Tag: change

EOLPodcast

Ep. 257 Coping with Unexpected Change in an Uncertain World

kwyattmd

Learn how to build resiliency to better cope with the overwhelming changes taking place in the world right now.

In this solo episode I talk about the necessity of change in life and what happens when the amount of change we are forced to deal with exceeds our capacity to manage it. I share some thoughts about the consequences of “change fatigue” and how to increase our resiliency to better deal with and grow from the experience of unexpected and unwanted change.

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Why we resist change
  • Why change is essential for growth
  • The “Bucket Theory” of change
  • The consequences of “change fatigue”
  • The 6 building blocks of resilience:
    • Values and beliefs
    • Meaning and purpose
    • Mindset
    • Relationships
    • Physical health
    • Emotional health
  • Tips for strengthening your own “building blocks”
  • Lessons from the dying for coping with change

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world …

the master calls a butterfly.”

– Richard Bach

Links mentioned in this episode:

  • IANDS 2020 Virtual Conference
  • Get my book here: 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying
  • Subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio
  • Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past here
  • Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!

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! Your contributions make all the difference!

EOLPodcast

Ep. 248 The Human Journey: A Game for Families Facing Change with Sara Schneider PhD

kwyattmd

Learn about an innovative game that helps families improve communication and face grief and change together.

My guest Sara Schneider is trained as a performance anthropologist and also has a background in writing and directing for the theatre. She is the creator of a unique game titled The Human Journey® which helps families and support groups develop the capacity for meaning-making and communication skills in the heart of change. Sara will discuss how this game can help families deal with grief in the face of change and loss. Learn more at her website:

www.the-human-journey.com

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How games and storytelling can be helpful for healing
  • How the Hero’s/Heroine’s Journey informs our personal and societal storytelling
  • The 3 “acts” of The Human Journey:
    • I: the struggles and strengths dealt to us in life
    • II: the hard decisions we have had to make in life
    • III: re-imagining the future
  • How COVID-19 may be calling all of us to a “Hero’s Journey” to rediscover our interconnectedness
  • How families can play The Human Journey game in person and virtually to help them communicate and heal
  • How the game can benefit families with a loved one in hospice and who are distant from one another
  • Why a facilitator or “conductor” is necessary for the game
  • How to get training to be a conductor for the game and lead people through it

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! Your contributions make all the difference!

EOLPodcast, Grief, Tragedy

Ep. 241 Life in Italy During the Pandemic: Coping with Loss and Isolation with Claire Duiker PhD

kwyattmd

Learn how people in Italy are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and what they would like us to know as we follow a similar path.

For the past few weeks we’ve been hearing heartbreaking reports from Italy about the devastation caused by COVID-19 and the efforts there to stop the spread of the virus. My special guest this week is my friend Claire Duiker who lives in Florence, Italy and will give us a personal view of day-to-day life under lockdown in her community. She shares her own coping process and what we can learn from Italy’s long history of suffering due to wars, plagues and invasions. Claire is a tour guide who is usually traveling this time of year in her job with Customwalks.com.

Listen here:

Life in Italy During the Pandemic

This episode includes:

  • The current status of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
  • What life is like for Claire under lockdown
  • How she is coping with her own stages of grief and loss while being isolated
  • The magnitude of this global event and why it is a privilege to witness history-in-the-making
  • How Italy’s long history of suffering through wars, plagues and invasions has led to a legacy of resilience
  • How the family-centered people of Italy are coping with being separated from dying loved ones
  • How isolation can help us confront our own egos and gradually become better people

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination …”

Mary Oliver – Wild Geese

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! Your contributions make all the difference!

EOLPodcast, Spirituality

Ep. 235 How to Surrender and Go With Life’s Flow with Gia George

kwyattmd

Learn how to navigate life’s difficulties by letting go of expectations and attachments.

My very special guest this week is Gia George (my daughter!) who joins me in a conversation about the spiritual task of surrender and the challenges we face in life trying to let go and be in the flow, especially when things are not turning out the way we hoped. She shares her latest song Will You Fly at the end of the episode and you can also watch the video of this discussion on YouTube! Learn more about Gia’s work at her website:

www.DivinelyGia.com

Will-You-Fly-LyricsDownload

Listen here:

How to Surrender – with Gia George

This episode includes:

  • What does it really mean to surrender
  • Why we need to practice surrender in our world right now
  • How surrendering to “what is” allows creativity and healing to flow
  • How to stop fighting what is happening in life and focusing energy on living the best life anyway
  • Learning that we are already on the path we seek, even when we don’t realize it
  • Tips for surrendering in each moment:
    • Recognize that you are holding on and resisting change
    • Understand what you are attached to
    • Journal about the process
    • Mantra: I’m already where I’m trying to go
    • Mantra: Right now, I’m okay

The mystery unfolds slowly. Who knows what this precious life may bring? … Will you leap beyond what’s known and take flight? 

