I recorded this podcast specifically for someone experiencing the fresh loss of a loved one. If that’s you, welcome.

I’m gonna keep this brief - and the podcast if brief too.

First. There is nothing wrong with you. You can not get this wrong.

Your body is responding to a profound disruption to your sense of normal and your entire anatomy is impacted.

Two. It’s common to feel guilty to simply live your routine.

Imagine, your person watching you now. Better yet. Imagine that the roles are reversed and you are watching them experience losing you. What do you want for them? Do you want them to stay in a perpetual state of suffering?

What if what you want for them is a permission slip of sorts for you?

You likely want to stay close to your person. How do you do that? What did they care about? What were their values, or the unique impact they made in the world.

Trying on some of those interests and traits is a way that may help you feel close to them.

Three. Being honest with yourself about the unfinished conversations between you does not hurt your person.

Even though in our culture, there is an unexamined belief that talking about the dead is off limits - that somehow it harms them - the truth is what is unfinished stays alive in you.

There is so much more in this episode… It's deeply personal with parts of my story – including how I was with the betrayal I sensed, how to get support, what to say to hurtful comments, and how to stay grounded.

And please know, I’m here – in your corner.

I don’t see grief as something to get over.

I see it as something that carries us back to what matters.

This week on the podcast, I’m sharing the heart of how I understand grief—not just as a response to loss, but as love in motion.

Grief is not the wound.

It’s the hand that tends the wound.

It’s the love that moves toward what hurts…

what was taken…

what never arrived…

and still matters.

In this episode, I meander through how this framework—this living relationship with grief—has shaped my life, my work, my way of being with others.

I share stories. Memories. Moments where grief softened me into truth.

Moments where grief showed me how to stay with what was once unbearable.

I talk about how unprocessed grief mirrors systems of domination—how we often internalize the very violence we long to dismantle.

And how grief, when we let it do its sacred work, can return us to flow, to self, to oneness.

Grief doesn’t only soften — it also disrupts.

It turns over the tables of numbness and performance.

It clears the way for real love to enter.

In that sense, grief is a revolutionary.

Like Jesus, it disrupts… for love’s sake.

This isn’t a lecture.

It’s an experience.

A wandering through the wild garden of love and longing and letting go.

A remembering that grief is not our enemy. It’s our companion.

Whether you’re in the thick of change, quietly cocooning, or simply not in a space to listen right now—I honor you.

Grief Heals is a family, and families know how to feed one another in many ways. So here are a few invitations, tools, and practices for you to carry into your own day:

Nourishment for the In-Between

1. Practice the pause. Take one breath. Let yourself feel exactly how you feel. No fixing. No judgment. Just presence.
   

2. Name a shift. What have you recently let go of, or what is letting go of you? What might be arriving in its place?
   

3. Try this breath: Inhale: I belong here. Exhale: Even in the in-between.
   

4. Reflection prompt: What part of your life right now feels like a threshold—a goodbye and a hello at the same time?
   

Up for listening…

Let’s dive deep into the beautiful, generative space between what was and what will be.

A journey where grief isn't loss, but Love– witnessing, listening, and giving a compassionate kiss to your most tender emotions.

We explore:

• The magic happening underground, just like muscles breaking down to rebuild stronger

• How every emotion - anger, resentment, uncertainty - has a place in nourishing your personal ecosystem

• The power of welcoming all parts of yourself, just as nature welcomes every creature

We'll breathe together, stretch our arms wide, and remember: we belong to each other. Your story is not just yours - it's a sweeping, interconnected circle that touches us all.

Inspired by Amanda Owen’s The Power of Receiving and the Rumi poem The Guest House, this episode is for anyone in the middle of a goodbye and the unknown ahead…

Which, if we’re honest, is all of us.

This Episode Is For You If…

• You find yourself comparing your success, your body, your parenting, or your worth to others.
  

• You struggle with feeling “not enough” and don’t know why.
  

• You want a way out of the pain loop that doesn’t shame you for how you got there.

Hello, hello, hello—

Let’s just take a breath together. Because you and I? We breathe the same air. We really do belong to each other.

