Grief, Gratitude & The Gray in Between

Dave’s wife Sharon was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer shortly after their daughter was born, and she passed away a few short years after, in January 2019. Liz’ s husband Bryan died suddenly of a heart attack in March 2019, he was only 36 years old. Their daughters were only 7 and 2 when their father died. We talk about how they met and how they fell in love. How they have supported each othe...

Dara Kurtz is the creator of the popular blog crazyperfectlife.com, with over 180,000 followers from around the world. After going through breast cancer 6 1/2 years ago, she quit her job as a financial advisor, launched her blog, and wrote her first book Crush Cancer. Her second book just released, I am My Mother’s Daughter: Wisdom on Life, Loss, and Love, It is all about the connection between mo...

Dave received his Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2011 from Pepperdine University, he has been a licensed therapist since 2017. He then worked in community mental health with adults battling homelessness and prolonged substance use. Dave worked with adolescents in residential treatment focusing on substance use and major mental health disord...

En este podcast Fernanda Ruiz comparte su proceso de duelo y todos los cambios que vivió en su matrimonio que llevaron al divorcio. El matrimonio no terminó por falta de amor, si no por cambios que su esposo empezó a tener en personalidad, que años después descubrieron que era por que tenía cáncer en el cerebro, el cual fue el motivo de su fallecimiento. Fernanda estuvo a su lado durante su enferm...

In this episode I chat with Cory Bertisch, My Gym Enterprises Founding Partner & Chief Executive Officer, about how his company has handled all the hurdles that have come up in 2020 and 2021 ; How they supported their Franchisee's and how they created a live virtual platform as well as on demand classes for their customers. From the very inception of My Gym Enterprises, Cory Bertisch has overseen...

Saundra Heimark started 2020 with incredible news that she had been hired to work for Kobe Bryant’s production company! Just the day before she was going to go in for her first day of work, was the day Kobe Bryant died tragically. Saundra shares how she navigated her journey of finding work again, and then losing it once the lockdowns started due to Covid 19. During this waiting period she decided...

Jen Zwink shares with us her grief journey after becoming a widow. Their daughter was only two years old when this tragedy happened. Jen felt as is the world was closing in on her! She took a bold leap to move herself and Claire to a small Island in Turks and Caicos for some time. She needed space to sit with her grief, but also be in nature to help her heal. When she came back to her home in Loui...

Rabbi Steve Leder- is the senior rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. After receiving his degree in writing and graduating cum laude from Northwestern University, and spending time studying at Trinity College, Oxford University, Leder received a master's degree in Hebrew letters in 1986 and rabbinical ordination in 1987 from Hebrew Union College. He is the author of several books: Th...

Cristela Fowler shares her incredible journey with us. Her love story of how she met her husband Dave, as well as her grief journey of when he died from cancer. She became a widow and single mom to their son Noah, who was still a toddler. She worked really hard to make sure she didn't lose herself in her grief and would lose the essence of who she was. It was already a tragedy that Noah would grow...

Bobbi Jo Heagy is a Certified Life Coach, she helps women tap into who they are. She helps them see the gifts that they have acquired by having gone through their own struggles and tap into their worth. We talk about her own hardships, including being sexually abused as a child, and how this occurrence made her label herself as “bad” and not see her own worth. She had no idea who she was and thoug...

In this conversation with Shelby Forsythia she shares about the “four years of hell’ that she and her family lived through, which in hindsight she is grateful for because it’s allowed her to understand others who experience grief. They faced many different types of grief, one thing right after another, as if they could not catch a break! It all started when her dad lost his job, then shortly after...

Amber Harris shares her grief journey after the sudden death of her best friend Samantha. This was her first time experiencing this much pain. Her friend Mathew was her rock and support during her grief. Their friendship developed into a romantic one, but due to having a long distance relationship, it ended but their friendship remained. Some time later Amber had a dream in which Mathew had come t...

Kirsten Carlson shares with us her grief journey after the sudden, recent death of her mother. She is still in “the gray in between” part of her journey. Her mom’s death was also the catalyst for her to share with her family about the sexual abuse she had endured as a child from her own father. This also became a reason for her choosing to no longer have him be a part of her life, now that her mom...

