A Place For Us

What happens when life cracks you open overnight? For Allura Halliwell , it wasn’t a choice. She was a stay-at-home mom of three, exhausted from holding her family together, when she attended a meditation retreat in Australia. She wasn’t looking for enlightenment—she was looking for rest. But one morning on the beach, her consciousness left her body and merged into light itself. It was the beginni...

🔮 When Healing Doesn’t Come Through Words Most of us try to heal by talking it out. We go to therapy. We journal. We meditate. But what if true healing could begin in silence—without effort, thought, or words? This is the path Eva Mueller took. A mother, spiritual teacher, and founder of NextElevations.com , Eva hit a breaking point in 2020. What came next wasn't collapse—it was awakening. In jus...

Recording this from Mykonos, Greece, as our ship pulls into port on what should have been a podcast release day. Instead, I'm taking a break—and sharing something more personal. If you know anything about me, you know I don't like vacations. Especially long vacations. Especially vacations that take me far from home. I come to you today from Mykonos, Greece, 5,500 miles away from home, seven time z...

Introduction: When Grief Doesn’t Wait What do you do when your world comes crashing down—not once, but three times in six weeks? In 2022, Betsy Stephenson’s son Charlie transitioned into spirit at age 21, just eleven weeks after first expressing thoughts of self-harm. In that same devastating season, Betsy’s mother-in-law passed from dementia , and their beloved family dog Bear died of cancer. Mos...

What do you do when your life changes forever—and not in the way you hoped? Weston Brandon was just 23 years old when he experienced a devastating tragedy. His wife, Lauren , passed away just days after giving birth to their son, Vance . Overnight, Weston became a grieving young widower and a single father to a newborn. But what could have broken him ended up transforming him. This article isn’t j...

When the Sacred Becomes a Source of Pain What happens when the very place that promises salvation becomes the source of your deepest wounds? For many of us, religion was our first introduction to love, purpose, and community. But for others—including myself—it also came with emotional wounds that ran deep. Guilt. Shame. Fear. The message that we were broken from the start. This is what I explore i...

The Email I Almost Ignored It was mid-morning. I finished my walk and my workout and made my way to my desk. My desk was cluttered—half-finished notes for the next podcast episode, things I really needed to put away, and, on my computer, a reminder in my inbox that I had 3,101 unread messages. I just wanted to power through and clear some of them out. Most were the usual suspects: promotions, news...

Imagine this: you’re in the middle of a stressful day. Your heart is racing. Your mind is filled with noise. Sleep feels like a distant dream. What if, in just 60 to 180 seconds, you could shift from chaos to calm — without medication, without side effects, and without having to go anywhere? That’s exactly what the Three Three Breathing Method offers. Created by well-being and transformation coach...

Living in the Liminal: Between Chaos and Control One phone call. One moment. One breath—and everything changes. When someone we love dies suddenly, our world fractures. The air feels too still, time too cruel, and meaning evaporates like mist. We want to scream, "Why?"—but often, all we find is silence. A client recently shared with me, after losing her daughter, that she's come to believe life is...

The week I left church for good, no one noticed. There was no call, no card, no awkward conversation. Just silence. And oddly, I wasn’t hurt. I had already begun to find community elsewhere, places where I was truly seen. But not everyone has that. And that’s a problem. When my recent article about why I no longer identify as a Christian started making the rounds, I received dozens of messages. Wh...

What does it look like to live fully while someone you love is dying ? That’s the question Tony Stewart answered with courage, honesty, and love when he joined me on Grief 2 Growth . We talked about his six-year journey walking beside his wife, Lynn, through her diagnosis with incurable lung cancer. It’s a story that stayed with me long after the conversation ended. And it’s one I believe we all n...

This morning I received an invitation. They had listened to one of my podcasts and said they loved my message and wanted to collaborate. It was an offer to cross-promote podcasts, highlight servant-hearted content, and foster a positive online community. “They” is a social media platform. The platform’s mission? Spreading light and love through Christian values. I have nothing against Christian va...

When Theresa Bruno lost her husband James to suicide, the world as she knew it stopped turning. Her identity—as a wife, mother, business owner—was stripped away in a single moment. But in that wilderness of loss, something unexpected emerged: the courage to heal, and ultimately, to grow. In this honest and deeply moving conversation on Grief 2 Growth , Theresa opens up about her journey through gr...

