Heart Healing from Loss

In this episode, Wendy shares a story of a client whose last conversation with her mom didn't go well. And when her mom passed unexpectedly, the client was left with enormous grief — and guilt over that last interaction.

In this time of COVID, it's possible many more people are discovering their most recent conversation with a loved one turned out also to be their last. 

If, like this client, you or someone you know is carrying grief-with-a-side-of-guilt, please have a listen and share this episode. Then schedule a complimentary consultation with Grief Coach Wendy at her website, HeartHealingFromLoss.com. It's time to let the healing begin.

Welcome back to the Heart Healing from Loss podcast! 

In this episode, Wendy interviews three healthcare pros from the Creative Dementia Collective. 

People living with dementia, their families, friends, care sharers, and caregivers face a great many challenges. The prospect of ensuring everyone touched by dementia receives the care they need can be... baffling.

Not to mention the feelings.

Each person touched by dementia experiences a radically personal and unique life event.

One that has never been desired.

How do you ensure these people have good quality of life, with appropriate activity, love, and respect, as well as care - and that the stigma surrounding dementia is finally resigned to the past?

The Creative Dementia Collective of Kaylee Allen, Erin Staadecker, Jael Weinberg, and super pup Rosie is on a mission to do all of the above, using art and music, pet and talk therapies, all customized for the individual living with dementia. 

Have a listen, then check them out at their website,  CreativeDementiaCollective.com. Be sure you're also taking care of yourself in times of grief and change, and schedule a consult with Wendy at HeartHealingFromLoss.com. 

We pay a lot of attention to our brains. But the noise and confusion and stress of modern life can keep us so focused on our brains, that we forget to listen to our hearts.

"Some days, our hearts or souls can't find the glasses to see, and we cannot hear our own music." 

A book pick by Robin Roberts on Good Morning, America, Susan Lax's beautiful new book A Heart's Landscape: An Invitation to the Garden of Moments gives us daily inspiration and reminds us to have "attentive hearts." 

In this interview, Wendy and Susan talk about what it means to have an attentive heart, especially in times of grief, loss, and change. 

That first year after a major loss or change comes with a lot of other "firsts" — first birthday "without," first tradition or ceremony "without."

How do you navigate those extra-challenging days? According to Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker, there are ways to be with the feelings those days can create and to move through them.

Listen in for tools for navigating that first year (and beyond), then follow up with Wendy. Schedule a free consultation at HeartHealingFromLoss.com. 

It's hard to leave a life you love behind. But Global Nomads like Caroline Giffon often do — far behind. In her expat life, Caroline has moved 17 times, 8 of them international moves.

The expat life seems so glamorous, with new adventures awaiting each transition. But it's also so challenging to uproot your life — even your identity — every few years.

It can even be a very real source of grief.

To help other Global Nomads, Caroline founded Girafe Coaching, where she teaches expats how to live a life they'll love.

When asked to describe the physical feeling of grief, many people say it feels "heavy," like a weight.

It is a weight — from small irritations that trickle into our lives like sand to huge, life-changing boulders that threaten to flatten us, grief and losses pile up until the weight is too great to carry.

In this episode, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker talks about the weight of grief, and how we can start to unburden ourselves, one grain, one pebble, one stone at a time.

Have a listen, then find Wendy at HeartHealingFromLoss.com for a free consultation.

When you come down to it, your brain really has one job: to protect you.

It means well, but it doesn't always respond in the best way. Sometimes you have to go through some work and some pain and some grief to come out healthier on the other side.

In this episode, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker fills us in our brain's natural responses to grief — and how to override them.

You don't have to go through this alone. Set up a free consultation with Wendy at Heart Healing from Loss. 

The holidays can feel a little like an emotional minefield even when things are good. But if you're dealing with grief at the same time, getting through this time of year safely can feel like a real challenge. 

In this episode, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker takes us through the difficult emotional journey that can come up around special times of year. 

Whether it's a first holiday season without a loved one, or the anniversary of someone passing or some other source of grief, there are days that can hit us extra hard.

Have a listen, then find Wendy at Heart Healing From Loss to schedule your free consultation. 

COVID has been rough, so there's nothing quite like making it a little rougher with a side of shingles.

If you've been missing Wendy's wisdom around grief and healing, she's finally back with some lessons learned about managing stress.

Do yourself a huge favor and get vaccinated against shingles if you can. Check out this information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

What happens when you don't feel your feelings? They can make themselves known in other ways — maybe you reach for a comfort food or drink. Maybe your body simply refuses to do what you ask of it until you've taken care of unfinished business.

In this episode Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker talks about the potential repercussions of ignoring Big Important Feelings for too long, and the relief of working through emotions and dealing with the circumstances behind them.

Have a listen, then visit Wendy at HeartHealingFromLoss.com to learn more. 

In this episode, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker talks with Laureli Shimayo, Matchmaker and Intuitive Eye Reader, about healthy anger, not repeating patterns, and how to approach dating again after a loss.

What does it mean to adopt the Sumo position? Why does it feel so good to cuddle a soft critter and when is "oozing" actually a good and healthy thing?

Find out the answers and so much more, then find Laureli at Thrive-Wise.com to learn all about her approach to helping you find your soul mate. 

If grief over previous loss is holding you back from living a rich and whole life, visit Heart Healing from Loss and make an appointment with Wendy to explore how she can help you. 

This podcast is produced by Audiotocracy Podcast Production. 

It's Episode 20, and we're so thankful to have made it this far! Thank you for listening and sharing the podcast and helping others work through their grief and loss.

In this episode, Erin MacCoy of Erin MacCoy Coaching spoke with me about how she helps business owners manage connection, vulnerability, risk, and building trust. 

As we all navigate and hopefully emerge from this time of loss, grief, and change, what is a "heart-centered business" and how can it help us all integrate our humanity with our work?

Have a listen, then come talk with me at Heart Healing from Loss to learn more about heart-centered healing and moving forward.

Losing creativity can be like losing a fundamental part of yourself and your identity, which can cause grief all on its own.

But is a loss of imagination and creative spirit the result of an unresolved grief? Can healing old wounds bring back that creative spark?

In this episode, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker shares a very personal story of having her creative side retreat and how she got it back again.

Listen, then visit her website, Heart Healing from Loss, and schedule a free consultation. It's time to heal. 

"You're asking me to give up what makes me feel good. That's the grief."

D.J. Burr is a psychotherapist and licensed mental health counselor who specializes in sex and love addiction, clinical trauma, codependency, gaming, and other behavioral addiction concerns. 

In this episode, D.J. and Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker talk about how grief and trauma intersect, often destructively.

Learn how people seek to numb rather than heal themselves and how the right help can get you on a path to recovery and wellness.

If you've ever lost a beloved companion animal, you know how deep the grief can go — and probably how painful it is when others minimize your sadness with, "It was just a dog/cat/bird/horse/etc."

Reagan Pasternak's Griffin's Heart: Mourning Your Pet with no Apologies is more than just a book. It's a healing journal, a keepsake, and a loving memoir to her soul animal, Griffin.

In this podcast, Wendy talks with author and actor Reagan Pasternak about the unique, powerful, and precious love we humans can have with our animal family. And how we need to respect that relationship and the grief that comes when our animal is gone.

If you've loved and lost, whether that's a human, an animal, a job, or a house, grief is still grief and needs to be worked through. Learn more from Wendy or make an appointment at the Heart Healing from Loss website. 

Coping with a death can be so very difficult. One of the greatest gifts you can leave behind is having your affairs in order. 

Michael Geoghegan of Northwest Strategy and Planning helps individuals and families through the will and probate process. Removing uncertainty from end-of-life decisions can make it so much easier on the family that remains. 

If you've been putting off creating or updating your will and making end-of-life decisions, we get it — your own passing is not the most pleasant thing to think about. But you'll love the relief when it's accomplished and you know loved ones are taken care of.

In this episode, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker and attorney Michael Geoghegan talk about the ways their work overlaps, how each approaches the subject of death with respect, empathy, and a little gentle humor, and how being prepared with the right resources before and after a death can make such a crucial difference for those left behind.

Change is coming — big change. It might even be a happy change. But any change can bring grief with it. And that unsettling feeling of knowing something big is coming can jump start the grieving process before the reason for the grief has even occurred.

Watching a beloved parent or friend or pet getting older, reaching the end of our time at a job, packing up and saying goodbye to a neighborhood and home, dreading a day of work that can be fraught with its own kinds of loss — they hurt. Can we manage the hurt we have now and the hurt that's to come?

We can. In this episode, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker talks us through the signs and symptoms that we may be grieving already, in anticipation of loss that hasn't happened yet. And she provides tools to help us manage the process and the pain.

Have a listen, then find Wendy at HeartHealingFromLoss.com for more help, health, and healing.

Can a person's struggle to move past grief impact their work?

Absolutely.

And if your work involves helping people through their own difficult times, like, say, being a lawyer or attorney, you may not be the asset to your client that you want to be.

In this episode, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker invites in Heather Horton, who does Grief Recovery with lawyers.

Once a practicing lawyer herself, Heather has an intimate understanding of the ways grief can show up in work that's already stressful and high-pressure.

Have a listen, and if you're struggling with grief or want the tools to be prepared for any of the 40 (yes, forty) ways grief can be triggered, visit Wendy at Heart Healing from Loss or Heather at Heather D Horton. 

Resources mentioned in the podcast:

DC Bar Spring Wellness Fair, May 6, 2021
How do you know if you're grieving? and 10 simple truths about grief for lawyers (PDF)

Scars are more than a marker of where an injury has healed. Physical and emotional scars often extend much deeper into the body and psyche than we understand. And not dealing with them can mean carrying unnecessary pain, restriction, and grief.

In this fascinating conversation, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist Wendy Sloneker talks with Naturopathic Physician Sierra Storm about the scars we bear and how liberating it can be to finally be released. 

Dr. Storm uses a unique therapy to release adhesions from surgical and other scars that cause pain and limit range of motion. Her patients often experience immediate relief, so if you've had a Cesarean section, knee surgery, appendix removal, or accident — even if it occurred years or decades ago — take advantage of her free consultation to see if scar therapy might be a good option for you.

Have a listen and check out Dr. Storm's page on scar therapy. Then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to get access to The Scar Solution Masterclass, a mini-dive into scar injection therapy.

Piles of pictures, newspaper cuttings, postcards, silverware, a doll collection or stamps or coins.... All of these can end up in your home after a loved one passes.

But you don't collect stamps, and the silverware will likely never get used. So what do you do with the items an important person in your life has left behind? Shove them in the attic and make them the next generation's problem? Feel guilt over your neglect of those photo albums full of people you don't know?

Or do you figure out how to deal with it in a way that frees up your space AND honors the person they belonged to?

Katrina Hamilton helps people work through their "grief clutter." It is, after all, your relationship with the person that matters; not your relationship with their high school yearbooks. 

Listen to Wendy Sloneker, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist, and Katrina Hamilton, owner of Katrina Consults, talk through how we can be burdened by objects that aren't our own. And how we can find our way out from under all that stuff.