Kenisha Nichelle lost her father at the age of 12 and her mother at the age of 21. Thirteen years after being declared an orphan, Kenisha now shares her testimony of overcoming grief with others through inspirational messages and grief recovery programs and services. Kenisha attributes her grief recovery to counseling, journaling, daily affirmations, change of scenery, living out her passion for s...

In this episode with Genell Gorman, we talk about childhood trauma and how it can show up in different ways later in life. We also talk about how to handle triggers. Here is Genell's bio in her own words: "While growing up I experienced abandonment, trauma and loss that followed me throughout my early adult life until it all came to a head in my mid 20’s. Through a very painful break up, my awaken...

Ale Alvarez es diabética Tipo 1 desde muy joven y su vida fue marcada por esta enfermedad en muchos sentidos, incluyendo en su proceso de ser madre. Su diabetes fue la causa de que tuviera complicaciones en sus embarazos, las cuales causaron que perdiera dos bebes. Su fuerza interna y su fe en Dios, la llevaron a confiar en que todo era parte de su proceso, y que si ella debía ser madre lo seria....

Hope Littwin is composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. Her newest song release “Hollow” is an exploration of how childhood trauma affects us once it is triggered and awakened later in life. Recently she has been leading virtual songwriting courses to teach people how to tell their story through music. We talk about her songwritting process and talk about many themes but in particul...

"Autumn Toelle-Jackson has lived a life of love and loss, filled with happiness and marked by tragedy. Labels are too simple, but they do have meaning and they do tell part of her story: wife, widow, mother, survivor. The loss of a husband, a beloved cousin and mentor, and her daughter have left scars on her soul and memorial tattoos on her body, but Autumn learned to grow through it all. She foun...

Glory Salas, a mom of 3 beautiful children, shares with us her heartbreaking story . Her 5 year old daughter, Kassidy Grace, suffered a tragic accident that took her life. Her story is one of love, resilience, and faith! It is her faith in God and the love and support of her family and friends that has helped her and her family in their grief journey. She also shares how joy and laughter give her...

Gail Gallagher is a Chicago-based improv music director, performer, teacher, songwriter, and composer whose lyric-driven songs reflect on the highs and lows of life with a witty and vulnerable twist. Gail’s debut album Power of the Unnamed Passion (release date October 23, 2020) is a musical theatre folk rock journey about those moments in life when everything falls apart and you learn to make new...

It was an honor to interview Lisa Price during this episode and hear about how in her grief journey, after the death of her daughter Ari, she had the choice to be Bitter or Better. She chose Better, and is now helping countless other parents with their grief journey. Lisa Price is grief wellness coach, the founder of Grieve. Breathe. Believe., and creator of the 4:13 Method - a self-guided online...

Angela Gentile shares with us her journey of grief after the death of her father from an aneurism. When her dad died she was in a very unhappy and unfulfilled place in her life and felt she was not living in alignment with who she was. After her dad died she was standing in the ashes of her life and had to do multiple 360’s to create the life she was meant to live. A life that would become also a...

Patricia de Picciotto, was born in Hong Kong from Lebanese parents, and raised in Geneva, Switzerland until she graduated from college with a BA in Marketing and Communication. She then spent a couple of years in London to study for my GIA (graduate gemologist) and worked in Jewelry. She later moved and lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for ten years, where she met my husband, had three kids and founded...

Jenny Robinson describes herself as a "Soul being living a human experience as a Mother. Wife. Sister. Daughter. Friend. Acknowledging the darkness but choosing to live in the light. Yoga Instructor. Plant Based. Actress. Dancer." I chose to share this in her bio because when someone describes themselves as a "SOUL BEING living a human experience," it says it all!! Just in that phrase alone you ca...

Jenny nos relata su historia de cuando su hermano falleció al ella tener tan solo 6 años, y como su familia asimilo su muerte y como le explicaron a ella lo que había pasado. Años mas tarde ocurrieron otras tragedias, una dejó a su hermano en silla de ruedas y otra en donde su padre perdió gran parte de su memoria y luego su vida. Jenny estudió psicología y también habiendo encontrado un camino es...