With Dr. Richard Grossman | Grief to Growth Podcast Keyword: trauma as a doorway What if your pain isn’t a problem to fix—but a doorway you’re being asked to walk through? In this powerful episode of Grief to Growth , host Brian Smith sits down with Dr. Richard Grossman—a healer whose life work bridges ancient Eastern practices and Amazonian plant medicine. Together, they explore a radical and com...

In the moments when life feels overwhelming—when grief is fresh or healing feels out of reach—it’s natural to search for something greater. A sign. A message. A reason to hope. Many people report encounters that seem too meaningful to be mere coincidence: a stranger’s timely words, a song that plays at the perfect moment, or a presence that brings peace. In this episode of Grief 2 Growth , Brian D...

Have you ever felt lost in your grief or wondered if something greater was guiding you through your pain? Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine this: You’ve been buried by sorrow. But what if, like a seed, you’ve actually been planted—meant to grow, rise, and bloom into something divine? This is the heart of the message shared by Reverend Sue Frederick , bestselling author of Angel Up: The Angel’s...

Grief is not a sign of weakness. It's not something to be pushed away, buried, or avoided. Grief is an invitation. A challenge. Grief is a portal to something deeper. In this profound episode of Grief 2 Growth , I sat down with Sifu Boggie , a Taoist guide and healer, to explore how ancient Taoist philosophy and energy medicine can help us reclaim our vitality , move through emotional pain, and co...

When Grief Interrupts Everything Grief doesn’t always give us time to prepare. Sometimes, it arrives suddenly—shocking, brutal, and permanent. On this episode of Grief 2 Growth , I spoke with Diandra Ford-Wing , a fellow African-American professional, storyteller, and soul traveler who, like me, experienced the sudden, life-altering loss of a loved one. Diandra’s story is not just about grief—it’s...

Introduction: Why Shame Must Be Seen to Be Healed In my years walking with people through grief, I’ve come to recognize a few emotional culprits that can quietly sabotage healing. Guilt. Anger. Fear. Each one can hold us back, preventing us from processing the pain of loss in a healthy, compassionate way. But after this raw, unforgettable conversation with author and lecturer Monica Gullotta, I no...

It's been 3,652 days since I last saw Shayna. Ten years. Two leap years. A thousand lifetimes in one. Frankly, I had no intention of being here this long. The moment she left, I wanted to go, too. My immediate response was, “Take me now.” I wasn’t interested in surviving this loss—much less living with it. The idea of planning for the future felt insulting. People would talk about “next year” or “...

Grief cracks open a lot more than our hearts—it opens up our biggest questions about life, death, and what might come next. Over the years, I’ve heard many people—clients, friends, even strangers—whisper questions they’re almost afraid to ask. Some come from skepticism. Some from heartbreak. Some from a place so deep, they barely have words. In this post, I want to share five of the most common qu...

Last night, I rewatched Inside Out . Not a new release—it came out ten years ago—but I felt drawn to it again, because the sequel just came out. I’ll watch that today or tomorrow. The first time I saw it was the week after Shayna passed. My wife and I went to the theater—something that, in hindsight, might’ve been a mistake. The only emotion I had access to was sadness. I cried the entire time. Wa...

Title: The Smile, the Song, and the Space to Grieve This morning, I found myself listening to "Tracks of My Tears." It wasn't random. I had just woken up, remembering a moment from a few days earlier—sitting on this balcony in Myrtle Beach, soaking in the sun. People commented on how happy I looked. And I was. Genuinely. But it got me thinking. So often, especially with my clients who are navigati...

How do you say goodbye to the love of your life—and then discover you don’t have to? That’s the question Pam Johnson has answered not just with words, but with her life. When her husband Alan passed away suddenly on his birthday, Pam’s entire world stopped. Yet in the silence that followed, she heard something extraordinary: his voice. That voice would go on to guide her through grief, healing, an...

Joy and Pain: Reflections from the Shoreline A Return to the Shore I find myself on a familiar stretch of sand in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As I sit on the deck, the ocean breeze carries memories with it—some soft, warm and pleasant, some jagged and weighty. It's Tuesday, June 17. I usually lose track of time on vacation, but this date rings in my head with clarity. One week from today marks t...