EOLPodcast

Ep. 558 Filling the Gaps in End-of-Life Education, Support, and Community with Suzanne B. O’Brien RN

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Learn about the need for more education around death, dying, and grief to help us create more compassionate communities that are better prepared for the end of life.

About the guest:

My return guest Suzanne O’Brien is the founder and CEO of Doulagivers Institute and a pioneer in the global Death Doula movement. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her contribution to end-of-life care around the world and the author of the book The Good Death: A Guide for Supporting Your Loved Ones Through the End of Life. She discusses why this moment is right for expanding community education and awareness about end-of-life issues and how learning about death can help us fully live. In addition she describes her upcoming free webinar on “Death Doula Secrets” to mentor doulas on Suzanne’s framework for successful death doula business development. Learn more at her website:

doulagivers.com

Register for Death Doula Secrets Webinar:

August 5th August 13th

Get the book here.

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • The evolution of end-of-life care and education over the past 15 years
  • How COVID 19 awakened many people to the reality of mortality and exposed gaps in care
  • Families are still largely overwhelmed and uneducated about providing care for their loved ones at end of life
  • How political and healthcare decision-makers remain poorly informed about end of life issues
  • Suzanne’s experience of community death care while traveling in Zimbabwe many years ago and how it informed her current work
  • Why broader cultural change around death and dying requires mass education in our communities
  • We need to help people with their fear of death through education if we want to see more change
  • Options for the management of suffering at the end of life, including terminal sedation, are not fully understood by most people
  • Death is the greatest teacher about how to live
  • The importance of gratitude and presence for bringing meaning to life

Links mentioned in this episode:

Resources:

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Transcript:

Suzanne O’Brien InterviewDownload
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Ep. 557 The Grieving Body: Loss as a Healing Opportunity with Mary-Frances O’Connor PhD

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Learn about the impact of grief on the physical body and how the stress of grief and loss can lead to healing.

About the guest:

My special guest Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor is a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, where she directs the Grief, Loss and Social Stress (GLASS) Lab, investigating the effects of grief on the brain and the body. Her book The Grieving Brain was included on Oprah’s list of Best Books to Comfort a Grieving Friend and was the subject of a previous interview on this podcast. Today she discusses her latest book The Grieving Body: How the Stress of Loss Can Be an Opportunity for Healing, which is being released in paperback format on August 1, 2026. Learn more at her website:

maryfrancesoconnor.org

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • How Mary-Frances was inspired to do research on grief
  • As a society we tend to ignore the body and grief can push us further in that direction
  • Why we need to pay attention to the messages from our bodies, particularly when we are grieving
  • The importances of social connectedness during grief and all of life
  • Sitting with someone who is calm can help us co-regulate when we are stressed in our grief
  • Why bereavement should be a public health issue
  • How we gradually build capacity to carry our grief
  • Why every experience of grief is different for us – and that’s natural and normal
  • How there is a lack of studies on crying in bereavement even though it has multiple functions
  • Emotional tears contain different hormones than irritant tears
  • Cardiovascular events related to acute grief
  • Strategies for managing grief holistically and growing through the process

Links mentioned in this episode:

Resources

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Transcript

Mary-Frances O’Connor InterviewDownload
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Ep. 556 Zen Caregiving: A Mindful Approach to Caring for Others with Roy Remer

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Learn about mindfulness and compassion-based tools to nurture and empower caregivers as they serve the needs of others.

About the guest:

Roy Remer is the executive director of the Zen Caregiving Project in San Francisco and the lead creator of the Mindful Caregiving Education curriculum. He is an educator and end-of-life caregiver since 1997 and a dedicated practitioner in the Soto Zen tradition. Roy is also the author of Zen Caregiving: How to Care for Yourself While Caring for Others. Learn more at the website:

ZenCaregiving.org

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • Being a caregiver is part of the human experience and will affect most of us
  • Caregiving can be a pathway for growth but certain illnesses (especially dementia) can exact a huge toll on caregivers
  • The value of learning genuine presence
  • How this book can help everyone be better prepared in the future to become a caregiver
  • How serving others differs from helping, which is outcome focused
  • Our compassion is incomplete if we don’t also care for ourselves
  • Caregivers do not receive adequate preparation or support physically, emotionally, or spiritually for the task of caring for others
  • Why grief and guilt are common experiences of caregivers
  • Simple rituals for processing grief while providing care

Links mentioned in this episode:

Resources:

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Transcript:

Roy Remer InterviewDownload
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Ep. 555 Funeral Photography as an Act of Service and Love with Nell Aburto

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Learn about the value of preserving photographic memories of funeral services for grief and bereavement.

