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Make a list of the good attributes you had when you were young, and consider how that child in your past can bring you joy today. Let's Connect: You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've wondered how unspoken grief shapes those you love, episode 464 of Grief and Happiness is for you. Author Audrey Hyams Romoff, daughter of a child Auschwitz survivor, shares how her family's silence reached her daughter. A joint trip to Auschwitz broke it, showing how honesty and kindness can keep trauma from the next generation. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:53) Audrey's background and her memoir on four generations of women (01:21) Her mother's childhood in Auschwitz and the silence passed down to her daughter (09:22) How a trip to Auschwitz with her daughter changed their relationship (11:56) Why the crowds at Auschwitz gave mother and daughter opposite reactions (15:25) Writing a grief memoir without tying it up in a pretty bow (17:23) Why the circumstances of a death shape how grief lingers (19:44) How her mother and grandmother carried the same trauma so differently (32:30) Why "survivor" marks the start of a new battle, not the end (34:07) Small kindnesses and her Aunt Sheila's motto: just show up Audrey Hyams Romoff was born in Montreal to a mother who was one of the youngest children to survive Auschwitz, and grew up in a home that looked polished while that history played out within. In Toronto, she founded OverCat, a communications and influencer agency, consulting for brands such as Victoria's Secret and Estée Lauder and stars like Jennifer Lawrence. Cosmetics Magazine named her a top public relations executive, and she chaired communications for the Fashion Cares AIDS fundraiser. Her memoir, The Undertow of Grief: Navigating Intergenerational Trauma, follows the Holocaust's impact across four generations of women. In this episode, Audrey shows how unspoken trauma is passed down. She describes her mother's refusal to face her past and the loss of both parents in 2008, when her mother ended her life and her father died alongside her. After learning her daughter, Lindsay, had hidden her own grief to protect her, Audrey traveled with her to Auschwitz for PBS NewsHour on the 80th anniversary of its liberation. She explains why her mother rejected the word "survivor," why Audrey sees survival as the start of a new battle, and why her book offers no tidy ending. Grief and joy coexist, she says, but grief never leaves, and she closes with a case for small kindnesses and her Aunt Sheila's motto: just show up. Connect with Audrey Hyams Romoff: Website Instagram TikTok Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Book: Audrey Hyams Romoff - The Undertow of Grief: Navigating Intergenerational Trauma Let's Connect: Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hawaiians see the ocean and sky together as one, and they call that Lani, the Hawaiian word for heaven. Let's Connect: You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever wondered how one small idea could turn grief into a mission that helps hundreds of children, episode 462 of Grief and Happiness is for you. Guest Stephen Greengo turns a hospital memory of daughter Harper into Tiara4Harper.com, sending a tiara to a child at Children's Mercy Hospital for every one sold. Funded through his own concert security shifts, Stephen shows how one act of gratitude becomes a lasting legacy of joy. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:56) Stephen's background and gratitude behind the tiara business (02:21) Harper's hospital memory and the vibrating chair that shaped it all (04:55) Ten years after Harper's passing while still believing she's watching (06:08) The discovery behind it — 60,000 women search for tiaras monthly (07:32) How a tiara lets women feel like a princess, guilt-free (08:32) Growing the mission from 50 to 127 tiaras donated (10:43) Turning everyday encounters, like security shifts, into marketing (14:29) How listeners can get involved with Tiara4Harper Stephen Greengo is a Navy veteran and Kansas City dad whose daughter Harper was born on January 10, 2014, and passed away from Sandhoff disease, a rare genetic disorder, just eight days shy of her second birthday. Rather than let grief take over, Stephen turned that loss into a vow to keep Harper's light alive, and that vow became Tiara4Harper.com, a mission-driven tiara business built entirely around her memory. In this episode, Stephen focuses on the business itself: how a hospital memory of Harper finding joy in a simple vibrating chair, paired with his observation of how often women buy tiaras for everyday occasions, became the blueprint for a company where every tiara sold sends a matching one to a little girl at Children's Mercy Hospital. He speaks candidly about running the operation on his own, funding it through security shifts at concerts, partnering with union halls for bulk donations, and reaching 127 tiaras donated to date, all while working toward donating as many as possible by November 18, National Princess Day. Guided by his philosophy, "Lift Where You Stand," Stephen frames the business as both a way of honoring Harper and a model for turning grief into consistent, small acts of service. Connect with Stephen Greengo: Website Instagram TikTok Facebook Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every week the Grief and Happiness Alliance invites you to come to our free gatherings. We meet Sundays at 9 AM Hawaii time, noon Pacific time and 3 Eastern time. Register each week to receive the Zoom link by clicking here. Sign up for our newsletter to learn all we do by clicking here. Visit our website by clicking here. We look forward to seeing you at our gatherings. Let's Connect: You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever wondered what tarot and ancient mourning rituals can teach us about grief, episode 460 of Grief and Happiness is for you. Psychic medium Jenna Matlin discusses her book, The Tarot Book of the Dead, born from helping clients hold unresolved loss—including the taboo "widow's fire" that can follow a partner's death. She compares global grieving traditions to the West's approach, showing how ritual can make grief sacred. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (01:06) Jenna Matlin's introduction — tarot reading, mediumship, and doula training (01:55) How tarot and mediumship help clients process unresolved grief (06:15) What Western culture gets wrong about holding space for someone else's pain (08:26) Emily's story of losing her husband Jacques — and the friends who stayed (14:00) Why some people receive spirit visits in dreams and others don't (18:04) The "At the Waterline" tarot spread for grief and mediumship readings (23:06) "Widow's fire": the instinctual desire for aliveness after loss (27:06) How death became the unexpected inspiration behind The Tarot Book of the Dead Jenna Matlin is a professional tarot reader and psychic medium based in Durham, North Carolina, with a practice serving clients worldwide since 2012 and a tarot career dating to 1990. She is the author of multiple books, most recently The Tarot Book of the Dead, published by Weiser Books, drawing on her anthropology background and cross-cultural research into death and mourning. Her honors include a COVR Silver Award and Best Spiritual Guru distinction from Philadelphia Magazine, and she teaches at Omega Institute while mentoring aspiring readers. In this episode, Jenna brings that lens to grief, exploring it through tarot, mediumship, and ritual. Drawing on her anthropology background, she contrasts the West's administrative approach to death with the communal, presence-based mourning of indigenous cultures, arguing Western culture rarely teaches people to sit with pain without trying to fix it. She describes tools she uses with grieving clients, including a tarot spread called "At the Waterline," and speaks to disenfranchised grief among those excluded from funerals. She also introduces "widow's fire," the surge of desire that can follow a partner's death, framing it as sacred rather than shameful, and closes by weaving in myth to argue grief deserves more ritual and community. Connect with Jenna Matlin: Website Instagram TikTok YouTube Get Jenna’s books! Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you stay in touch with your friends? If not, today is a good time to start! Let's Connect: You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever wondered how one word, scrawled on a beach stone, could turn into a national movement, episode 456 of Grief and Happiness is for you. Grace Trail founder Anne Barry Jolles shares how five simple questions pulled her out of grief and later helped her cope while her son served in combat overseas. She shows how the right questions, asked at the right moment, can turn despair into a path forward. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:49) Anne introduces Grace Trail and its five-question framework (01:51) The kitchen floor breakdown that gave birth to the five questions (04:30) Walking the questions with her husband turned grief into connection (07:00) Her son's deployment to Afghanistan and the birth of the first physical trail (13:03) From beach stones to boulders: what a Grace Trail looks like, and its growth into schools, hospitals, and workplaces (19:43) Grace Trail's international reach and the search for a partner to help it scale (22:08) Trail kits, meaningful gifts, and the power of writing your answers down (25:13) Letting nature guide the process — and Anne's closing thoughts Anne Barry Jolles is an occupational therapist and certified professional coach who founded Grace Trail®, a national resilience movement built around five guiding questions: gratitude, release, accept, challenge, and embrace. She created the process in 2000 while grieving the loss of both her parents, and has since coached more than 2,000 clients and delivered the TEDx talk "Cracking the Grace Code." Her work has earned her ICF New England's Life Coach of the Year award and international recognition, including a feature in Marie Claire Hungary. In this episode, Anne shares the origin story behind Grace Trail, tracing how the five questions emerged intuitively from the word "grace" during that period of grief, and how the practice deepened after her son returned from combat in Afghanistan in 2012. She describes Grace Trail's growth from hand-lettered stones on a Massachusetts trail to more than a dozen licensed installations nationwide, spanning universities, hospitals, schools, and a farm in Texas, with an upcoming VA site honoring her son's service. She also discusses the trail kits she designed for those without trail access, the simple rules that keep it safe — privacy, confidentiality, judgment-free listening — and her hope to expand Grace Trail nationwide and eventually worldwide. Connect with Anne Barry Jolles: Website Facebook LinkedIn Instagram X YouTube Get Anne’s books! Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is your definition of a good death? Let's Connect: You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever wondered how getting deliberately lost could help you heal, episode 456 of Grief and Happiness is for you. David Ferrugio, host of Dead Talks Podcast, shares how losing his father on 9/11 at 12 led to hundreds of conversations about grief and the afterlife. From a solo motorbike ride into Thailand's dark hills to the guilt over public attention, David shows how isolation and risk can carry us through grief. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:58) David Ferrugio's introduction and the origin of Dead Talks (01:49) Losing his father on 9/11 at age 12 (04:07) Why grief feels universal yet deeply isolating (06:36) Finding community through grief camps and shared experience (08:40) The unexpected path to writing his book (11:15) Why he kept the book eclectic instead of prescriptive (13:40) Finding hope in hundreds of stories, and a solo ride into Thailand's unknown (18:45) The illusion of control and learning to adapt (19:21) Saying yes to uncertainty as a way through grief (26:29) Dead Talks Podcast and his upcoming book, You're Not Dead Yet David Ferrugio hosts Dead Talks Podcast, which for six years has normalized conversations about grief, loss, and the afterlife through guests' own experiences with death. Having lost his father on 9/11 at 12, he learned the value of sharing stories, a loss that became the foundation of his work and has led to hundreds of conversations on grief and the afterlife. He's also author of the forthcoming book You're Not Dead Yet, out September 8th, blending his story with lessons from his guests. In this episode, David traces how losing his father at 12 shaped an evolving understanding of grief, describing the paradox of feeling isolated despite strong family support, and how guilt over the attention his loss received sparked Dead Talks as a way to spotlight other people's stories. He describes his upcoming book as an eclectic, non-prescriptive collection of perspectives rather than a formula for healing, and shares a story about a solo motorbike ride in Thailand that became a metaphor for stepping into the unknown. The episode closes on how saying yes to uncertainty, and taking the next step, often carries people through grief. Connect with David Ferrugio: Website Facebook Instagram YouTube Podcast: DEAD Talks Book: David Ferrugio - You’re Not Dead Yet Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you tried manifestation? What have you manifested? What is the difference for you between mourning and grief? Let's Connect: You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 454 of Grief and Happiness features author Arik Housley on losing his 18-year-old daughter, Alaina, in the 2018 Borderline Bar & Grill mass shooting. He shares his path to forgiveness and post-traumatic growth, from his teenage son's eulogy the night of the tragedy to the well-meaning phrases that missed the mark, offering practical wisdom on showing up for the grieving. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (01:00) Arik Housley introduces himself and the loss of his daughter, Alaina (02:16) Finding strength in vulnerability, and a story that reshaped his faith (04:46) The night of the Borderline shooting and the family's evacuation (07:52) His 14-year-old son's decision to write a eulogy that same night (09:57) Speaking at the Parents of Murdered Children's Conference (14:29) Navigating the line between giving privacy and creating isolation (17:06) What to say — and what not to say — to someone who's grieving (20:36) Why "I know how you feel" can do more harm than good (24:47) Choosing joy and carrying love forward after unimaginable loss (25:45) The story behind his book, Always November Arik Housley is an author, entrepreneur, and public speaker based in Napa Valley, California, where he has spent nearly 30 years building a portfolio of businesses spanning grocery stores, a winery, and a restaurant. He is the father of Alaina Housley, killed at 18 in the 2018 mass shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, and author of the bestselling memoir Always November: Lessons in Loss, Love and Resilience, co-written with novelist Holly Lynn Payne. In Alaina's memory, he and his wife, Hannah, founded Alaina's Voice Foundation, supporting mental health and education, and he now speaks widely at universities and conferences on grief and resilience. In this episode, Arik shares the story behind Always November, from the night his family learned of Alaina's murder to the post-traumatic growth that followed, including his decision to forgive the shooter for his own sake, and how he helped his teenage son process the loss of his sister. Much of the conversation turns practical, as Arik offers guidance for supporting the grieving: navigating the line between giving space and disappearing, and why saying something imperfect beats saying nothing at all. He closes by reflecting on how honesty, even when painful, builds the trust that carries families through tragedy. Connect with Arik Housley: Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Substack Book: Arik Housley - Always November Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keeping track of what makes you happy can make you happier! Let's Connect: You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever felt divorce only leaves one way to fight, episode 452 of Grief and Happiness is for you. Divorce coach Karen McNenny reframes divorce as its own kind of grief, sharing tools for splitting with dignity, from a "divorce announcement" to protecting kids caught in the middle. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (01:04) Karen McNenny's divorce story and founding the Good Divorce Academy (03:23) Emily on staying in an unhappy marriage because she felt she "had to" (04:17) Why society permits changing everything except marital status (07:52) The "elegant exit" and Karen's mayonnaise-jar metaphor for knowing it's over (10:45) The shame and judgment divorcing families face, and how to support them (13:23) The "divorce announcement" tool for controlling the narrative (17:30) Why kids should never be the mediator or messenger between parents (20:54) Comparing the grief of divorce versus losing a spouse to death (31:10) Karen's wound-to-scar metaphor for how divorce grief heals Karen McNenny is a mediator, certified divorce coach, and co-parenting specialist, and the founder of The Good Divorce Academy. A Montana native with a BFA from Montana State University and graduate studies in London as a Rotary International Scholar, she spent 25 years as a business consultant before shifting her focus to divorce work during the pandemic. She is the author of The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family and hosts The Good Divorce Show, now in its fourth season, featuring couples and individuals who've navigated separation well.  In this episode, Karen reframes divorce as a form of grief that's too often overlooked and under-supported, drawing on her own divorce 15 years ago to argue that couples default to adversarial, court-driven splits when society offers no "elegant exit." She shares practical tools from her coaching practice — like writing a joint "divorce announcement" to head off gossip and isolation — and stresses that children should never be used as messengers or mediators between parents. She also unpacks divorce's layered losses (identity, routine, social circle), offering her signature image of grief as a wound that scars but never fully vanishes, and connects her story to Emily's in exploring where divorce grief and death grief overlap and diverge. Connect with Karen McNenny: Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn YouTube Podcast: Good Divorce Show Book: Karen McNenny - The Good Divorce Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you live mindfully, you can savor those moments you’ve expanded Let's Connect: You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.