Gia George – from “Will You Fly”

Links mentioned in this episode:

  • Gia’s website
  • Episode 219: Rituals for Letting Go with Gia George
  • Lyrics to Will You Fly
  • Watch video of this episode on YouTube
  • Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!

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 newest Patrons Maya Jones and Kimberly Wise, and thanks also to Diane Button for upping your pledge! Your contributions make all the difference!

End of Life, EOLPodcast

Ep. 145 What the End-of-Life Movement Can Learn from the Natural Childbirth Movement – Part 1

kwyattmd

Learn what the history of natural childbirth in the U. S. has in common with the changes we are seeking in end-of-life care and how we can benefit from that knowledge as we move forward.

PodcastMovement

Slide1In this episode I share information from an article I researched and wrote about the natural childbirth movement in the U.S., how it developed over decades and ultimately succeeded with the help of the Baby Boom Generation. I’ll show how our current end-of-life movement is following a similar path and what we need to learn from the past. Download the special report below:

What the EOL movement can learn from natural childbirth

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

You can still join the online reading group: A Year of Reading Dangerously and read one book each month in 2018 about death, dying and the afterlife. In May we read the book Sacred Dying * by Megory Anderson and for the month of June we’re reading Choosing to Die * by Phyllis Shacter. Go to http://eoluniversity.com/yearofreading to learn more.

(* NOTE: These are affiliate links to Amazon – if you choose to purchase the books from these pages I will receive a small commission which will help support this podcast but cost nothing extra for you.)

HealingChantsAlbumThis episode is sponsored by the album Healing Chants by Gia! Check out this gorgeous collection of chants to help you relax, breathe deep, let go, and heal. Stay tuned to the end of the episode to hear the chant: You and I Are One.

Learn more about the album here.

FEATURE PRESENTATION:

A “perfect storm” led to the breakthrough of natural childbirth into mainstream U.S. medicine and society back in the 1970’s as the Baby Boom generation began demanding better alternatives. There is a similar “perfect storm” brewing right now around end-of-life care as Baby Boomers are aging and facing their own later years.

According to the book Family Centered Maternity by Celeste R. Phillips there were 3 key factors that contributed to the rise in popularity of natural childbirth. These same factors are present now in the end-of-life movement:

  • Medical Pioneers who served as advocates within the medical profession and began demanding change from their colleagues.
  • Grassroots Movements in communities that educated and empowered consumers to push for improved and alternative methods of care.
  • Media Attention that spotlighted the cause and galvanized the public to get involved while also normalizing the conversation.

But change doesn’t happen overnight and those seeking change in how our society deals with death and dying need to remember these 3 lessons about change:

  • Change in society is ultimately driven by economic factors
  • Change requires a united effort
  • Change requires a critical mass

Stay tuned next week for Part 2 of this discussion which will cover the potential deterrents to the change we are seeking and the takeaway lessons that should be learned from studying the history of natural childbirth.

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Thanks to all the supporters of this podcast on Patreon.com/eolu! Sign up to make a contribution of just $1 per month and receive special bonuses for patrons only!

If you enjoy this content please consider leaving a review on iTunes and sharing with others who would find it interesting!

Until next week …

Face Your Fear           BE Ready             Love Your Life

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End of Life, EOLPodcast, Grief

Ep. 94 Finding Joy in the Midst of Grief

kwyattmd

How I got joy back into my life after my father’s suicide death.

podcastjoy

Wyatt18smallThis episode is a follow-up to the 8-part series I presented on my father’s suicide death (episodes 85-92). I will look at the factors involved that helped me eventually find joy in my life once again.

You can read the companion blog for this podcast at www.eoluniversityblog.com.

 

supportonpatreon-e1412764908776You can help support this podcast and the EOLU Interview Series by making a donation at my Patreon page: www.Patreon.com/eolu. This week I would like to thank my newest supporters: Melissa Neeley and Jozie Rabyor. You are awesome! Your support means everything to me. Also last week’s supporter Laurie Dinerstein-Kurs has asked me to promote Death Cafe as a thank-you for her donation. Go to DeathCafe.com to learn more about the movement, download a guideline for starting your own Cafe, or find a Death Cafe near you to attend!