About my guest:

Today’s guest is Nell Aburto, a portrait photographer based in Minneapolis MN who offers funeral and memorial photography, which is largely unheard of in this industry. She discusses why people might want to consider hiring a photographer for a funeral service, the benefits of having a photographic record of such a celebration, and what it’s like to work in this profession. Learn more at her website:

mnfuneralphotography.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • How Nell was inspired to specialize in funeral photography
  • Why it’s nearly impossible for family members to take photographs of a funeral or memorial service
  • How it is still considered taboo by some people to take photos at funerals
  • The benefits she experiences from this work
  • How photographs are an important part of family history
  • How funeral photography can help us normalize death as part of life
  • Why funerals can be a time of transformation and healing

Links mentioned in this episode:

Resources:

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Transcript:

Nell Aburto InterviewDownload
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Ep. 554 After-Death Communication and Developing Intuition with Purnima Sinha

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Learn how a near-death experience and after-death communication with her mother led to increased spiritual awareness and intuition for Purnima.

About my guest:

My guest Purnima Sinha has certificates in LifeStyle Medicine and Meditation & Psychotherapy for the Harvard School of Medicine. She taught meditation to patients for many years and has been researching consciousness for over three decades. Today she discusses the mystical experiences she has had throughout her life including after-death communication with her mother following her death. She has assisted many people at the end of life and has taught many others how to access and utilize intuition.

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • How her mother’s death and after-death communication was a catalyst for her spiritual growth
  • How her parents early teaching about karma and seva have influenced her life
  • Why forgiveness played an important role in her spiritual transformation
  • The nature of her near-death experience
  • How she started receiving messages from her mother
  • Why fear makes it impossible to receive after-death or intuitive communication
  • Why love and gratitude are the best practices to cultivate in your life
  • How the mind and the ego can interfere with receiving guidance

Links mentioned in this episode:

Resources:

Related episodes:

Other links:

Transcript:

Purnima Sinha InterviewDownload
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Ep. 553 Compassionate Schools: Education on Illness, Dying, and Grief for Children with Dr. Sally Paul and Bert Quintiens

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Learn how the Compassionate Schools model can foster better support for children and young people experiencing grief, illness and loss..

About the guests:

My guests Dr. Sally Paul and Bert Quintiens have developed a how-to guide for Compassionate Schools that we discuss in today’s conversation. Sally is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland where she teaches and researches in the areas of bereavement, death education, and public health approaches to palliative care. Bert is a researcher at the End-of-Life Care Research Group at Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, Belgium. He focuses on Compassionate Communities and Compassionate Cities and how initiatives like Compassionate Schools can help normalize conversations about death and caregiving. Get the Compassionate Schools How to Guide at the link below:

Compassionate Schools How-To Guide

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • What is a Compassionate School
  • Why is it important for schools to address the existence of death and grief for students and staff
  • Children can cope with difficult situations when given age-appropriate information
  • Why culture change can happen faster with a “bottom up” approach
  • How each compassionate school is unique and meets the particular needs of a community
  • Tips for introducing Compassionate Schools to your community
  • Obstacles and resistance to this work
  • Why it’s important to start with small goals like placing books on death and grief in the school library
  • How to support teachers in having conversations with grieving children

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Transcript:

Sally Paul and Bert Quintiens InterviewDownload
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Ep. 552 Drummer Girl: How a Child’s Near-Death Experience Changed Her Life

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Learn how a childhood near-death experience sparked a lifelong search for spiritual meaning in life and death.

Portrait of a woman with short blond hair smiling, wearing a yellow shirt, next to the cover of the book 'Drummer Girl' by Sally Dukes, with text about a child's NDE.

