Advertise on podcast: P.S. We Expire with Morgan Motsinger
Rating
5from
This podcast has
105 episodes
Explicit
No
Date created
2022/09/23
Latest episode
2026/09/25
Average duration
65 min.
Release period
33 days
Description
The title says it all: we expire. And yet most of us live like we have infinite time to become who we want to be, to have the conversations that matter, to stop shrinking ourselves. I'm Morgan. I'm a mother, entrepreneur, and someone who is doing the messy work of rebuilding after loss. On this podcast, I talk with people about the things we usually avoid: death, grief, caregiving, self-trust, and the courage it takes to live deliberately instead of on autopilot. These aren't conversations about becoming perfect. They're about becoming real.
Podcast episodes
Check latest episodes from P.S. We Expire with Morgan Motsinger podcast
Ep101: Medical Trauma, Reactive Attachment, and the Thrive Framework with Hilary "HARTT" Thompson
2026/09/25
In this episode, I sit down with Hilary "HARTT" Thompson, CTSS — mom to a pediatric heart transplant recipient, founder of a support community of nearly 3,000 heart transplant families, and creator of the Thrive Framework — for a conversation that gutted me open in the best way.
Hilary's daughter Shiloh has survived four open-heart surgeries, a transplant at age two, seven bouts of necrotizing enterocolitis, and years of procedures that — however necessary — left a mark no discharge paperwork warned her about: reactive attachment disorder. We talk about what happens when a baby's earliest experience of "being cared for" is also pain, and what it took, over more than a decade, to rebuild trust between a mother and a daughter neither of them chose to almost lose.
We move through the neuroscience of trauma and the amygdala's "worst-case-scenario Bob," the Work of Byron Katie and the four questions that let you interrogate a painful thought instead of just believing it, why the opposite of resentment isn't forgiveness but compassion, and how Hilary built the Thrive Framework — Triage, Humanize, Restore, Include, Visualize, Evaluate — to give physicians and caregivers a shared language for treating the whole child, not just the diagnosis.
We also talk honestly about the particular kind of guilt that shows up when you learn, years later, that something you did to save your child's life also hurt them; about the myth that kids are simply "resilient"; and about the small, sacred moments — the swing set, the trust rebuilt one blood draw at a time — that make up what Hilary calls a "sweet season."
If you're parenting a medically complex child, have sat in a hospital room making decisions with incomplete information, or have ever felt like you don't have a choice in how brutal your life feels — this one is for you.
Topics we cover:
Perspective as a practiced skill, not a fixed traitNeuroplasticity and re-training the brain after decades of traumaThe Work of Byron Katie — four questions to question a painful thoughtWhy compassion, not forgiveness, is the real end point of resentmentMedical trauma as an unrecognized adverse childhood experienceReactive attachment disorder in medically complex kids — how common it actually is, and why it's almost never diagnosedThe Thrive Framework: Triage, Humanize, Restore, Include, Visualize, EvaluateGiving kids agency during painful proceduresSelf-care as "taking care of the pilot," not an indulgenceHilary's book, Dear Mama in the Darkness
Resources mentioned:
The Work of Byron KatieListen by Patti WipflerDear Mama in the Darkness by Hilary "HARTT" Thompson
Find Hilary:
Instagram: @hartt.2.hartt
Facebook: /hilarywithhartt
LinkedIn: /hilarywithhartt
http://theharttcollaborative.com
Find Morgan:
https://www.instagram.com/morgan_motsinger/
https://www.morganmotsinger.com/
https://www.morganmotsinger.com/speaking
Ep100: Celebrating 100 with a personal episode and Q&A
2026/09/18
I hit 100 episodes (even though it took longer than I expected!). I started this podcast with the goal of making it to seven, then fifty, so I'm calling it a win. This one's just me, catching you up on what's taken place since episode one in January of 2023, plus a handful of questions from a Q&A I ran on social media.
What's changed:
I finished my BS in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience from Portland State, graduating summa cum laude — and got to give the commencement speech, which centered on why person-to-person connection matters more, not less, in the age of AI.
My senior thesis became a novel survey of 58 respondents on the mental health gaps facing parents of medically complex or terminally ill kids — work that grew directly out of my own experience with Annie's diagnosis. I'm still at OHSU, working alongside the psychologist who mentored me through that thesis, and we're pursuing publication in a peer-reviewed journal. I'm also about to start as a research assistant in a lab studying psychedelics for veterans — treatment-resistant depression, methamphetamine use disorder, and PTSD.