This week on the Grief Heals podcast, we’re exploring something that affects all of us—whether we admit it or not: comparison. We’re diving into two chapters from Mel Robbins’ book The Let Them Theory, and like always, we’re holding it through the lens of grief—not as something tragic, but as love coming to meet what was lost.

Because here’s the truth: We don’t compare ourselves because we’re stupid, or broken, or shallow. We compare because we learned—somewhere along the way—that in order to be loved, we had to be better. Be quieter. Be smarter. Be more useful. Be less needy.

And what if that’s the very place grief is trying to reach?

In this episode, we explore:

• How comparison is a natural outcome of unmet childhood needs for safety and belonging
  

• The brilliance of our early coping strategies (like perfectionism, people-pleasing, staying small)
  

• A framework that helps us say: everything I’ve thought or done made perfect sense with what I knew and what I had
  

• Why naming our losses opens the door to healing them
  

• How grief grows our capacity to love and be loved as we are—not as who we perform to be
  

And yes, we touch on capitalism, poverty, education systems, and how this all connects to collective grief—and our collective healing.

Whether or not you listen, here are a few prompts to help you hold what surfaced:

1. Where do I compare myself the most? What am I afraid would happen if I didn’t?
   

2. What did I learn about love growing up? What part of me thought “I have to earn it”?
   

3. What might change if I told myself: You are already enough. You’re already loved. You’re already home.
   

Listen now to “Comparison, Compassion, and the Loss of Belonging” [Insert episode link]

And don’t forget— We’ll be launching a Let Them book club soon, walking through Mel Robbins’ work through the lens of grief. You don’t have to perform. You don’t have to pretend. You just get to show up as you are, with your whole self—and that is enough.

Because grief heals. Because you matter. Because we belong to each other.

In this week’s episode of Grief Heals, we explore Chapter 5 of Mel Robbins’ book Let Them, which invites us to let them think bad thoughts about you.

And in true Grief Heals fashion, we’re holding that invitation through the lens of grief—not grief as death, but as love bringing nutrients to the soul, the kind that fosters new life, deep self-acceptance, and brave belonging.

Because let’s be real: So many of us were never taught that our loudness, our softness, our mess, our silence, our brilliance—were okay.

We were shaped, shamed, scolded, or celebrated only when we conformed.

And what got lost in all that shaping? Us.

So we talk about that in this episode:

The grief of being judged for who you are

The strategies you developed to belong (people-pleasing, perfectionism, shrinking, rebelling—not bad, just brilliant adaptations)

And the reclamation of your wholeness, not through force but through love

You don’t have to listen to receive something nourishing from this. Here are a few reflection prompts and tools you can use right now:

Reflection Prompts

Whether or not you press play, these are yours to hold.

When was a time you were judged for something beautifully unique about you?

What got lost in the aftermath? What strategy did you develop to stay safe?

What part of you are you still trying to manage or hide to avoid rejection?

Could that part be grieving not being celebrated?

What would it mean to let them judge you—and still love yourself?

What does that kind of freedom feel like in your body?

Practice: Letting Grief Nourish What Was Lost

Close your eyes.

Place a hand on your heart or belly.

Breathe in the phrase: We breathe the same air.

Breathe out: We belong to each other.

Let grief come like water, like wind, like the love you didn’t get then—but are giving to yourself now.

Want to listen?

This episode is full of tender stories, real-time revelations, and an honest look at how grief can meet us right where we are—even in our shame, our mistakes, our need to control.

Even in a too-loud voice or a scraped-up pair of jeans.

This week’s Grief Heals episode is a deep breath, a full exhale, and a tender look at what happens when our inner eight-year-old is still running the show in a very grown-up life.

I’m talking about Chapter 6 of Mel Robbins’ book Let Them, where she explores “grown-ups who throw tantrums”—and of course, I couldn't help but look at it all through the lens of collective grief.

Because here’s the thing: Most of us were never taught that our big emotions are welcome. We weren’t held when we were heartbroken. We were told to “toughen up,” “move on,” or “be good.”

And now?Now we’re walking around in adult bodies with young, un-met, un-witnessed parts of us still aching to be seen.