About the guest:

My guest Sally Dukes has been a small business owner, psychotherapist, editor, and middle school teacher and she is also the author of a newly published memoir titled drummer girl: A Story of Life After Death. The book tells the story of Sally’s near-death experience as a child and how it changed her thoughts on life and death and inspired a lifelong spiritual journey. She discusses the book and the travel stories that are highlighted within it while expressing her hope that readers will come away with less fear of death. Learn more at her website:

sallydukes.com

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • The story of Sally’s NDE at age 3
  • How wanting to understand that experience fueled her search throughout life
  • The isolation experienced after such an extraordinary event that others don’t understand
  • Why she views it as a sacred experience
  • How medicine can pathologize occurrences that can’t be explained rationally
  • Sally’s travels in India and Burma
  • Why she no longer fears death

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Sally Dukes InterviewDownload
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Ep. 551 Spiritual Bypassing and Complicated Grief with Dr. Terri Daniel

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Learn about a symposium on spiritual bypassing in situations of grief and bereavement and why it’s important to look at this.

Portrait of Dr. Terri Daniel discussing spiritual bypassing and complicated grief, with a microphone and colorful background.

About the guest:

My return guest this week is Dr. Terri Daniel who is an end-of-life educator, inter-spiritual hospice chaplain, and grief counselor. She is the founder of the Conference on Death, Grief and Belief and the Ask Doctor Death podcast. Over the years she has helped thousands of people learn to live, die and grieve more consciously while exploring the intersection of psychology and spirituality, and the influence of toxic theology on the experience of dying and grieving. She is the author of four books on death and grief. Today we discuss spiritual bypassing which is the focus of Terri’s upcoming online Symposium on July 25th. Learn more about the Symposium and Terri’s work at the website:

deathgriefandbelief.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • What is spiritual bypassing?
  • There is both positive and negative religious coping
  • Positive coping involves taking action toward restoration
  • When spiritual bypassing may serve a positive purpose
  • Bereavement assessment tools and their usefulness
  • Characteristics of various types of spiritual struggle
  • Prolonged grief vs complicated grief
  • The importance of community and ritual for addressing grief
  • Instrumental vs intuitive grieving
  • Some questions like “Why did God let this happen” can never be answered

Links for this episode:

Resources:

Related Episodes:

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If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu. And thanks to Donna Stafford for making a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

Transcript:

Terri Daniel InterviewDownload
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Ep. 550 Changing the Culture Around Palliative Care with Jared Rubenstein MD

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Learn how this doctor’s animated videos are helping to share information and create culture change around palliative care in medicine and in the public at large.

A smiling man wearing glasses, with short hair and a blue shirt, appears next to text that reads 'Changing the Culture Around Palliative Care' and 'with Jared Rubenstein MD'.

About the Guest:

My guest Dr. Jared Rubenstein is a pediatric palliative care doctor and medical educator. He uses metaphor, animation, and satire to help people get comfortable with challenging topics. He is the program director for the Baylor College of Medicine Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship. He discusses his passion for teaching all healthcare workers how to incorporate palliative care into their work and improving the acceptance of palliative care for both the public and the medical system, using animated videos. Learn more at his website and watch his videos on YouTube:

jaredrubensteinmd.com

Check out his YouTube Channel

Watch this interview on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • How his childhood paved the way for his current work
  • How he uses animated videos to teach about palliative care
  • Why we need to change the public image of palliative care and the healthcare system at the same time
  • How to talk to doctors who resist palliative care referrals
  • How both palliative care and hospice are underutilized because of late referrals
  • The need for short pitches to share information about palliative care in various situations (including cocktail parties!)
  • Why palliative care is now truly the standard of care
  • The need to change the toxic culture of overwork in medicine

Links for this episode:

Resources:

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If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu. And thanks to Jenna for buying me 3 coffees and Kathleen Ginn for making a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

Transcript:

Jared Rubenstein MD InterviewDownload
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Ep. 549 The “Dying Team”: Community-Supported Deathcare with Anna Byrne

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Learn about a compassionate, community-based approach to caring for someone at the end of life, including the use of medical assistance in dying.

Portrait of a woman with long hair smiling, holding a book titled 'The Last Caravan' next to text about the 'Dying Team' focusing on community-supported healthcare.