I've become a blogger in residence for Courageous Parents Network, publishing monthly on my experience parenting a child with a rare disease. And I co-led a grief retreat in California with my friend Stefanie — not just grief from death, but the grief of life not turning out the way you thought it would.
The big one: Nembry.
I started a company. Nembry has two arms — a for-profit side building training and curriculum for clinicians who want to actually understand what it's like to parent a medically complex or terminally ill child, and a nonprofit side that will hire therapists trained through that curriculum to provide free mental health care to those families. It's the most aligned I've ever felt with something I've built, and it feels like a direct continuation of Annie's life and my life as her mom.
What's next for the podcast: no fixed schedule, same format — I like the flexibility too much to niche down, even knowing that's not great marketing advice.
Q&A:
What are you reading?
Mind Fixers by Anne HarringtonThe Wrong Order of Things by Michelle HillsEight Million Ways to Happy by Hiroko YodaWriting Down the Bones by Natalie GoldbergThe Grieving Body by Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor
What do you really love to do? Napping in sunlight. Riding my motorcycle on slow back roads, fully geared up, only when it's not raining.
How have your priorities shifted in the last 5–10 years? Prioritizing relationships, my own mental health, and self-exploration — including leaving organized religion, which changed less about who I am than it changed how the people close to me relate to that.
Where does your confidence come from? Honestly — I think it's more stubbornness than confidence. A lot of it was forged by parenting Annie in public, learning I could tolerate the discomfort of things going sideways. And the belief that embarrassment is considerably less expensive than regret.
You can find me in all the usual places:
https://www.morganmotsinger.com/
https://substack.com/@morganmotsinger
https://www.instagram.com/morgan_motsinger/
[email protected]
Ep99: The Questions Kids Actually Ask About Dying with Dr. Korie Leigh
2026/09/11
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross never wanted us to call them stages of grief, but the five stages got loose in the world anyway, and fifty years later we're still measuring our grief against a model that was never meant to be linear — and was not even built from data about grief.
This week I'm talking with Dr. Korie Leigh — thanatologist, clinician, author, and director of one of only two graduate programs in thanatology in the country — about what the actual research says grief is: not a checklist, not a destination, but a bio-psycho-social-relational-spiritual process we learn to live inside of, forever.
About Dr. Korie LeighDr. Korie Leigh is an internationally recognized thanatologist, certified child life specialist, grief counselor, author, educator, and speaker who helps children, families, professionals, and communities navigate grief, loss, and life's hardest changes.
With more than 20 years of experience working with children and families, Dr. Leigh is known for making difficult conversations about grief approachable, practical, and deeply human. She is the author of three books with Free Spirit Publishing: What Does Grief Feel Like?, It Won't Ever Be the Same: A Teen's Guide to Grief and Grieving, and When Everything Changes: Parenting Through Loss and Grief. Her work has received a New Mexico Book Award and has been recognized by national media and recommended reading lists.
Dr. Leigh is an Associate Professor and Program Director of the M.S. in Thanatology at Marian University and Director of Psychosocial Services for Hero's Path Palliative Care. She has also served as an advisor to Sesame Workshop and presents nationally and internationally on childhood bereavement, pediatric palliative care, grief literacy, expressive arts, and building grief-informed communities.
Through her books, speaking, training, consultation, and clinical work, Dr. Leigh offers creative and meaningful ways to live alongside loss, support one another through difficult experiences, and build organizations and communities where grief has a place to belong.
Her books:
What Does Grief Feel Like? — for children under 8It Won't Ever Be the Same: A Teen's Guide to Grief and GrievingWhen Everything Changes: Parenting Through Loss and GriefWhy Are the Numbers All Jumbled? — coming soon!Books & Research MentionedThe Grieving Brain and The Grieving Body — Mary-Frances O'ConnorThe Private Lives of Dying Children — Myra Bluebond-LangerInstrumental and Intuitive grief theory — Kenneth Doka and Terry MartinLinksDr. Korie Leigh's website: https://www.korieleighphd.com/Follow Dr. Korie Leigh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkorieleigh/
Follow Morgan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morgan_motsingerRead more from Morgan on her blog: https://www.morganmotsinger.com/blog
Ep98: Stop calling it nagging (and what to call it instead) with Laura Danger
2026/05/01
If you've ever been called a nag — or swallowed what you really needed because you were afraid of being called one — this episode is for you.
