Episode 170 - Grief, Writing and the Spoken Word... A Conversation with Melissa Lynne
Dealing With My GriefShow Notes
This week, I have a conversation with Melissa Lynne. Melissa's mother died in March 2014 and everything changed in that instant...her priorities, her career, her purpose and passion, her outlook on life and death. She crumbled into a heap under the blankets and shut out the world, where she stayed for almost a year. The thing that brought her back and kept her going was returning to the page, returning to the written word, returning to something that felt like life. The words came through her body and soul and heart and gut and quite literally saved her life. She wrote her way back to a life she needed and wanted to live. She resurfaced with a fearlessness to look grief head on and to feel all of it...the pain, the insanity, the beauty and love, the snotty tears on the shower floor or the shoulder of the kind stranger at the grocery store. She gave herself permission to grieve and trusted herself to feel anything that came.
Today, Melissa's grief lives in her body, in that place where love and creativity intersect. Where she blesses and honors it. Where it's fed and watered. Where it's shown darkness and sunshine. Where it is cherished. Where it leads her one day into the next.
Melissa is co-founder/curator/editor of Grief Rites Foundation, where she encourages the use of art as agency to survive through grief. Connection and storytelling are how she walks beside others who are feeling the loneliness and isolation of grief. She is a death doula and a grief specialist. She is currently writing a grief memoir. Melissa lives in Portland, Oregon with her 3 children, 2 cats and 1 dog. She thrives in words and water and trees and moss and mist.
Instagram: @breatheinbreatheoutlive Instagram: @griefritesfoundation Website: griefritesfoundation.org Facebook: facebook.com/GriefRites Subscribe to this podcast by using one of the following: Click here to subscribe via Apple Podcasts Click here to subscribe on Android Click here to subscribe via RSS Click here to subscribe on Spotify Contact me using any of following:
email - [email protected] twitter - http://www.twitter.com/dealwithgrief web - http://www.dealingwithmygrief.com voice/message - (240) 778-5200
More from Dealing With My Grief
I have been away for almost 2 years after going through a health crisis... I'm back and I'd like to thank everyone who reached out to me during my absence. Click here to subscribe via Apple Podcasts Click here to subscribe on Android Click here to subscribe via RSS Click here to subscribe on Spotify If you are worried about your mental health and want to schedule regular sessions with a professional: www.betterhelp.com/dealingwithmygrief. If you are in immediate crisis and need assistance, call: In the U.S. :National Suicide Prevention Hotline - (800) 2738255 In the UK: supportline - 01 708 765200 Contact me using any of following:
IDoes the pain of grief ever sto hurting so much? If so, when? I reflect (and maybey rant) on my experience wih the ebbs and flows that pain brings with grief. Spoiler alert: it begins to hurt less until it doesn't! Click here to subscribe via Apple Podcasts Click here to subscribe on Android Click here to subscribe via RSS Click here to subscribe on Spotify If you are worried about your mental health and want to schedule regular sessions with a professional: www.betterhelp.com/dealingwithmygrief. If you are in immediate crisis and need assistance, call: In the U.S. :National Suicide Prevention Hotline - (800) 2738255 In the UK: supportline - 01 708 765200 Contact me using any of following:
I have returned to podcasting after a long hiatus. While I have had some struggles with my physical health, Im doing well and looking to get better. I've received a lot of email in the last 6 months and today. I'd like to focus on platitutes and the things that people say when we are grieving. Why aren't they helpful? Click here to subscribe via Apple Podcasts Click here to subscribe on Android Click here to subscribe via RSS Click here to subscribe on Spotify If you are worried about your mental health and want to schedule regular sessions with a professional: www.betterhelp.com/dealingwithmygrief. If you are in immediate crisis and need assistance, call: In the U.S. :National Suicide Prevention Hotline - (800) 2738255 In the UK: supportline - 01 708 765200 Contact me using any of following:
As we approach Father's day, it dawned on me that during the Mother's Day/Father's Day period there is a certain segment of the grief population that seem sto be totally ignored... that would be parents who have lost children. I know that people post about loss of all types every day, but during this period I rarely see posts by parents who have lost children but I see a lot of post of individuals mourning their parents. If you have lost a child, i'd like to know how you cope during this time of year, and what it anything can make this time of year a little easier to cope with. Subscribe to this podcast by using one of the following: Click here to subscribe via Apple Podcasts Click here to subscribe on Android Click here to subscribe via RSS Click here to subscribe on Spotify If you are worried about your mental health and want to schedule regular sessions with a professional: www.betterhelp.com/dealingwithmygrief. If you are in immediate crisis and need assistance, call: In the U.S. :National Suicide Prevention Hotline - (800) 2738255 In the UK: supportline - 01 708 765200 Contact me using any of following:
As I release this episode of the podcast, I am remembering my dad's 86th birthday. It also marks the beginning of my mourning period leading to his death anniversary on the 24th. As this is the third year I have had to navigate this anniversary without the words of my mother to comfort me, I try looking for other ways to keep from focusing to much on my dad's death anniversary. This year 'm trying to be inspired by others. Joe Biden went from losing his wife and daughter just before taking office in the U.S. Senate to becoming the President of the United States. I know that we cant compare grief or grief journeys, but I find it inspiring that someone who has gone through so much, could accomplish as much as he has. Sometimes I think I could learn something from the examples set by others. Subscribe to this podcast by using one of the following: Click here to subscribe via Apple Podcasts Click here to subscribe on Android Click here to subscribe via RSS Click here to subscribe on Spotify If you are worried about your mental health and want to schedule regular sessions with a professional: www.betterhelp.com/dealingwithmygrief. If you are in immediate crisis and need assistance, call: In the U.S. :National Suicide Prevention Hotline - (800) 2738255 In the UK: supportline - 01 708 765200 Contact me using any of following: