032: Facing Challenges with Joy, Affirmation, and Togetherness with Jackie Leander

Looking for a little more peace and lightness? In just five minutes, host and Grief Guide Jenn Cormier will walk you through a calming meditation to connect with your breath and find stillness. 

The Walk Through Grief with Grace podcast is also excited to announce the launch of the Grace Collective, a gathering space for communal healing from personal and societal grief. For more information, send an email with the subject line “Grace Collective” to walkthroughgriefwithgrace@gmail.com or join the Grief and Grace Facebook group.

Resources:

Get your free “7 Steps to Walk Through Grief with Grace” guidebook at www.walkthroughgriefwithgrace.com

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Join the Grief and Grace private Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176177430380895/

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Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein

It cannot be stressed enough how powerful it can be to create after a loss, and this episode is a testament to that power. Jenn sits down for a community roundtable conversation with Sandra Sa, Angela Apodaca, and Meg Streeter Lauck for an emotional and impactful conversation about how creating after the major losses in their life reignited a spark within them, both let go and connect further with their loved ones, and find joy and release on a deep level. If you feel stuck or down after a loss, this episode is for you. Let these incredible women inspire you with their stories of how a wide range of art propelled them forward in their grief journey.

Resources:

Receive your Free Grief Guidebook here: https://walkthroughgriefwithgrace.com/

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Join the Grief and Grace private Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176177430380895/

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Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein

How has music impacted you and your grief journey? In this episode, Jenn talks with musician Kevin Campbell, who created his 6th album “The Stages” while going through the seven stages of grief after the loss of his girlfriend of 21 years. He gifts us with a deep look into the first year after a loss and how the process of creating brought him back to himself. Jenn and Kevin also discuss the challenge of answering the question “How are you doing” and the importance of developing the emotional skills involved with checking in and talking to people who are grieving. This episode is truly a testament to the power of creating and experiencing art for healing.

Resources:

Learn more about Kevin at http://kevincampbell.squarespace.com/ and listen to his album “The Stages” wherever you stream music

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Receive your Free Grief Guidebook here: https://walkthroughgriefwithgrace.com/

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Join the Grief and Grace private Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176177430380895/

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Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein

What have you taken on in 2023 that you need to process and let go of before stepping into 2024? In this episode, hospice nurse and death doula Gabby Jimenez walks us through her regular rituals that she uses to let go of what she’s carrying around so she can help herself and her clients feel lighter and more joyful. She is the self-professed “Ritual Queen”, and is teaming up with Jenn this December 2023 to help you acknowledge and process everything that’s happened this year and walk into the new year with confidence. 

Resources:

Join Jenn and Gabby on December 30th at 12 pm PST for the free virtual event “Letting Go of 2023: A Year End Ritual”

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Learn more about Gabby and her work here

Join the Hospice Heart Facebook page

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Join the Grief and Grace private Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176177430380895/

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Have virtual tea with Jenn! This will be an opportunity for you to get some reflection time on where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to go. You will get some clarity, and perspective and get a chance to be deeply witnessed. 

https://calendly.com/revjenncormier/tea-with-jenn-what-s-your-big-dream?month=2023-11

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Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of the podcast and to commemorate the 11-year anniversary of her dad’s passing, Jenn sits down with an incredibly special guest to share the flip side of her father’s cancer journey. Her mother, Sarah Dutro Cormier, shares the challenges, humor, and tedium behind caring for her husband and Jenn’s dad Gil as he faced stage 4 prostate cancer. Jenn has shared extensively about the healing journey that Gil went through in the last years of his life that she got to be a part of, and this episode adds another layer to the tale. Sarah tells of “the down and dirty work” that comes with caregivers and shares her advice to those out there providing full-time care.

Thank you to each and every one of our listeners who has supported this podcast over the past two years. It is an honor to share these stories and promote greater and more holistic dialogue around death, dying, and grief.

Resources:

Join the Grief and Grace private Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176177430380895/

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Have virtual tea with Jenn! This will be an opportunity for you to get some reflection time on where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to go. You will get some clarity, and perspective and get a chance to be deeply witnessed. 

https://calendly.com/revjenncormier/tea-with-jenn-what-s-your-big-dream?month=2023-11

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Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein

(Content Warning: Suicide) 

How have you planned for death? We often leave thoughts of death for old age, but the reality is that it often happens earlier than expected, and we can leave our loved ones without a plan. In this episode with Martha Hunt Handler, author of Winter of the Wolf, she and Jenn chat about the beauty of talking about death and leaving behind specific plans and gifts for our loved ones. Martha also shares the spiritual journey that led her to write her book that was inspired by the death of her best friend’s 12 year old son. They talk about the otherness and added guilt, blame, and shame that comes with death by suicide and how we can better show up for families affected by suicide with more compassion. Martha reminds us to open up more conversations about death and dying, and to lean into our intuition.