Laura Danger is the educator and domestic equity expert behind @thatdarnchat, the account that brought terms like "weaponized incompetence" and "the nag paradox" into everyday conversation. She's also the author of No More Mediocre and co-host of the Time to Lean podcast. And she is exactly as warm, sharp, and no-nonsense as you'd hope.
We started where a lot of us are right now: in the thick of May-sember — that chaos spiral of spring schedules, summer childcare math, Spirit Week emails on Sunday night, and the dawning realization that someone has to figure all of this out. (Spoiler: you know who.)
From there, we got into it:
Weaponized incompetence — what it actually is.
It's not just "men doing a bad job." It's a pattern. And the defining factor isn't the quality of the work — it's the accountability (or lack thereof) that follows. Laura breaks down what separates weaponized incompetence from plain old incompetence, ADHD, or just different standards.
The nag paradox.
One person manages everything. The other takes direction. And somehow, the person managing everything ends up as the villain of the story. Laura explains how this dynamic starts, why it snowballs, and why "just make me a list" is not the solution you think it is.
Domestic equity vs. equality.
50/50 is a setup to fail. What actually works is negotiation, flexibility, and both people being invested in the collective — not scorekeeping.
Why we don't say what we really need.
And what happens when we finally do. Laura shares the internal shift that changed everything in her own relationship — and it's not what you'd expect.
The Gottman Four Horsemen.
Criticism, defensiveness, contempt, stonewalling. How they show up in the mental load dynamic and what to do when you're already in it.
What "emotional labor" actually means.
Hint: it's not the same as the mental load. Laura points us to Rose Hackman's book Emotional Labor for the clearest definition she's found — and it's going to reframe some things for you.
What makes her hopeful.
Even in the sh*tstorm of 2026. (Her answer involves a neighborhood gardening club. I'm not kidding. It's perfect.)
Books mentioned:
No More Mediocre by Laura Danger
Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
Emotional Labor by Rose Hackman
Drained by Leah Rubiner
Honest Motherhood by Libby Ward
Me, Myself, And Us by Brain Little
Find Laura:
Instagram: @thatdarnchat
No More Mediocre — available wherever books are sold
Time to Lean podcast
Ep97: You're not failing, you're unsupported with Madeline Cheney (The Rare Life)
2026/04/25
There's a difference between a hard life and an unsupported one. This episode is about that difference.
Madeline Cheney is the founder of The Rare Life — a nonprofit podcast and online community for parents of medically complex kids — and she is exactly the kind of person you want in your corner when the weight of it all starts to feel like a personal failing. Spoiler: it's not. It's a systems problem. And she's got receipts.
We started, somehow, with yard work. And weeds. And the sneaky way that the things we keep avoiding cost us way more energy than actually doing them — a truth that hits different when you're a parent whose to-do list includes therapy schedules, IEP meetings, feeding protocols, and approximately ten thousand things the professionals think you should be doing right now.
From there we got into the real stuff:
The mental load that never clocks out. Even when you're sleeping. Even when you're at work. Even when someone else is technically watching your child. The hypervigilance is always running in the background — and it takes a toll on your body in ways that science is only beginning to catch up to.
Grief that doesn't look like grief. It's universal among parents in this community, and it doesn't mean you love your child any less. In fact, it usually means the opposite. Madeline talks about why naming it — without the shame — is the fastest path through it.
Why partners process so differently. And why the parent doing the daily caregiving almost always gets to acceptance first. (Hint: you can't ignore reality when it's in your face every single day.)
The foster care system plot twist. Madeline is in the middle of becoming a licensed foster family, and what she discovered about the support infrastructure built into that system — the mentor families, the care teams, the respite care, the training — will make you simultaneously inspired and furious on behalf of every disability parent who never got any of that.
Acceptance isn't what you think it is. It's not peace. It's not "I wouldn't change a thing." It's just — this is my life, and I'm not fighting that anymore. That's it. That's enough.
And we talked about meaning-making. Not the toxic positivity version where everything happens for a reason. The real version, where you go through something hard and you become someone different on the other side — and that matters, even if nobody ever sees it.
Madeline is the founder of The Rare Life, a nonprofit online community and podcast for parents of medically complex individuals. She started The Rare Life in 2020 when her medically complex son Kimball was 2, inspired by the isolation she had experienced to that point. Madeline lives in SLC with her husband Juston, 10 year old daughter Wendy and now 7 year old son Kimball. She enjoys vegging out to old murder mystery tv shows, her current favorite being Murder She Wrote, and connecting with loved ones outside.
Find Madeline online:
https://therarelife.org/
https://www.instagram.com/the_rare_life
Ep96: Religion is not a dirty word with Liz Bucar
2026/03/28
I've been thinking a lot about religion lately — not in the way I was taught to as a kid, where there was one truth and you either had it or you didn't. More like... what if religion is actually one of the most human things we do? What if it's been a resource hiding in plain sight, and we've been too burned, too skeptical, or too cool to look at it clearly?
That's exactly what I got to dig into with my guest, Liz Bucar — professor, prize-winning author, and one of the most genuinely interesting people I've talked to about this stuff. Liz has spent her career studying how religion actually works in real human lives, and she does it without the dogma or the defensiveness. She's not trying to convert you. She's trying to help you see clearly.
We covered a lot of ground. We talked about what religion even is — and why that question is harder (and more interesting) than it sounds. We talked about religious literacy, and why not understanding the traditions around us leaves us less equipped to navigate the world. We talked about storytelling as one of the most powerful tools religion has ever had, and how the best stories are the ones that hold complexity without collapsing it into a tidy moral.
And then we zoomed out. We talked about what's happening right now — this urgent, liminal, kind of terrifying moment in society — and why religion, for all its baggage, might actually be one of our best tools for collective change. Not because it has all the answers, but because it's been practicing community, ritual, and meaning-making longer than any other institution we have.
Here's what I keep coming back to: individualism is exhausting. The antidote — the actual, research-backed, spiritually-ancient antidote — is community. Belonging to something bigger than yourself. Religion, whatever form that takes for you, has always known that.
This one is worth a slow listen.
Where you can find Liz:
https://www.lizbucar.com/
Preorder Liz's new book Beyond Wellness: https://www.lizbucar.com/books
Follow Liz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizbucar
Liz's substack: https://lizbucar.substack.com/
Where you can find Morgan:
https://www.morganmotsinger.com/
Follow Morgan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morgan_motsinger/
Morgan's substack: https://morganmotsinger.substack.com/
LIZ BUCAR is a religious ethicist and professor of religion at
Northeastern University, as well as a certified intenSati and Kripalu yoga instructor. Her popular writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, and The Wall Street Journal, and she is the author of four books, including the award-winning Stealing My Religion and Pious Fashion. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Ep95: Keeping our kids from swallowing the Red Pill with Dr. Brendan K. Hartman
2026/03/17
In this episode, Morgan converses with Dr. Brendan K. Hartman about the complex layers of masculinity, emotional regulation, and the societal messages shaping boys and men today. This discussion offers practical insights into emotional awareness, gender norms, and community involvement to foster healthier identities and relationships.
Key Topics:
The importance of talking openly with children about online risks and emotional challenges.The intersection of masculinity, femininity, biology, and social construction.The influence of media, ideology (red pill, black pill), and external narratives on boys' perceptions of themselves.Strategies for creating safe spaces for boys to express vulnerability and curiosity.The influence of community, family, and mentorship in shaping healthy masculinity.The significance of the window of tolerance, co-regulation, and emotional self-awareness.Reframing masculinity beyond dominance and control—toward connection and aliveness.Practical approaches for parents, educators, and mentors to support emotional resilience and authentic identity.engagement
Bio:
Dr. Brendan K. Hartman is a sociologist and consultant specializing in the social-emotional development and wellbeing of boys and men—and how this connects to the wellbeing of all genders. He works with schools, organizations, and families across North America, equipping educators, parents, and leaders to more effectively support boys and young men and navigate gender-related challenges with confidence and care. Brendan holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Edinburgh and is a visiting scholar at the University of the Fraser Valley.
Resources & Links:
Morgan's Resource VaultDr. Brendan Hartman's work – connecting gender, wellness, and community
Connect with Dr. Brendan Hartman:
InstagramTikTokLinkedIn
Ep94: Allison teaches us "The Work" of Byron Katie and I'm the guinea pig
2026/01/26
It's getting real up in here.