My special guest Anna Byrne is and end-of-life educator, speaker, and author who holds degrees in Gerontology, Psychology, Education, and Theology with a thesis on Medical Assistance in Dying. She is the author of the memoir Seven Year Summer and The Last Caravan: The Power of Community at the End of Life, which we discuss today. She shares her experience supporting a friend through the last months of her life, including using MAID and also planning her funeral and burial. She has also co-founded Community-Supported Dying in the qathet region in British Columbia. Learn more at her website:

annambyrne.com

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Anna first became acquainted with Mary Morgan and eventually ended up supporting her in her dying process
  • How Mary approached her dying as an activist just as she had lived her life
  • The “dying team” Mary created to help her at the end of her life
  • How COVID complicated the plan for Mary’s last days
  • The Ring Theory for creating a support network
  • How her team used Lotsa Helping Hands to organize tasks and helpers
  • The Blessing Way ritual and how the team applied it to Mary’s care
  • The “messiness” of community, especially around the end of life
  • Anticipatory grief as the date of death approached
  • How they helped Mary plan and carry out her funeral and burial

Links mentioned in this episode:

AnnaByrneInterviewDownload
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Ep. 548 Choice at the End of Life: A Bioethics Conversation on MAID with Jeffrey Kahn PhD in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics

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Learn about facts and misconceptions around medical aid in dying and the ethical tensions that exist in medicine and society.

Image of Jeffrey Kahn, a bioethics expert, alongside text promoting a podcast episode titled 'Choice at the End of Life' discussing medical assistance in dying (MAID).

My guest Professor Jeffrey Kahn is a bioethicist, researcher, author, and Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. The institute’s award-winning podcast, playing god? explores ethics dilemmas that arise in medicine, science, law, and health policy. Today we discuss with Dr. Kahn the most recent episode of playing god?: I Need you to Help Me Die – an exploration of Medical Aid in Dying through first-person storytelling and expert analysis. This episode includes a clip from I Need You to Help Me Die and listeners are invited to listen to the full episode at the following link:

https://playing-god.transistor.fm/s2/1

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Why the Berman Institute chose to address medical aid in dying in their latest episode
  • The story of journalist Esmé Deprez and her father’s choice to use MAID
  • Why medical aid in dying is not the same as suicide
  • The difference between medically-assisted dying and euthanasia
  • The protections built into MAID laws that can also become obstacles
  • Ethical dilemma’s for healthcare providers
  • Why improved access to MAID is needed in states where it is legal

Links mentioned in this episode:

Jeffrey Kahn InterviewDownload
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Ep. 547 When We Die Talks: Facing the Fear of Death with Zach Ancell

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Learn how asking “What do you think happens when we die?” helped this podcast host deal with death anxiety.

My guest Zach Ancell is the creator of When We Die Talks, a project around one question asked to anonymous callers: “What do you believe happens when we die?” He airs these fascinating conversations as a podcast that explores death, meaning, fear, grief, and how mortality shapes the way we live. Zach invites people to “leave a voicemail and share a belief, a question, or a moment you can’t shake about death: 971-328-0864.” Learn more at the website:

whenwedietalks.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • What motivated Zach to start When We Die Talks
  • The courage it takes to face the fear of death
  • The benefits of anonymity in conversations about death
  • How Zach approaches these discussions with curiosity and no agenda
  • What has changed about his acceptance of death has increased from these conversations
  • How asking “What do you believe happens when we die?” unlocks other layers of meaning
  • The ultimate benefit of the project is learning to live more intentionally and authentically
  • How mortality awareness helps us re-prioritize life

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu. And thanks to everyone who has bought me a coffee or made a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

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Ep. 546 The Love List of a Lifetime: Uplifting End-of-Life Planning with Sherry Richert Belul

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Learn about an end-of-life planner that helps people share joy and love as they prepare for their later days.

