Learning To Say Goodbye

For most of human history, ritual shaped the rhythm of our lives. It helped us mark beginnings and endings, honour milestones, and make sense of the changes that quietly reshaped us. Rituals rooted communities, offered language for moments beyond words, and created a shared understanding of what it means to move through life together. Somewhere along the way, many of us drifted from these practice...

When was the last time you thought about your own death - not the medical decisions leading up to it, but the moment of death itself and what follows in the hours, days, and weeks afterward? In this episode, we explore what happens after the last breath . We talk about after-death care, the options available to us, and why planning for this phase matters just as much as advance medical directives....

What is the best way to show your love to the ones closest to you?  Now, if you have been following this podcast for a while, you know that I am not talking about romantic gestures here, we are not talking roses and gifts, romantic dates or surprises (even though we all love them obviously). No, I am talking about the end of life. And the best gift you can give your loved ones is a plan for the en...

I was sitting with my mother when she passed. It was not the kind of death I would have wished for her. She was under palliative sedation, which took away all opportunities to have those final words, those final goodbyes. She seemed without pain, which was a blessing, but it was not easy to watch. I often thought about how much suffering we let our loved ones go through at the end of life. It is p...

I remember the day my dad called me to tell me that I should come home. My mom was not getting better. There is something to be said about the mental state one goes into upon receiving a potentially terminal diagnosis. Everything changes in this one instance, when the end of life turns from an if, a possibility far off in the future, to a when with a ticking clock. It goes way beyond the physical...

What I find fascinating about human emotions such as grief, is that every one of us deals with them differently. Some people shut down and deal internally with their feelings, others need the support and shoulders of friends and family. But sometimes it is this deep emotional turmoil, that gives birth to some of the most amazing pieces of art because some people work through their grief by writing...

This is what feels like the most important episode of LTSG to date.  While my previous and future episodes are meant to open a discussion around the end of life, a reality we will all face sooner or later, THIS episode actually has the potential to save lives.  So, if you are listening to this today and if you happen to work in marketing, PR, for a newspaper, radio or in a school or university and...

I have seen a few mediums in my time. Some were ok, one was downright awful, and I walked out after 10 minutes. But then there are those that just leave you amazed. One of them is Jen Shaffer. Jen is a world-renowned Psychic Medium. She has been on serval TV shows and movies on Gaia. She works with law enforcement on criminal cases and often hosts small group readings called Wine and Spirits. Mayb...

Feelings are funny things. We think we experience them mostly on a mental level. Our brain makes sense of the things we feel, and we label them – as in “I feel happy” or “I feel sad, or anxious, or angry.” But it is in our body that most of these feelings settle in the end. How do we get rid of those tight muscles caused by anger, or the weight on our shoulders, where grief holds us down? This is...

If I would ask you, “where does your consciousness reside?” your first instinct might be to say “well, the brain of course,” right? After all, isn’t that the part of our body that does all the thinking? Where our thoughts are turned to words, where we debate with others and most of the time with ourselves, where we define who we are? But is that true? What relationship do the brain and consciousne...

Neurosurgeon and bestselling author Dr Eben Alexander never believed in life after death until he got a look behind the curtain when he experienced a Near-Death-Experience and came back to tell his story. When I came across his book while working through my own grief, I was blown away by the hope it instilled in me. Let his journey inspire you to look at death and what comes after from a new persp...

I believe there is magic in the sharing of personal stories; the sharing of life and loss, but most importantly of survival and love. There is not one way to get through grief and not one solution that works for everyone. We are all unique and our relationships and our heartbreaks are individual experiences. But how we deal with those losses might guide others, might offer hope and direction to th...

Holidays – Christmas, Thanksgiving, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, or birthdays, whatever it is you are celebrating, when you throw grief into the mix, things can change rapidly. How can we possibly celebrate when we are feeling the loss of a loved one? How can we even participate in events linked so closely to the memory of a partner, a parent, a sibling, a child, or a grandparent? How can we ho...

No matter what higher power you believe in, whether it is God, Allah, the One, the Source, or universal life-force energy, many of us find ourselves talking to God or directing our prayers to someone/something outside of ourselves. Some don’t believe in God per se but in something. They might not be able to verbalize it, but whatever it may be, we often turn to that - let me call it “Source” - for...

What is grief? What does it do to our bodies and are we hardwired to grieve a certain way? Everyone has experienced grief to some extent, whether for the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, a move to a new city, or the end of a relationship. Every loss is experienced differently, but they all leave their marks on our lives. Candyce Ossefort-Russell uses the Polyvagal Theory to explain how we as hu...

Before we jump head-first into a tough subject like death, it might be nice to know who it is you are listening to. Meet Alexandra Dionisio, the host of Learning to Say Goodbye and find out what on earth motivated her to start a conversation about death. This is just a little glimpse at what to expect, and why you – and everyone you know – should be listening to Learning to Say Goodbye. For show n...