Allison Evans is BACK, and this time, she's teaching us one of my favorite tools: "The Work" of Byron Katie. Allison is a life coach (and one of Martha Beck's Wayfinder coaches, nbd) who works primarily with women looking to reclaim their lives and be the heroines of their own journeys. She teaches us how The Work works, and I get to be the fortunate example in this lesson. One of the reasons I love the work is because it is very intuitive. I can easily get myself into thinking knots, so any tools that help me get into my body and really feel into patterns of thinking and behaving is extremely helpful.
Allison is a Certified Wayfinder Master Coach with an MA in English literature from George Mason University and undergraduate degrees in English and French from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her work has been featured in elephant journal, Thrive Global, and Pathways magazine. She lives in Omaha with the people who inspire her work: her husband, daughter, and son.
Links from the episode:
Allison's website https://allisonevanscoaching.com/
Website for The Work https://thework.com/
Documentary "The Divided Brain" https://thedividedbrain.com/
Dr. Iain McGilchrist interview on the podcast "Know Thyself" https://www.knowthyselfpodcast.com/podcast/dr-iain-mcgilchrist
You can find Morgan on her website https://www.morganmotsinger.com/
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Mindfulness-Based Tools12:46 Understanding the Four Questions of The Work36:19 Exploring Turnarounds and Self-Approval54:12 The Power of Visualization and Slowing Down01:05:38 The Work as a Meditation01:19:19 The Neurological Basis of Change01:30:26 Forensic Examination of Suffering
Ep93: I'm Good at Being Good - And It's Killing Me with Jen Zorb
2025/12/09
This conversation with Jen Zorb was one of those episodes where I kept thinking "YES, THIS" over and over again. Jen is a therapist with 15+ years of experience, and she created The Pearl Project (I cannot wait to tell you about it).
But first, we dove into something that I think so many of us struggle with: Are we actually living our lives on purpose, or are we just responding to everything that gets thrown at us? When was the last time you actually sat down and thought about what you value most and then had the courage to orient your whole life around that?
Jen created The Pearl Project: mental health kits because she kept wishing she could send clients home with something tangible. The work people were doing in therapy was so powerful, but then they'd leave and have to wait another week or two for their next session.
Each kit includes:
A metaphor or storyScience-based therapeutic contentA tangible object you can touch and holdQuestion decks for reflectionThe whole approach is multisensory because neuroscience shows us we integrate things better when we can touch, smell, see—not just think about them cognitively.
Some other great things we dug into together:
💛 How to choose a therapist
Real talk: Not every therapist is going to be a good fit, even if they're great at what they do. And it's OKAY to break up with your therapist. You heard it here—Jen said it!
💛 What actually is a trigger?
We talked about how "trigger" has become this catch-all word for "this person annoyed me." But in a therapeutic context, a trigger is an event or sensation that activates a specific nervous system response—usually tied to an old hurt or injury.
💛 What to do when you're triggered
This is where it gets practical. Jen shares 4 things you can do in the moment when you're activated (and the last one is huge).
💛 The corrective emotional experience
This is when you try something new—like speaking up or setting a boundary—and you get positive reinforcement. It starts rewiring your brain.
More about Jen and The Pearl Project
Jen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 15 years of clinical experience. She has helped individuals, couples, and families in a private practice setting and has also worked in a hospital setting, treating the most acute mental and behavioral health challenges. She is passionate about making high-quality, professional mental health support more accessible to the everyday person. The Pearl Project was born out of that passion in 2022! Jen loves a good iced latte and has a competitive streak that mostly comes out on the tennis and pickleball courts. She dreams of travel and the day that all of her kids put their shoes on without having to be asked.
Website: www.thepearlproject.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jointhepearlproject Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jointhepearlproject
Find Morgan at:
https://www.instagram.com/morgan_motsinger/
https://www.morganmotsinger.com/
[email protected]
Ep92: Alzheimer's prevention and healthy living (that only sucks a little bit) with Rachel Daugherty
2025/11/12
Check out my free resource vault at https://www.morganmotsinger.com/vault
Life can get pretty hairy, pretty quickly. When Rachel's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and she was thrust into a caregiving role, something major shifted. She started to think about her own health, and not just from an aesthetic perspective, but from a neuroprotective standpoint. She dug deep into the research about Alzheimer's prevention, brain health, and microhabits that have long-term positive results.
