Grief and grieving is a big part of what the society is going through right now with the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, I'm looking at the work of David Kessler and a past interview with Julia Samuel for thoughts on how you can name and process the emotions and grief you're feeling.
In this episode:
ResourcesJulia Samuel’s Website
Harvard Business Review : That Discomfort You're Feeling is Grief (an interview with David Kessler)
David Kessler on Dr. Brene Brown's Podcast, Unlocking Us
Julia Samuel’s book, Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death, and Surviving on Amazon
If you are grieving: Julia’s 8 pillars of strength (a free download)
On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss by Elizabeth Kubla-Ross
Waking the Tiger, by Peter Levine (a book on healing trauma)
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel on Amazon Prime
Sign up for the newsletter to receive these episodes in your inbox each week.
In this episode, I’m delighted to be joined by Dr. Ezzie Spencer, author of “Lunar Abundance” and the “Lunar Abundance Journal.” After first hearing her interview with Jess Lively in 2017, I was deeply inspired by her story. Ezzie started out as a lawyer in Australia, and also holds a Ph.D in emotional well being. Starting in childhood, Ezzie found herself drawn to the moon and its phases in cycles, and found herself returning to its magic and cycles as she looked for ways to cope with the stress of life as a lawyer.
In this episode, Dr. Ezzie Spencer and I talk about:
-Her early sparks of joy in watching the moon
-Working as a lawyer, and finding herself at the brink of burn out
-Returning to the inspiration of the moon and its cycles and phases
-How to take inspiration from the lunar phases and cycles as a way to pace our own lives
-Re.love, and her work with women who have experienced toxic relationships
-How to jump start your joy: set an intention to be joyful, meditation, asking what is the one thing you’re grateful for, right now?
Resources:
Lunar Abundance: Cultivating Joy, Peace, and Purpose Using the Phases of the Moon by Dr. Ezzie Spencer
Lunar Abundance Journal (on Amazon)
Re.Love program for recovering from toxic relationships by Dr. Ezzie Spencer
Dr. Ezzie Spencer on The Lively Show Episode 212
Sign up to get on the newsletter and get lots of ideas on how to Plan Your Year and biz.
To read the full show notes, click here.
Fred Waitzkin is the author best known for “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” the story about his son Josh, who was a chess prodigy at age six. It’s with great pleasure that I have Mr. Waitzkin on the show to talk about his new book, “Deep Water Blues.”
In this episode, Fred and I talk about:
-His writing process and how he approaches his craft
-Early influences in his life, including his father and fishing
-His new book, Deep Water Blues
-Tips on how to approach writing and how to craft a story
-How to jump start your joy: meet a friend for a great talk, fishing, and allowing your work to be transformative
Resources
Fred Waitzkin’s Website
Deep Water Blues by Fred Waitzkin (on Amazon)
The Night of the Gun by David Carr (on Amazon)
The Old Man and the Sea in Life Magazine
To sign up for the weekly newsletter, tap or click here.
Get the full show notes for this episode by clicking or tapping here.
Kedma Ough is a business development and business funding expert. Having experienced homelessness and abuse in her life, she’s made it her mission to help under-represented entrepreneurs find a way to get their businesses funded. Her book, “Target Funding” is all about how to find unique options for small businesses. Being a multi-passionate, she has focused her own entrepreneurship on two things: helping women and people of color get funding for their small businesses, and niche-ing down to serve and advocate for differently abled individuals.
In this episode, Kedma and I talk about:
- How get funding for your small business
- Looking for superheroes in your life
- How to build a niche business that will support your dreams and be a match for your interests and strengths
- Owning who you are and bringing that into your business
- How to Jump Start Your Joy: practice gratitude, serve others, helping kids
Sign up for "Three Joyful Things" Newsletter on my website.
Oren Jay Sofer is a communication expert and mindfulness teacher at Spirit Rock in Woodacre, California. He recently wrote the book “Say What You Mean: A Nonviolent Approach to Communication,” and I’m delighted to have him as a guest on the podcast.
In this episode, Oren and I talk about:
-Mindful communication
-That language is an inherited phenomenon
-How to stop ruminating over anger when you are upset
-The work of Marshall Rosenberg around non-violent communication
-Active listening and how to build understanding in communication
-His thoughts on how to Jump Start Your Joy: find ways to be kind and generous, attune to beauty, connect to meaning and purpose, and play more
Resources
Say What You Mean: A Nonviolent Approach to Mindful Communication by Oren Jay Sofer (on Amazon)
Sign up for Oren’s class that starts October 17, 2019
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
Click here to get email notifications for each episode.
Show Notes:
Jess Ekstrom is the energetic CEO and founder of Headbands of Hope, and the developer of the Mic Drop Workshop. I had the pleasure of meeting Jess in Atlanta last year, and knew from the moment she shared the mission of her company (and it only further made me love her when she quoted Will Ferrell) that I wanted to talk to her more, and to have her on the show.
Jess Ekstrom and I talk about:
Resources
Jess Ekstrom’s Headbands of Hope website
Jess Ekstrom’s Mic Drop Workshop website
The Inspiration of the Four Golden Insights
I truly enjoyed getting to speak with Jonni, and felt myself sinking into the conversation in a deep way. One of the most inspirational parts of the discussion for me was when we walked through the Four Golden Insights, which are the pillars for the work Jonni does.
4. Fulfillment is our Purpose – we find our purpose by fully understanding who we are
Jonni Pollard and I talk about:
Resources
Skip Prichard is the President and CEO of OCLC, award winning blogger and the author of The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future. As a lifelong student of what makes people successful, he’s interviewed over a thousand leaders, influencers, and notable people to talk to them about their lives. In the process of having so many conversations, Skip noticed that there were some similarities to the things that these successful people were doing, believing, saying, and living.
In this interview, Skip Prichard and I talk about:
Resources
Skip Prichard’s blog and website
The Book of Mistakes by Skip Prichard on Amazon
Renee Linnell is the author of The Burn Zone, and a serial entrepreneur. At age 33 she woke up one morning and realized that she had very unintentionally joined a Buddhist cult. What had started as a quest for spiritual learning, and finding a place that felt like home to her turned out to be an intense group well versed in brainwashing, and converting others to bring in money to help support the larger cause.
In this episode Renee Linnell and I talk about:
Resources
Renee Linnell’s website
The Burn Zone by Renee Linnell on Amazon
Sharon Prentice is a psychotherapist, spiritual counselor, and author of the book Becoming Starlight: A Shared Death Journey from Darkness and Light. Her journey includes having lost her daughter, and her husband, and then having a shared death experience with him when he passed away. At the time, she experienced the presence of the divine, and was instilled with a sense that everything (including the passing of two people she loved so much) was just as it should be. I’m thrilled to have her on the podcast to talk about her shared death experience, and how that event shifted so many things in her life.
Inspired by the Immense Love She Felt in a Shared Death Experience
One of the things that Sharon shares in her book and on the show is that at the time of her husband’s passing, she was still incredibly angry and upset with God for the loss of her daughter several years prior. Stephanie was born, and passed away the same day, and Sharon fell into a “newfound love of darkness that I carried with me always. Not as an anchor but a new way of living in the world that I had come to know was cruel and unforgiving and God-less.”
This event was spiritually book ended for her when she lost her husband. In the moment that he passed, Sharon felt herself being transported into what she calls Starlight. Surrounded by love, presence, and divinity beyond words, she sensed she was whole, accepted and loved beyond comprehension by a God that she had turned away from.
“I felt more whole, more forgiven than I’d ever felt before. I now felt nothing except an all-encompassing love and compassion. My heart held no fear, no anger, no grief, no struggle. I was complete just as I was -- I lacked nothing. Deep down, I suppose I had always known this; I had just forgotten it for awhile.” (pg 123)
In our interview, Sharon talks about his even more. What strikes me, and why I find this inspiring is that this love and compassion is something that the Divine holds for each of us. It’s not held for just a few. When I think about this radical acceptance, I wonder what would be possible for myself if I accepted the abundance, love, and compassion that is meant for me?
In this episode Sharon Prentice and I talk about:
-Her early childhood at Cape Cod, dancing and listening to music
-The spiritual nature of the ocean and why it draws us both in
-Sharon’s work with the terminally ill, and why she feels it’s her life’s work
-The spiritual nature, and root of, all therapy work
-Her Shared Death Experience, and how it felt like coming home
-Jesus and my favorite passage in the Bible (Father, Father, Why have you forsaken me?”