My guest Sherry Richert Belul is the founder of Simply Celebrate and author of The Love List of a Lifetime. She helps people discover creative, heartfelt ways to celebrate life, deepen connection, and express love–while also guiding people to plan for the end-of-life. She is a workshop leader and speaker who emphasizes loving out loud and making moments that matter. Her end-of-life planner The Love List of a Lifetime helps people organize what matters most, share their love, and leave a legacy of connection and care. Learn more at her website:

simplycelebrate.net

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Sherry is currently finding joy within the depths of her grief
  • The depth of our grief and sorrow is what allows for the breadth of kindness and joy
  • A love list as a gift for someone with a terminal diagnosis
  • Why include something “imperfect” on a love list
  • Why planning for the end of life is an act of great love
  • Start end-of-life planning by making a phone tree of contacts to be notified after your death and include a short message to each person
  • Sharing the stories of the things we plan to pass on to others
  • How sorting through items from the past with a loved one can create new special memories
  • People need to be seen and heard and loved for who they are
  • Say it now – don’t let the moment pass

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my latest donor Joy Fletcher. And thanks to everyone who bought me a coffee or made a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

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Ep. 545 Organ Donation and Extraordinary Conversations at the End of Life with Toby Campbell MD

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Learn about organ donation at the end of life and how to have conversations about it and other difficult topics.

My guest Dr. Toby Campbell is a Professor of Medicine, Thoracic Oncologist, and Palliative Care Physician who is also a writer and podcaster. He is currently writing A Doctor’s Guide to Hard Conversations and created the Extraordinary Conversations Podcast, which explores the pivotal discussions that arise around organ donation and transplantation–and event at the end of one life that helps prolong another life. He discusses these challenging conversations and how they might inform other situations when we need to talk about a difficult subject. Learn more at the website:

extraordinaryconversationspodcast.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Toby’s desire to practice “slow medicine” led to his interest in oncology and palliative care
  • Challenges faced by families in organ donation situations
  • Recognizing that some healthcare decisions are more for the future than for the present moment
  • How the dying process differs when organs are being donated
  • Rituals that might occur in the setting of organ donation
  • Why our feelings about organ donation need to be discussed as part of our end-of-life planning
  • How organ donation can end up helping donor families with their grief
  • Tips for having difficult conversations including building rapport, responding to emotion, eliciting values and priorities

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my latest donor Joy Fletcher. And thanks to Cathy Duke for making a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

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Ep. 544 The Queer Grief Club and Inclusive End-of-Life Care with Jamie Thrower

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Learn how to better serve the needs of the LGBTQ+ community in grief and at the end of life.

My guest Jamie Thrower is a queer death doula, end-of-life educator and community grief tender serving the LGBTQ+ community in life and in death. She is the founder of Queer Grief Club and the co-creator of The Dementia Deck. We discuss how to offer more inclusive services in our end-of-life care and grief support spaces. Learn more at Jamie’s website:

jamiethrower.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Jamie’s story of becoming parentless at age 28
  • How she discovered that grief connected her to others in a beautiful way
  • Why children need to be involved in death and funerals
  • The many layers of grief experienced by a queer person
  • How our systems need to change to become more inclusive
  • What we can do as individuals to make our care more welcoming to the queer community
  • Hidden bias in our paperwork and forms for people in the LGBTQ+ community
  • The importance of advance directives for queer people

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu. And thanks to Wayne for buying me a coffee and Rick DiTullio and Dawn Dayter for making a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

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Ep. 543 A Hospice Musical to Teach About Life’s Grief and Joy with Benjamin Kintisch

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Learn how to experience and support a fantastic musical comedy about hospice care, grief, and finding meaning in life.

My return guest Benjamin Kintisch is a trained chaplain, music teacher, and Cantor in the Jewish synagogue. He is the creator, lyricist and playwright of “Life Review: The Hospice Musical,” a musical comedy that focuses on the lessons a young rabbi learns when he is assigned to be a chaplain for patients in a residential hospice. Ben discusses the upcoming full performance of the musical and album recording on May 9th and the real life origin of the stories and songs in Life Review. Visit the website and support the Kickstarter campaign at the links below:

lifereviewmusical.com

Kickstarter Campaign for Life Review

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • What inspired Ben to write a musical about hospice
  • How Ben ended up creating a one-man version of the show during COVID
  • The story arc of the musical and what it teaches
  • Audience reaction to the musical and why it creates “teachable” moments
  • Why the arts and media are important vehicles for educating the public about death, dying, and grief
  • The upcoming May 9th performance of the musical and live album recording at Johns Hopkins University
  • How (and why) to support the Kickstarter Campaign

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu. And thanks to everyone who has bought me a coffee or made a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

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Ep. 541 [BONUS] Kindness is Contagious and We Need it Now More Than Ever (from What Really Matters Podcast)

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This Bonus post is a cross-over episode from the What Really Matters Podcast.