Finally as promised, the Patreon donations have reached $50 per month so I am scheduling the first Hospice Happy Hour for Patreon supporters! It will take place on Friday June 23rd at 3 pm Pacific/6 pm Eastern. We’ll “hangout” together, talk about death, offer support to one another, and answer questions. If you are a current donor you’ll receive the call-in information by email. If you are interested you can become a donor too by going to Patreon.com/eolu!

Today I’ll be sharing with you my insights on how I moved through the pain of grief and guilt and managed (over many years time) to recover a quiet joy in my life. Here’s the list of factors that helped me:

  • Patience. I needed to recognize that grief has its own timing (and its different for everyone.) I had to let me grief follow its own path and unfold in its own way.
  • Stillness. Over time I developed my capacity to experience stillness within through a practice of contemplation and meditation. I discovered that joy arises in the stillness so this step was essential in order for me to ultimately feel joyful again.
  • Facing emotions. For many years I repressed all of my negative emotions about my father’s death because they were too frightening and dark for me. But it was necessary for me to face up to those emotions and embrace them with love in order to make room for joy to return.
  • Allowing change. I learned that I had to allow my grief and pain to change everything about me in order to move through it and discover joy again. My resistance to change kept me stuck in grief for many years and unable to move on.
  • Letting go of expectations. I had to alter my assumptions about how joy would show up in my life and recognize that it would arrive as one tiny droplet at a time. Joy for me now is quiet and serene.

Thanks for tuning in to the podcast! Send me a message or your questions for the Happy Hour at my email address karen@karenwyattmd.com or Tweet me at @spiritualmd!

Until next week remember:

Face Your Fears.                         BE Ready.                        Love Your Life.

Love,

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EOLPodcast, Spirituality

Ep. 63 What Politics and Death Can Teach Us

kwyattmd

Today Dr. Karen Wyatt thanks her supporters on Patreon.com/eolu whose generous donations help keep this podcast on the air!

She talks about the Death Expo 2016 which starts this week on November 10th. You can sign up at DeathExpo.com and read about all 12 of the speaker for this FREE online event.

Next Dr. Wyatt shares some thoughts about the upcoming presidential election here in the U.S. While she doesn’t take sides or share any particular political beliefs she describes the fact that the U.S. electorate seems maximally polarized and divided over this election, with each side predicting “doomsday” if the other side wins. She goes on to say:

  • the day after the election will begin a period of grief for each candidate and their “teams”: the losing candidate will grieve over all the money, time, energy and life force spent in this costly battle; the victor will hardly celebrate the win because the “prize” is to take on responsibility for re-uniting the whole and to embrace those from the opposing side who now must be governed with reason and compassion.
  • the irony of this election process is that no matter how different others appear to be from us, we are actually far more alike that we are different. We are all mortals–human incarnations of Spirit–just trying to survive here on planet Earth. But each of us will ultimately die and that is our most powerful common bond. We each share mortality and an innate fear of death.
  • Death is the most uniting force we have if we look at it from a higher perspective.
  • Sogyal Rinpoche said, “Life is nothing but a continuing dance of birth and death, a dance of change.” Ultimately change is what we seem to be seeking through our political process: we want others to change, the government to change, the system to change–all so that we don’t have to change ourselves. But the only meaningful change is the change we create within ourselves.
  • Here is a recommendation for a daily practice:
    • contemplate your inner landscape and seek out the parts of you that fear change; the parts that harbor anger, hatred, negativity
    • seek to understand your own pain and your wounds that cause you to react with anger and fear; journal about them and spend time contemplating them
    • be aware of your behavior in relationships: what triggers your negative emotions? what causes you to lash out or shut down?
    • embrace the wounded parts of yourself so that they can heal
    • find the still point of equanimity within you and cultivate that; learn to operate from that place so that you can bring peace and healing to volatile situations
  • No matter how different you feel you are from your neighbors, family, and Facebook friends remember that Death ultimately unites us all as one. Contemplate your own death and allow the small deaths, the thousand changes that come to you every day, to move you forward. That’s how you will help the nation and our society heal again.

TaoCheck out the book The Tao of Death which has verses to help you contemplate death every day in your practice!

Sign up for Death Expo 2016 now so you won’t miss a single interview! Tune in every Monday and until next week remember:

Face Your Fears.               BE Ready.               Love Your Life.