Rachel was an absolute delight to talk to, and her online presence has grown tremendously because of her approachable demeanor, humor, smarts, and heartwarming vulnerability.
More about Rachel:
Rachel Daugherty is the daughter of a woman with Alzheimer’s and knows firsthand the grief, fear, and heartbreak of watching someone you love lose themselves. Her mission is to show people they are not doomed to repeat their family’s story. Through evidence-based tools and the practice of self-connection, Rachel teaches how to change habits from the inside out — seeing each choice as more than an act toward brain health, but also an act of self-love. By helping people reframe their relationship with food, fitness, and health, she empowers them to build self-trust and lasting strength that protects both body and brain. Rachel shows others how to shape their future selves while becoming the strongest, most alive version of themselves now — and she wants to show you how.
You can find Rachel and her amazing work at:
Website www.bootyandbrains.co
Instagram @bootyandbrains.co
You can find Morgan:
Website https://www.morganmotsinger.com/
Instagram @morgan_motsinger
Ep91: A one-way flight to India that impacted her view of dying with Elizabeth
2025/10/18
What are the gaps in grief care in our culture? What types of supports need to be in place that we have outsourced to healthcare that need to be reestablished in community? This beautiful conversation with Elizabeth explores paths of grief,
companionship in the face of death, the social nature of dying, and the importance of everyday acts in caregiving. I hope this conversation impacts your perspectives on the need for humility and presence in these challenging moments as we reframe illness as a communal journey rather than a solitary medical event. Grief is not a problem to be solved, but an experience to feel and be transformed by.
About my guest:
Elizabeth Johnson is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Peaceful Presence Project, a community-based organization in Oregon dedicated to fostering compassionate end-of-life care. Holding a Master’s degree in Community and Urban Planning, Elizabeth has traveled extensively as an educator and facilitator, cultivating a deep interest in the cultural and social frameworks that shape human experiences of illness, grief, and death. She serves on the leadership council of Public Health Palliative Care International. Additionally, Elizabeth is a graduate and current faculty member of the Anamcara Project, where her work focuses on grief, loss, and resilience. Elizabeth is deeply committed to advancing death and grief literacy within local communities, promoting honest and transformative dialogue around the complexities of dying and bereavement.
Contact Elizabeth:
[email protected]
https://thepeacefulpresenceproject.org/
https://www.instagram.com/peacefulpresencedoulas/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/peaceful-presence-project/
https://www.facebook.com/peacefulpresencedoulas
Contact Morgan:
If you're interested in being a guest, visit my website at https://www.morganmotsinger.com/contact and fill out the contact form. You can find me at:
https://www.instagram.com/morgan_motsinger/
https://www.youtube.com/@morganmotsinger
https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-motsinger/
[email protected]
Ep90: 15-Minute Mindfulness
2025/09/28
This body scan is wonderful for a short break during your day or getting your body and mind ready for sleep. This guided head to toe exercise is a great way to notice areas where you hold tension.
Enjoy!
Ep89: Turning your ideas in action
2025/09/04
https://www.morganmotsinger.com/shop/idea-action-30-day-challenge
This episode will lead you through how I think about turning ideas into action. This isn't just about goal setting (yes, I'm familiar with the SMART framework). It's really about becoming a person who doesn't sit on the sidelines of her own life.
There is a framework I use that I'll walk you through in this episode. Whether or not you join me for this 30-day challenge, I hope you start tackling some of those things you've been thinking about for a long time.
Ep88: Something is very wrong: how our distracted presence is ruining our relationships
2025/07/01
On a scale from 1-5, how often do you feel like this?
I feel I have to sacrifice meaningful conversation because of others' device use.
I've given up expecting full attention from people during social interactions.
I miss the deeper conversations I used to have before smartphones.
I feel sad when I see someone I care about more engaged with their device than with me.
I worry that real human connection is disappearing. I feel isolated even when surrounded by people on their devices.
I don't know about you, but I can answer five a lot to a lot of those. And I imagine that probably most of us can.
I also know I'm part of the problem.
Sometimes, I feel like we're all zombies. We're here, but we're not....here. We live in our own realities even as we are physically present with others.