-Centering Prayer and meditation
-Her husband Steve’s last breath, and how it provided an entrance into a Shared Death Experience for her
-How to jumpstart your joy: wake up with a smile, tell the people in your life you love them, and focused prayer
Resources
Becoming Starlight: A Shared Death Journey from Darkness to Light by Sharon Prentice on Amazon
Sharon Prentice’s Website
Sharon Prentice PhD’s Facebook page
Other resources for Grief, Death, and Dying:
Episode 168: Jonni Pollard on How to Awaken to The Truth of Who You Are
Episode 127: Julia Samuel on Grief Works, and the Stories of Life, Death, and Surviving
Episode 141: Debbie Augenthaler on Grief, Trauma, and Healing: You Are Not Alone
Jonni Pollard is a meditation and wisdom teacher, with his teachings stemming from the Vedic tradition. He’s the author of "The Golden Sequence," co-founder of the 1 Giant Mind Learn Meditation course and the 1 Giant Mind Teacher Training Academy. As a true multipassionate, he’s also been an actor, and an avid skateboarder and runner. Jonni now works with corporations, individuals and at events teaching others how to “get into the highest state of love to connect to our humanity.”
The Inspiration of the Four Golden Insights
I truly enjoyed getting to speak with Jonni, and felt myself sinking into the conversation in a deep way. One of the most inspirational parts of the discussion for me was when we walked through the Four Golden Insights, which are the pillars for the work Jonni does.
4. Fulfillment is our Purpose - we find our purpose by fully understanding who we are
Jonni Pollard and I talk about:
Resources
Learn all about how to cope with grief and make space for what you need during times of loss in this interview with Debbie Augenthaler. This episode is part of the Nourish & Nurture series.
Host Paula Jenkins is counting down the top 10 most downloaded episodes on Jump Start Your Joy, Season 3. From coaches, to musicians, to authors and several solocasts, get a feel for the show and YOUR most favorite guests.
Who will be #1? Tune in to find out!
This week on the podcast, I’m delighted to speak to Debbie Augenthaler on grief, trauma, and healing. Debbie is a psychotherapist, the author of You Are Not Alone: A Heartfelt Guide to Grief, Healing, and Hope, and she has a private practice in New York City. After losing her husband, she was unexpectedly faced with grief, and found that losing someone that close to you causes ripples of effects; and that the impact of grief does not neatly follow the stages that we’ve all read about. Grief strikes everyone differently, and grieving is not a linear process.
Yes, you go through waves and stages, but the day to day experience of profound loss was not something she found referenced in books. Debbie was grateful to find a therapist during her own time of grief, one who held space for her to grieve.
Working in the financial field for many years, Debbie was in New York for September 11, 2001. She saw the impact of loss again, among her friends and coworkers. This time, however, she also saw that since she had already been through that kind of loss herself, she was able to “be there” for people as they faced loss in their own lives. In her words, “I wasn’t afraid of their grief. I wanted to help.”
Debbie shares all about her book and her journey through grief, and to becoming a psychotherapist on this week’s show. She also talks about four ways to reconnect in the midst of grief:
Debbie Augenthaler and talk about:
Debbie Augenthaler’s Website: http://www.debbieaugenthaler.com/
Debbie’s group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DebbieAugenthaler
Debbie Augenthaler’s Book: You Are Not Alone: A Heartfelt Guide to Grief, Healing, and Hope (on Amazon) https://amzn.to/2kRJKlB
Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Book: Lament for A Son (on Amazon) https://amzn.to/2JAcA7O
Julia Samuel’s Book: Grief Works (on Amazon) https://amzn.to/2Hs3pBf
Julia Samuel on Jump Start Your Joy http://jumpstartyourjoy.com/2018/03/julia-samuel/
This week on the show, I’m thrilled to have Lindsay Ambrose and Natalie Sager joining me to talk about their new book, Peaceful Mamas: The Mind, Body, and Baby Connection. The two joined together to write this book after meeting at a conference in Chicago, and bonding together over their love of Hal Elrod’s book, The Miracle Morning. Seeing how it could be tweaked, evolved, and applied to the transition around motherhood, AND seeing their like-minded approach to being moms, the two came together to create this new and unique offering for parents.
Why you need to listen:
Natalie, Lindsay and I dish a ton of very actionable and useable ideas for moms and parents. From both the mindset shift that we all encountered upon becoming parents, to other practical things, like how we go about setting a routine, and how we’ve helped growing children process their own emotions.
This is especially poignant for me as I’d struggled with a morning routine quite a bit when my son was younger. There was something about the transition between getting up, to getting out the door to daycare that was very painful, as my son is a “dawdler.” (he takes FOREVER and gets easily distracted). Now that he’s 7, we have it down to a science (and he understands the routines, thanks to a great visual checklist we posted on the refrigerator.