Resources:

Buy hard copy, digital, and audio versions of Martha’s book Winter of the Wolf

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Have virtual tea with Jenn! This will be an opportunity for you to get some reflection time on where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to go. You will get some clarity, and perspective and get a chance to be deeply witnessed. 

https://calendly.com/revjenncormier/tea-with-jenn-what-s-your-big-dream?month=2023-11

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Join the Grief and Grace private Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176177430380895/

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Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein

How can we reimagine a system with wholeness and healing at the core rather than pain and retribution? In this episode, Criminal Defense Attorney Laura Sheppard talks with Jenn about the immense grief she has witnessed within the United States criminal justice system. As an attorney who has represented hundreds of offenders of violent crimes, she has seen firsthand how her clients who are trauma victims go on to become trauma causers as well as the remorse and healing that takes place over decades in prison. She has also witnessed the grief and pain of victims and their families in parole hearings, and shares examples of families who have found forgiveness and who have drowned in grief and anger within a system that prevents restorative justice and meditation. Laura and Jenn envision a system with different values that strives for gaining forgiveness and closure, lets go of villainizing the ‘other’, and encourages us all ot listen more deeply. 

Resources:

Learn more about the Taqiq Khamisa Foundation at www.tkf.org

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 Are you a woman suffering from the loss of a parent? Join our Half Day Community Retreat: Healing After Parent Loss on Sunday, October 15th, 2023 at 10 am PST. Use the code PODCAST to attend for free!

https://walkthroughgriefwithgrace.mykajabi.com/healing-after-parent-loss-oct-15-2023

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 Join the Grief and Grace private Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176177430380895/

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Learn more about Jenn’s ‘Fall Healing Retreat: A Sacred Journey to Reclaim Joy After Loss’ in Mexico this November

https://walkthroughgriefwithgrace.mykajabi.com/fall-healing-retreat?fbclid=IwAR2tEGHZz4cnT3ndJYWWnf0MQEnyGqHXUljsVCgGr6D_SdwJqGHEL5RV7WQ

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Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein

Sink into this quick guided water meditation with host Jenn Cormier to help your body and mind feel renewed and refreshed. This calming meditation will take you on a journey to surrender what you don’t need and relax into what is. Let the water give you beauty, grace, and love. Come back to this meditation to receive these gifts time and time again.

Resources:

Are you a woman suffering from the loss of a parent? Join our Half Day Community Retreat: Healing After Parent Loss on Sunday, October 15th, 2023 at 10 am PST. Use the code PODCAST to attend for free!

https://walkthroughgriefwithgrace.mykajabi.com/healing-after-parent-loss/june-25-2023

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Join the Grief and Grace private Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176177430380895/

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Learn more about Jenn’s ‘Fall Healing Retreat: A Sacred Journey to Reclaim Joy After Loss’ in Mexico this November

https://walkthroughgriefwithgrace.mykajabi.com/fall-healing-retreat?fbclid=IwAR2tEGHZz4cnT3ndJYWWnf0MQEnyGqHXUljsVCgGr6D_SdwJqGHEL5RV7WQ

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Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein

(Content Warning: Suicide) 

Do you feel stripped bare after a loss? 

Women Rocking Business CEO Sage Lavine shares vulnerably about how the nakedness of her grief served as a creative portal after her divorce and the tragic loss of her father. 

Sage gives a deep and heartfelt look at revisiting the darkness of our Soul after a new loss and how we can lean into grief in order to fall apart and then fall back together. 

Listen for a profound message about community and the beauty of leaning on each other not just after a loss, but everyday. Learn to choose interdependence over independence and codependence from someone who has built a strong community of thousands of women who learn from each other and support one another every day.

Resources:

Join the 3 Day Rock Sales Event September 19-21

https://womenrockingbusiness.com/rocksales-friendticket/?orid=46808&opid=90

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Join the Grief and Grace private Facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176177430380895/

-

Learn more about Jenn’s ‘Fall Healing Retreat: A Sacred Journey to Reclaim Joy After Loss’ in Mexico this November

https://walkthroughgriefwithgrace.mykajabi.com/fall-healing-retreat?fbclid=IwAR2tEGHZz4cnT3ndJYWWnf0MQEnyGqHXUljsVCgGr6D_SdwJqGHEL5RV7WQ

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Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein

Do you have old wounds that you finally want to heal? Are you feeling heavy and carrying around emotional burdens?

If so, a healing pilgrimmage may help you to reignite your inner lights and find presence and intention. Jenn found profound healing on her pilgrimmages to Mexico with her father in 2012 and again in 2022 ten years after his passing, and this November she is hosting a healing pilgrimmate for you. In this episode, Jenn and her co-faciliator Karma Cloud share the 9 reasons why you need to go on a healing pilgrimmage and everything that a beautiful journey to the pyramids of Teotihaucan and other sacred sites entails.

Join us for powerful moments of integration, receiving, and creation and find true healing not in isolation, but in community. As a group we will connect at these sacred sites in order to open ourselves up to magic and wonder.

Want to learn more about the trip? Go here for a full description, pricing, and photos to inspire you.

Still have questions? Schedule a free 1-on-1 call with Jenn to see if this pilgrimage is right for you.

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Have you joined the Grief and Grace Facebook group yet? Join to connect with others experiencing grief, resources, events, and more.

Enjoying the podcast? Support our production costs by donating here

Receive your Free Grief Guidebook and find Jenn’s work here

Music by Daniel Plane: www.reelcello.com

Podcast production by Caitlin Epstein