So in this episode, I share stories from my own life—some tender, some raw—of what it’s looked like to bump up against those unmet parts in myself, in others, and in the systems we live and work inside.

It’s been humbling. It’s been hard. And it’s been holy.

Even if you don’t listen right now (or ever), I want you to know this:

Every time you shut down, avoid conflict, blow up, people please, or retreat into silence… it’s not a moral failing. It’s an emotional pattern born from unmet grief.

And those patterns? They can be witnessed. Loved. Rewritten. Not overnight—but with time, care, and grief met with compassion.

This episode isn’t just about tantrums. It’s about what happens when we start to honor the sacred responsibility of tending to our losses.

Because yes, grief is love.

And love heals—it really does.

Oh—and something new is coming:

I’ll be starting a Let Them Book Club soon, walking through Mel Robbins’ book with you through a grief-heals lens—no pressure to read or be perfect. Just a chance to slow down together, reflect, and notice.

So if you’re curious, if you’re hurting, if you’ve ever found yourself wondering, why am I like this?—this episode is a loving place to begin.

Courageous,

We are living in a time where fear is being wielded to pull us apart—feeding the illusion that we are separate, that it’s us vs. them. But here’s the truth: We belong to each other. And love—real, courageous, unshakable love—asks us to remember that.

I know what it’s like to pull away when I feel misunderstood, to stay quiet when I long to speak, to convince myself that holding back is safer than being fully seen. Self-protection happens automatically—it’s wired into me. Maybe you feel it too.

I’m also discovering that every moment of self-protection is an opportunity. An invitation to pause, notice, and ask: What am I afraid of? What fear is feeding the illusion of separateness?

This episode is for those of us who refuse to be hardened by fear. Who are willing to meet our own discomfort, hold our own grief, and stay open anyway. Because when we stop fighting against fear and instead welcome it with curiosity, we find something powerful: the strength to stand together.

Fear tells me that safety means separation, that if I don’t risk vulnerability, I won’t get hurt. But I know now—that’s how I stay hurting. Real safety comes not from shutting down, but from learning to stand open-hearted in the discomfort, to receive love in new ways, to let myself be known.

I’m inviting you—those committed to love, to connection, to the messy, beautiful work of being fully human—to listen. This is about moving beyond self-protection, anger, and division. It’s about choosing to love fiercely, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.

Join me. Let’s remind each other what’s possible.

P.S. If you’re longing for a space to feel connected amidst the divide, join our free Healing Circle. The next one is tomorrow, Tuesday March 18 at 5:30 PM PST—a space to experience belonging, to grieve, to breathe, and to remember that we are not alone. You are welcome here. .

xoxo,

Lisa Michelle

We’re living in a world that’s working overtime to convince us we’re separate. That we’re alone. That we should be afraid of each other.

But I refuse to buy into that lie. And I know you do, too.

That’s why this week’s episode of Grief Heals is about something radical: remembering that we belong to each other.

Grief has been my greatest teacher in this. It has stripped away the illusion of individualism and shown me—without a doubt—that what happens to one of us, happens to all of us. We breathe the same air. Drink the same water. Walk the same earth. We are each other.

In this episode I share stories of how grief has woken me up—not just to my own heart, but to my neighbors, to the suffering of marginalized communities, to the undeniable truth that our healing is bound together.

And if you’re reading this, I know you feel it, too.

This isn’t just a podcast episode. It’s an invitation. To resist the division being spoon-fed to us. To stay open when the world tells us to shut down. To love fiercely, even when it’s uncomfortable.

If you don’t have time to listen, here’s something to sit with:

• Where has grief cracked me open to love more?

• How can I stand with and for people beyond my immediate world?

• Where is fear trying to close my heart, and how can I welcome my fear and keep my heart open?

And if you do listen, share it. Talk about it. Let’s be the ones who refuse to turn away.

We are the love revolution. And we need each other now more than ever.

P.S. If you’re longing for a space to feel connected amidst the divide, join our free Healing Circle. The next one is Tuesday March 18 at 5:30 PM PST—a space to experience belonging, to grieve, to breathe, and to remember that we are not alone. You are welcome here. .