In this episode, I explore the profound impact of technology on human connection, particularly focusing on how smartphones and social media contribute to feelings of loneliness and disconnection. There's an interesting/terrifying parallel between the experiences of caregivers for those with neurodegenerative conditions and the feelings of isolation that arise from being physically present but emotionally absent in social interactions.
I'm not going to leave you hanging. I share some practical strategies for reconnecting with others and how to manage unhealthy dynamics of distracted presence.
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Get on my email list, where I periodically share helpful tools for better habits, mindfulness, and general well being: https://morganmotsinger.myflodesk.com/subscribe
Ep87: End-of-life conversations we all should be having with Amy Hensley & Erin Putney
2025/06/26
Talking about death isn't really everyone's favorite.
One of the big problems with actively avoiding or maybe just never considering how things are going to go at the end is we miss out on some really important conversations that have a big impact.
This conversation not only explores some of the practical medical implications of certain types of life saving interventions, it also boldly investigates some of the common misconceptions about death, the healthcare system, and what a good death means.
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Amy Hensley Master of Science in Nursing, Registered Nurse How I define myself: mama bear, supportive friend, oldest daughter and sister, compassionate hospice nurse, movie lover, former graphic designer, passionate human, social introvert Bio: I was a graphic designer for nearly twenty years before I went to nursing school. While I worked at a critical access hospital doing everything from birth to death, I got my MSN and then started teaching. During my teaching career, I found my voice and encouraged students to find their voice. Realizing that my passions include end-of-life guided me to become a hospice nurse and end-of-life educator. We all bring to the table our experiences, viewpoints, concerns, biases, and expectations. Giving grace to myself and those around me has helped me have uncomfortable conversations with humor, awareness and understanding. I'm becoming more comfortable with asking for what I want.
Erin Putney Master of Science in Nursing, Registered Nurse How I define myself: energetic creative, passionate educator, honest conversationalist, proud mom, chill paddleboarder, artistic thinker, former ICU nurse, loving daughter Bio: I love the science behind nursing and even wanted to be a science teacher at one point. I’ve worked in different areas as a nurse, but realize the common thread is having the curiosity to solve problems with data and creativity. My master’s research focused on effective end-of-life education for nursing students, which has been adapted into a workshop for various audiences. My passion is giving everyone the tools needed to cope and be successful. Check out my website: www.teachingcourage.com
You can find their work at:
https://beforethecasket.com/en-us/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085625110676
---
You can find Morgan on her website https://www.morganmotsinger.com/
Get on her email list here: https://morganmotsinger.myflodesk.com/subscribe
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Emmzy93 2026/09/20
Grief is a part of life
Morgan and her guests cover the most important topics that society has deemed “uncomfortable” or “unseemly” with brilliant candor, authenticity and em...
Yosi Am 2025/05/20
Deeply insightful
On meaningful topics
Ashoutymom 2025/01/13
Small world
I just found this podcast…. Feeling very overwhelmed atm raising autistic son! But our dear friends the Means just lost their girl Abigail to Sanfilip...
Tara LaFon Gooch 2024/08/07
A Must Listen! 🎙️
If you're on the lookout for a podcast that dives deep into the realm of self-help and personal growth, "PS We Expire" is an absolute gem. This podcas...
jessml11 2023/02/27
Thought leadership
Morgan has harnessed her life experience to bring these thoughtful and thought provoking episodes. A must listen for anyone looking to grow through th...
Liz Donnelly Photo 2023/02/22
Comforting in all the right places
Morgan not only has a soothing voice but her presence through the microphone is palpable. Thank you for sharing such insight
kim trathen 2023/01/27
Life Changing
Not everyone has the capability to talk about deep conversations and heavy topics, but Morgan has a gift for it. Brilliant and Insightful.
Wazzupcreeper 2023/01/17
Coffee with a Dear Friend
Morgan shares what she has learned about experiencing and navigating self-discovery, self-awareness & self-love, and so much more, through personal st...
4DKelly 2023/01/06
Profound
Barely into hearing my first episode and I’m captivated by your transparency and honesty, Morgan. What a timely podcast to remind us of how valuable ...
KShurt 2023/01/05
Hope
Thank you Morgan. As a caregiver, I appreciate your support as I lean into understanding dying while living.