My favorite part of our discussion was when Lindsay brought up the idea of “plan tight, but hang loose” as a way of approaching parenting. As a project manager, of course I love a good plan. The reality of becoming a parent is that the plans don’t always come together as expected, and so often there’s improvisation and humor required as life throws some unexpected curves at you.
Like that time you discover the backup shorts you’d packed for your son for a day at the beach are last year’s size, and do not fit. At all. And of course, this discovery happens when he is wet, sandy, very cold, and you’re about to get into the car for a two hour drive home. In that case, a stop by Target was the solution as we headed out of town.
The trick is finding peace in the moments. Or, if overwhelm hits (and it does hit), finding ways to slow down, reset, and come back to a situation with a fresh perspective. It’s all in the mindset, and I loved getting to talk about some of the realities of motherhood with Natalie and Lindsay.
In this episode Natalie Sager, Lindsay Ambrose and I talk about:
[bctt tweet= “Take tiny moments to restore and rejuvenate.” @peacefulmamas @ambroselinds @modhippiemama #podcast #mindfulness #peacefulmamas #happymom]
Resources
Website for the Peaceful Mamas community
Natalie Sager’s website at The Modern Hippie Mama
Lindsay Ambrose’s website at Everyday EveryMom
The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod on Amazon
Andrea Owen of Your Kickass Life joins to talk about her new book, How to Stop Feeling Like Shit. Andrea is an author, mentor, & certified life coach who helps high-achieving women let go of perfectionism, control & isolation & choose courage & confidence.
Author, writer, and entrepreneur Alexandra Franzen joins to share about her new book, "You're Going to Survive." Join us as we discuss how to face and survive rejection, defeat, adversity, online trolls, and other soul crushing experiences.
Kelley Kosow of The Ford Institute joins host Paula Jenkins to talk about her new book, The Integrity Advantage. They share about perfectionism, Debbie Ford, living in alignment, transformation, and being the change you seek in the world.
This week, I’ve got a very special treat for you, it’s an interview with best selling author, psychic, and medium Paul Selig, in the celebration of the release of his new book, The Book of Truth. It’s the first time I’ve had someone channel on the show, and I know you will love this discussion. It’s moving and deeply insightful.
The theme for this month, “Your Purpose.” We’ll be looking at the ways you can follow your heart to live the life of your dreams, and how to get in touch with your purpose.
In this episode, Paul and I talk about:
- his earliest sparks of joy in drama and theater
- his journey to becoming clairvoyant, clairsentient, and then telepathic and psychic
- how he built his practice as an intuitive
- how he channels, and receives the texts that he shares
- what it feels like to sit in channel with The Guides
- difference between channeling, and when he is in the role of a psychic
- if everyone has the ability to tap into channeling
- what The Guides have to say about the pursuit of joy in this life
- what it is like to honor the call of being a channel, and the impact it's had on Paul's life
- if The Guides were present in the time of Moses, based on the fact that the phrase "Here I am" is found in the Old Testament, and very similar to what The Guides share in The Book of Truth
- what balance looks, or doesn't look like, for Paul
- how to jump start joy in your life
For all of the show notes, go to the website at www.jumpstartyourjoy.com/episode90
Emilie Wapnick of Puttylike joins host Paula Jenkins to talk about her new book, How to Be Everything: A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don’t Know What They Want to be When They Grow Up and to talk about finding what fits for your life.
For episode 82, I’m super excited to revisit the interview with Holly Becker. You probably know her from decor8, the very popular interior design blog that she started a decade ago. She has inspired me and countless other bloggers and creative people to share their voice with the world, and led the charge in celebrating your unique voice.
Briana Borten and Dr. Peter Borten join host Paula Jenkins to talk about how to create the foundations of joy using structure, sweetness, and space. The Bortens are the authors of a new book, the Well Life.
Rosie Williams joins host Paula Jenkins to talk about her newly published book Repurposed Faith: Breathing New Life into Your Quiet Time.
I'm thrilled to have Mark Jaffe, author of "Suitcase of Happyness," as my guest. Mark is a former Walt Disney executive, and he has spent a good deal of his life looking at how to cultivate happiness. At a young age he realized that his happiest life was not something out of reach. He studied, observed, cultivated, and ultimately enjoyed an enduring happiness through a singular focus on identifying what worked and what didn’t. In this episode, Mark and I talk about how to find and pack your suitcase of happiness.
Flylady Marla Cilley joins host Paula Jenkins to talk about how to form habits and routines to create more joy in your life. Lots of great ideas for keeping your home and family feeling happy and loved.