In this episode I’m sharing research by Dr. Jonathan Haidt that demonstrates the ripple effects transmitted from each and every act of kindness. When other people see us being kind it changes them. And this moment in time–when people are feeling overwhelmed, polarized, frightened, and uncertain–is exactly when kindness is needed. 

"Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing."

from the poem Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye

This episode includes:

  • How we collectively know deep sorrow at this time in history
  • Apples: a simple story of kindness becoming contagious
  • Dr. Jonathan Haidt’s research findings about kindness
  • Noticing the effects of kindness on others
  • The Kindness Walk as a practice
  • Invitation to share your kindness stories with me at info@eoluniversity.com

Learn about my books here

Check out What Really Matters Podcast

Read my latest Substack post

Make a donation here

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Ep. 542 Estate Transition: An Important Part of End-of-Life Planning with Dan Stickel

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Learn about a software resource that helps people navigate estate planning and settlement and find greater peace at the end of life.

My guest Dan Stickel is the Founder and CEO of EstateExec, a cloud-based software solution estate administration and settlement. If you’ve ever served as the executor for an estate you know how challenging it can be to manage financial decisions while grieving after a death has occurred. Dan explains how this software eases the burden for loved ones and avoids common mistakes, and also why it should be part of end-of-life planning. Learn more at the website:

estateexec.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Why Dan created EstateExec based on his own experience
  • Most people don’t have a will and why that may or may not be a problem
  • How the EstateExec app helps people navigate the estate settlement process after a death occurs
  • The common issues estate executors struggle with
  • Why the estate transition process can’t be rushed and each step is important
  • Simple steps in planning an estate in advance that could make a big difference for survivors
  • Many states have laws to protect families financially after a death
  • Why death doulas and hospice workers may want to encourage estate planning before death for peace of mind and less family conflict

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu. And thanks to Lynn Adamo for making a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

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Ep. 540 Helpful Things to Say to Someone Grieving with Shelby Forsythia

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Learn how to support a grieving person by choosing the best words to say that will actually make a difference.

My guest Shelby Forsythia is a grief coach, author, podcast host, and the founder of Life After Loss Academy, an online course and community for grievers. She is the author of Your Grief Your Way, Permission to Grieve, and her latest book Of Course I’m Here Right Now: Three Actually Helpful Things to Say to Someone Grieving. Her work has been featured in Huffington Post, Bustle, and The Oprah Magazine. Learn more at her website:

shelbyforsythia.com

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Shelby became a “student of grief” who views loss as a perpetual teacher
  • Three common internal narratives that grieving people face
  • Three simple but transformative phrases to use when supporting someone
  • Why words are the most accessible tool for support of someone grieving
  • The need for grief literacy to prevent the secondary loss of friendships during times of grief
  • The “three Ds“ of grief
  • What is the “second wave of grief”
  • The lack of grief literacy on social media

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu. And thanks to everyone who has bought me a coffee or made a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

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Ep. 539 Yoga, Breath, and Death: Death Café at the Yoga Studio with Leslie Howard and Richard Rosen

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Learn why “corpse pose” in yoga is a rehearsal for death and how yoga instructors are bringing Death Café into their studio.

My guests Leslie Howard and Richard Rosen are both yoga instructors at Nest Yoga in Oakland CA and are co-authors of a new book titled Savasana: Between Breath and Death – a how-to for the final pose. Leslie is a certified death doula and hospice volunteer. Richard is the author of five previous books about yoga. Leslie also facilitates a Death Café that meets regularly at the yoga studio. Learn more at these websites:

lesliehowardyoga.com

betweenbreathanddeath.com

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • What is Savasana (or Corpse Pose)
  • Corpse pose as a rehearsal for death
  • How it benefits us to have periods of conscious rest like Savasana
  • How Leslie was inspired to become a death doula
  • Incorporating Death Café into the yoga studio
  • How yoga practice can help during times of illness, stress, and at the end of life
  • How breathing helps soothe the nervous system
  • Restorative yoga poses for physical comfort at the end of life

Links mentioned in this episode:

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