Grief & Happiness

What are you spending time waiting for?Let's Connect:You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide hereSee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you've ever felt drained by other people's negativity or wondered whether happiness is something you have to earn, episode 416 of Grief and Happiness is for you. Self-mastery coach Michele Phillips — known as "The Light Lady" — reveals why happiness comes before success, and shares simple tools to quiet your inner critic and reclaim your energy. From a smile that changed a stranger's life three years later to writing letters to your future self, this one is quietly transformative.In This Episode, You Will Learn:(00:55) Why happiness comes before success(02:26) The "pom poms" story: protecting your energy without dimming it(03:21) How to support others without absorbing their low energy(04:29) The smiling experiment that changed a stranger's life(08:58) Why micro-moments of connection matter more than we think(11:08) "Energizio": directing your energy toward what you actually want(14:03) Meet Wanda and Grace: naming your inner voices to take back control(17:02) Why journaling is Michele's most powerful tool(20:05) The case for putting down your phone and picking up a pen(21:39) Personal energy alignment: accessing your own flow state(22:41) How journaling helps you process grief and rediscover joy(26:09) The goddess gathering: writing a letter to your future selfMichele Phillips is a self-mastery coach, corporate trainer, and author known to her clients as "The Light Lady." As President of Key Performance — a New York State Certified Women-Owned Business she founded in 1998 — she has spent over two decades coaching leaders at Fortune 500 companies including Pfizer, Verizon, and The PGA. She holds a Master's in Organizational Development from Fordham University, a certification in Positive Psychology, and is the author of Happiness is a Habit and her latest, Energize Your Happiness: Tap into Your Personal Energy and Shape Your Destiny. Her core belief: happiness doesn't come after success. It comes before it.That conviction anchors everything Michele shared with Emily here. She introduced "energizio" — a word she coined for energy directed intentionally toward what you want rather than what you don't — and personified our inner voices as the critical "Wanda" and the wise "Grace," making the inner work both accessible and fun. The conversation wove in the power of micro-moments: a genuine smile, a kind gesture, the choice not to absorb someone else's low energy. And Michele closed with a passionate case for handwritten journaling as the gateway to personal energy alignment — a flow state she believes is available to all of us — including a moving exercise where participants write letters to the women they intend to become a year from now.Connect with Michele Phillips:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookYouTubeBooksPodcast: Write Your OutcomeLet's Connect: WebsiteLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterPinterestThe Grief and Happiness AllianceBook: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief

What brings you happiness? Try expecting to be happy and see where that takes you. Let's Connect:You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide hereSee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you've ever wondered whether grief is something you get over — or simply learn to carry — episode 414 of the Grief and Happiness podcast is for you. Poet and survivor Sarah Hanson reframes grief not as something to be fixed, but as a scar that proves you survived — and shares why still sharing "cosmic jokes" with her late best friend is one of grief's greatest gifts.In This Episode, You Will Learn:(00:52) Sarah's journey as a poet and trauma survivor(01:41) Why trauma made poetry the only way to tell her story(03:10) How to tell hard stories without re-traumatizing your reader(04:29) Why everyone is grieving — and why forgetting that matters(07:56) Why people fear talking about grief — and why they shouldn't(08:41) Sarah's honest guide to navigating early (12:46) Cosmic jokes and staying connected to those we've lost(15:01) Why the most meaningful objects left behind are never the obvious ones(19:57) Why getting grief down on paper — even imperfectly — helps(22:20) The power of haiku for overwhelming feelings(25:12) How joy quietly grows back in the grief garden(29:06) Fragmented memory, complex PTSD, and the power of writing it downSarah Hanson is a Minneapolis-based author, poet, and truth-teller whose work sits at the intersection of trauma, resilience, and the ongoing journey back to oneself. Her debut memoir-in-verse, Conjuring the Hurricane: The Best Way to Save Your Life Is Any Way You Can (April 2026), weaves together stories of domestic violence, childhood trauma, grief, and hard-won healing — earning praise from Elizabeth Gilbert, among others. A graduate of the University of Chicago with a Master of Arts, Sarah writes with the candor of someone who has walked through the storm and wants to show others the way out. In this episode, Sarah brings the perspective of a survivor and poet to a conversation about grief, healing, and the transformative power of writing. She explains why she chose the nonlinear structure of poetry over traditional memoir — trauma fractures memory in ways that resist linear storytelling, and the form allowed her to honor emotional truth without getting tangled in factual precision. She also offers a tender reframe of healing: rather than expecting to recover as though the wound never happened, she encourages listeners to understand they will heal with the scar — carrying both the proof of survival and the new self built around it. Sarah and Emily find deep common ground on journaling and poetry as grief tools, with Sarah championing longhand writing and poetry as particularly accessible mediums for people in pain.Connect with Sarah Hanson:WebsiteThreadsInstagramSubstackLinkedInBook: Sarah Hanson - Conjuring the HurricaneLet's Connect: WebsiteLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterPinterestThe Grief and Happiness AllianceBook: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief

This is the time to discover your new life’s purpose. What will you do now?Let's Connect:You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide hereSee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you've ever wondered whether healing from loss is truly possible, Episode 412 of Grief and Happiness is for you. After the tragic death of his wife, Barry Hoffner set out to visit all 193 countries on Earth — and discovered that grief, when you let it move you, can lead you to a belonging that spans the entire world.In This Episode, You Will Learn:(00:48) From investment banking across eight countries to Sausalito(02:31) Why North Korea is his final country — and what the goal really meant(04:03) How travel revealed that people everywhere share more than divides them(07:04) How grief and travel became one story worth writing(08:06) The power of speaking someone's language — and seven years of Arabic(13:17) The countries that surprised him most — including a birthday party in Damascus(16:42) How an open heart changes everything about what you find(17:50) A near-deportation in Suriname and the midnight connection that followed(19:46) How Jackie's kindness quietly guided him across the world(25:47) The Bourse Jackie scholarship supporting young women in West AfricaBarry Hoffner grew up in a middle-class Jewish-Iraqi household in Southern California, where a spontaneous backpacking trip to Europe at 18 ignited a lifelong passion for the world. After earning his MBA from Columbia University, he spent sixteen years in investment banking across Buenos Aires, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore, London, and Moscow alongside his wife, Jackie. Following Jackie's tragic death in 2017, Barry channeled his grief into visiting all 193 countries on Earth — a journey chronicled in his memoir, Belonging to the World. He is also the founder of Caravan to Class, a nonprofit that has built 18 schools across West Africa, and established the Bourse Jackie scholarship program in Jackie's memory to support young West African women in higher education, with all book proceeds going directly to these programs.In this episode, Barry shares how Jackie's death became the unexpected catalyst for a mission that was, at first, an escape — but ultimately became a profound path toward healing through human connection. Repeatedly stepping into places the media labels dangerous, from Syria and Yemen to Sudan and Afghanistan, he found people of extraordinary warmth and generosity that dismantled every assumption he'd carried. Whether navigating a near-deportation in Suriname that turned into a midnight friendship, or being thrown a surprise birthday party in Damascus, Barry's stories illustrate his guiding belief: that grief, when we allow it to, can crack us open to a belonging that spans the entire world.Connect with Barry Hoffner:WebsiteInstagramLinkedInFacebookBook: Barry Hoffner - Belonging to the WorldLet's Connect: WebsiteLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterPinterestThe Grief and Happiness AllianceBook: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief

Let's Connect:You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide hereSee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you've ever questioned whether your loved ones are still with you after they're gone, Episode 410 of Grief and Happiness is not to be missed. Architect and artist Ksenia J. Merck shares how losing her husband Bill led her to complete his lifelong dream — finishing his science fiction novel Ghost Flower and authoring its companion journal. Through art, philosophy, and soul-searching questions about purpose and time travel, Ksenia shows how grief can become the unexpected catalyst for your greatest creative work.In This Episode, You Will Learn:(00:55) Ksenia's introduction as architect, artist, and author(01:49) The story behind Ghost Flower and Bill's hospital bed sketch(04:04) Feeling her husband's presence through the creative process(04:38) Inside the Ghost Flower Companion Journal and how it works(07:14) Would you time travel to save humanity? The book's soul-searching questions(11:02) Purpose as one of the most powerful tools for grief(12:35) How this project pulled Ksenia through her darkest chapter(14:22) Emily's journey from caregiving and loss to purpose-driven living(16:49) Turning the most painful experience of your life into something meaningful(19:29) Soul contracts, twin flames, and why this project was always meant for her(21:32) The oak tree story — and why Ksenia believes Bill guided it downKsenia J. Merck, AIA, NCARB is an architect, artist, and author with over four decades in the industry and a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech. By day, she serves as a Program Manager for large-scale Airport Capital Programs in Orlando; by calling, she bridges architectural precision with visionary artistry through her sketchbook and canvas. Fueled by a deep love of art history, travel, and the cosmic mysteries of the universe, her work explores themes of life, the afterlife, and the wonders that lie beyond. Her latest illustrations appear in Ghost Flower, a science fiction novel by her late husband William F. Merck II — for which she painted the cover and authored the companion journal. Originally from Arizona, she now calls Florida home.In this episode, Ksenia opens up about how grief became the doorway to profound purpose. After losing her husband Bill in March 2024, she channeled her loss into completing his lifelong dream — painting the cover of his science fiction novel Ghost Flower and authoring the Ghost Flower Companion Journal, a collection of illustrations and philosophical questions designed to deepen the reader's experience of the book. She shares how the project gave her direction at her most vulnerable, and how she believes Bill has remained a guiding presence every step of the way. Together, Ksenia and Emily explore the power of soul contracts, twin flames, and the idea that grief — when met with openness — can become the foundation for a meaningful new chapter.Connect with Ksenia J. Merck:WebsiteInstagramLinkedInFacebookLet's Connect: WebsiteLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterPinterestThe Grief and Happiness AllianceBook: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief

Let's Connect:You can join the Grief and Happiness Alliance which meets weekly on Sundays by clicking hereYou can order the International Best Selling The Grief and Happiness Guide by clicking here.You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon:You can listen to my podcast, Grief and Happiness, by clicking hereRequest your Awaken Your Happiness Journaling Guide hereSee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.