On a podcast about making decisions and making a life, I would be remiss if I never talked a bit about the death that comes along with it – about the grief that descends as a permanent part of our rhythm of life, coloring everything, reshaping the narrative, changing us in ways we would never ask for but there it is anyway.
This week what I have to offer you in our short time together is a simple reflection about how death changes every part of life, including our ability to do our next right thing. Listen in.
Links + Resources From This Episode:
- Will Smith Remembers the Last Conversation with Prince
- No Wonder They Call Him the Savior by Max Lucado
- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
- Rachel Held Evans
- A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis
- Grab a copy of The Next Right Thing book!
- Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
I’m Emily and I’m glad you’re here!
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Thank you Emily. As we gather this evening to have a Being Mortal Conversation, in our small Pacific Northwest town of Wenatchee, Washington, I may borrow some of your words. As we discuss and honor our local hospice and palliative care nurses tonight, your words brought to life the liminal spaces between “the before and after.” For those of us, who walk in this space on a regular basis, your words are a wonderful reminder of all that is between the seen and the unseen, between the real, and what seems unreal, between the bitter and the sweet, the “knowing and the unknowing,” Thank you, for seeing and hearing.
A dear friend told me all about your book and podcasts. I recently lost both my mom and dad, a dear uncle, my former mother-in-law, and my job all within the course of 5 months. For the first time I’ve felt paralyzed, unable to figure out what to do, how to process, and how to move forward. Then came this email. Its nothing short of a God-wink. Grief is love with no place to go. Deep love = deep grief. My stillness has been validated.
Thank you. I look forward to following you as I try to figure out my next right thing.
Dear Lisa, I’m glad you found us here. All within 5 months — it’s hard to find the words. I hope you continue to find small fixed points of hope in the midst of this gaping loss.