaming

  • Listen to this episode to learn:

    • how our attachment style affects our grief

    • how regularly thinking about death and mortality can increase happiness

    • living in the present moment

    • End of Life plans

  • Listen to this episode to learn:

    • Her book Grief Ally and how to support the bereaved

    • How to use love languages in your support

    • Supporting the bereaved WILL involve making mistakes and that’s okay!

    • Secondary losses

  • Listen to this episode to learn:

    • The difference between empathy and compassion

    • How crucial it is to ACKNOWLEDGE someone’s grief

    • How grief can manifest in any or all of the 5planes: emotional, physical, cognitive, behavioral, and spiritual

    • Grief and attachment

    • How to respond with compassion to someone who is grieving

  • Listen to this episode to learn:

    • the role of Ahimsa (non-harm, one of the 5 Yamas) in self-compassion during grief

    • surrendering to emotions with Ishvaraparidhana (divine surrender, one of the 5 Niyamas)

    • Supporting somatic healing and nervous system regulation with Asana (the movements and poses)

    • Cultural differences in grieving

Listen to someone’s grief story…

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • The experience of losing a friend while in college

    • How to integrate the death of a friend into the story of our life

    • How we have the desire to know what we meant to the friend who passed, in order for us to know how to grieve

    • Death Doula work

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • How Alex met her best friend Katie, and the grief after her passing

    • Learning to balance the anger of grief

    • Reactions versus chosen responses

    • How society pressures us to act “fine” as quickly as possible after the death of a loved one

    • The complexity of not crossing boundaries with our deceased friend’s family

    • The idea of our friend living on in us

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • Losing an entire friend-group after the death of a friend

    • How our identities can be enmeshed with our friend-groups

    • Keeping our memories alive

    • The expansiveness of love

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • Toby Dorr’s friend Lisa, who was executed by lethal injection in 2021

    • How prison strips you bare to who you really are

    • Toby’s memoir LIVING WITH CONVICTION, which is all about the unexpected sisterhood she discovered while in prison

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • Karen’s story of the multiple friends she’s lost over the years, and how she’s grieved

    • how no one teaches you how to grieve – and we don’t get nearly enough time off work to grieve!

    • Forgiving yourself

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • The shocking death of Audrey’s friend in college, after just cracking open the glorious beginning of their friendship

    • How hard it is to not have anyone to grieve the loss with

    • The fear of complicating the family members’ grief

    • How our society doesn't value friendships as much as romantic relationships

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • the grief Amy has experienced throughout her life

    • the loss of dear friends

    • grief massage

    • healing rituals and traditions to remember her friends

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • how Jessica grieved after the death of a friend and struggled to openly share her emotions

    • telling people how you want to nurtured and supported (rather than assuming they’ll know!)

    • Expectations and boundary setting with grief

  • Listen to this episode, Part 1 and Part 2, to hear more about Hannah’s story and why she created Friends Missing Friends.

  • Listen to this episode, Part 1 and Part 2, to hear a conversation about:

    • The question “Did I do enough?” after a friend passes away

    • How important it is to celebrate friendship and keep your heart open after loss

    • The holographic heart (our heart-mind), and how we can love multiple people with our whole heart.

  • Listen to Part 1 and Part 2 of this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • How a cancer diagnosis has changed Tekquiree’s view on life

    • Giving people grace

    • Grieving the death of her childhood friend Natasha

    • The healing power of getting to say goodbye

  • Listen to Part 1 and Part 2 of this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • Honoring and remembering Jorin’s friend Mike Enriquez

    • The idea of carrying on someone’s essence and identity

    • The ephemeral nature of improv and life

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about the complicated and messy grief that can come after an ex-friend’s death.

  • Listen to this episode to hear a listener’s voice message about the complex and difficult grief of grieving the death of a distanced/disconnected friend.

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • How friend-loss is a disenfranchised grief, and how that affects our grieving process

    • Rebecca’s dear friend Courtney, who died 3 weeks before recording this episode – the complexity of the grief, Courtney’s celebration of life, and more

    • The state of bereavement leave in workplaces (spoiler alert: it’s not great), and how it could be better

    • Grief is not logical

    • The limit to grief (and love) do not exist!

    • How grief can coexist with joy

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about

    • How we all express and experience grief differently

    • Using writing as a tool for processing grief

    • Signs from our loved ones

    • Honoring our loved ones’ legacies

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about the deep, loving friendship and creative partnership between Amber Jeffrey from The Grief Gang, and Poppy Chancellor from The GriefCase.

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • Brendan processing his feelings and thoughts through social media, and how his videos have resonated with millions of strangers around the world

    • Exploring healing through small shifts: even 1% at a time

    • Finding purpose in life again after a traumatic loss

    • Dealing with the broken legal system

Episodes about friendship…

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • What the term “best friend” means to us

    • The idea of friendships being a tapestry throughout our life

    • Grieving the ends of friendships and the seasons of life

    • How the world often tells us our love and our emotions is “too” much

    • How to support your friends when they go through dark times

    • Our happiest memories with our friends

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • Her friendships growing up as a Third Culture Kid

    • How hard it is to make friends as an adult

    • How friendships are portrayed in the media

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • How grief isn’t just mourning the past, but the future too

    • The importance of friendships

    • The long-term effects of losing your best friend at such an impressionable age

    • How to set healthy boundaries

  • Listen to this episode to learn more about the book Platonic by Dr. Marisa G. Franco.

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • the book Big Friendship

    • what friendship means to us

    • loneliness and creating our own community

    • what we want from our life moving forward

    • (And lots of laughter and silliness!).

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about adult friendships, and redesigning a life after loss.

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about:

    • defining friendships in a way that works for you

    • the idea of friends being equally as important as romantic partners, rather than a hierarchy

    • life transitions (and walking towards something rather than running away)

    • living a life outside of society’s expectations of marriage and nuclear families

  • Listen to this episode to hear my overview of the book “Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship” By by Kayleen Schaefer

  • Listen to this episode to hear a conversation about the unexpected power of sisterhood and friendship during Toby Dorr’s time in prison.

Hannah’s personal thoughts on grief…

  • Listen to this episode to hear me talk about my personal grief story, and what I’ve learned from Lilly Dancyger's essay collection "First Love" on how to engage in conscientious (rather than gratuitous) True-Crime.

  • Listen to this episode to hear me talk more about my grief story — a real-time update right after hearing some very important news about the man responsible for my friend Lauren’s death.

  • Listen to this episode to hear me think out loud about creative blocks I’m having around writing my grief story, and the idea of continuing my friendship with Lauren.

  • Listen to this episode to hear me think out loud about feeling stuck in a liminal space (aka feeling “lost” in the midst of a life transition, such as grief!).

Using art to process grief…

  • Listen to this episode to learn how photography could help you be present in the moment, and revisit the intense feelings later.

  • Listen to this episode, Part 1 and Part 2, to hear a conversation about:

    • The difference between writing about a family member’s death versus a friend’s

    • How to be considerate but ALSO understand how we are not responsible for everyone’s feelings!

    • Considering people’s privacy and feelings when writing about our grief

  • Listen to this episode, Part 1 and Part 2, to hear a conversation about:

    • Jack’s play “I’m Falling In Love All The Time” and how it helped him process his grief after his brother’s death

    • How storytelling helps us to see how our life (and grief) has changed over time

    • The need for connection and community after loss (and how storytelling has helped us find that!)