Today's guest, Dr. Joanie Terrizzi shares how we are a grief avoidant culture which is precisely why I knew I wanted to talk about death during this season of unlearning. As much as our culture avoids grief, there is no way to prevent the end of life, and it deserves as much air time as all the other parts of life.
You will find that this conversation contains a spaciousness to it. The silence in a conversation talking about loss and grief is as much part of the process as the talking about it. You'll see Joanie has a way of bringing presence and comfort into this topic.
In this episode, we touch on:
- Joanie's losses and how she is after integrating her grief
- how death brings about a new identity for ourselves
- the role of community in grieving
- how to increase our capacity to grieve
- an alternative statement to "I'm sorry for your loss"
- what an end of life doula does
- the difference b/t bereavement and grief
- and how loss is clarifying
This is one of those important topics we should be having with all of our friends and family. I hope this gives you some points to share with them.
Book mentioned - There's No Such Thing As A Dragon
About the guest
Dr. Joanie Terrizzi (she/her/hers) is a mind-body wellness practitioner, coach, and writer. As a former school librarian for under-resourced populations, Joanie believes firmly in the power of communities to encourage well-being and enact healing. She has completed trainings in Yoga, Yin Yoga, Laughter Yoga, children’s yoga, iRest®, Reiki, Authentic Relating Training, Clinical Hypnosis, Integrative Wellness Coaching, and a Death Doula certification; she was the president of the Midwest End-of-Life Doula Collective and is a member of the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance. Joanie explored children’s mindfulness for her dissertation and received her doctorate in Mind-Body Medicine from Saybrook University where she pursued her interest in healing modalities and human thriving.
You can learn more about Joanie's grief integration coaching work at www.grieftender.org. You can also find additional information about her at www.nurtureandthrive.org and www.breathetolearn.com. Lastly, you can connect with her on Instagram at @dr.joanieter and read her writing at @dr.j.t.poetry.
About the host
Lisa Chin (she/her/hers) believes that knowing ourselves is central to being happy and fulfilled. This podcast is about the observation and examination of self - exploring all the things that make us who we are. Why? Because the better we understand ourselves, the more good we can do in the world.
Lisa creates and podcasts from the traditional and unceded land of the Nipmuc and Massachusett tribes in a town outside Boston, MA.
To learn more about Lisa, her writing as well as opportunities to work with her, visit www.lisaforreal.com. Feel free to send her an email or DM her on Instagram @reclaimingmotherhood with your thoughts of an inspired life.