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Grief & Happiness
My Wife Would Be So P****d If I Ruined My Life Because She Died’: How a Widow's Daily Poems Became a Lifeline of Healing and Connection
What if grief could inspire healing? Dive into Michael Sudman’s deeply moving story of turning daily updates during his wife’s final days into a journal of love, grace, and purpose.
In today's episode, I'm joined by the Family Law Attorney and Writer Michael Sudman. Michael shares his journey of navigating grief and finding healing through writing after the loss of his wife, Cheryl. He reveals his deeply personal experience of losing his wife to pancreatic cancer and how that led him to embrace writing as a way to process grief and connect with others.
Throughout this episode, Michael recounts how his wife Cheryl's battle with cancer, which lasted just 62 days after her diagnosis, inspired him to write daily updates for family and friends—updates that ultimately formed the basis of his book, A 62 Day Journey: Love, Light, and Grace. The book documents those updates and celebrates Cheryl's grace and strength during her final days. Michael discusses how writing became a crucial part of his healing process, leading to the creation of daily poems he shares with hundreds of people. His poetry, deeply influenced by gratitude and reflections on life, has expanded into a second collection, Inside My Insides: A Collection of Thoughts. He highlights the importance of community support, particularly the Grief and Happiness Alliance, which inspired much of his creative output.
Tune in to episode 294 of Grief and Happiness to hear Michael's heartfelt journey of transforming his grief into a daily writing practice, creating profound connections and inspiring art that celebrates love, resilience, and healing.
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- A life-changing diagnosis (1:29)
- From daily updates to a published book (4:30)
- Writing as healing: Creating Today’s Thought (8:36)
- The power of gratitude and connection (12:03)
- Rainbows and the meaning of life’s scars (14:31)
- Cheryl’s story through Michael’s words and poems (18:05)
- Sharing inspiration: poetry and community (23:26)
- Closing Reflections and Encouragement (28:05)
Connect with Michael Sudman:
- Book: Michael Sudman - A 62-Day Journey: Love, Light, and Grace
Let's Connect:
- Website
- The Grief and Happiness Alliance
- Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief
More episodes
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293. The Power of the Pen
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28:37||Ep. 286Could setting boundaries and saying 'yes' to yourself be the key to transforming grief? In this episode, I'm joined by transformational coach Vickie Menendez, who shares her deeply personal journey through profound loss and the powerful ways she has learned to heal. Drawing from her 35 years in self-care and trauma healing, Vickie discusses the importance of tuning into the body’s physical responses to grief and using intentional self-care practices to support emotional healing.Throughout this episode, Vickie speaks about the personal transformation that occurs when one commits to raising their vibration to connect with lost loved ones. She shares insights from her Mind, Body, Soul, and Sacred Spaces approach, which emphasizes the ripple effect of healing and nurturing on ourselves and our environment. Through setting boundaries and embracing self-care, Vickie illustrates how grief can be transformed into a path of growth and connection, offering listeners wisdom on how to find peace and even joy after loss.Tune in and listen to episode 286 of Grief and Happiness with Vickie Menendez to explore how listening to the body’s signals and setting boundaries can transform grief into healing and reconnection with loved ones.In This Episode, You Will Learn:Vickie finding her mission through loss (0:54)Writing her upcoming book as a healing process (3:06)The healing power of mandala art (7:06)Listening to the body’s grief signals (11:32)Breaking generational patterns of self-neglect (14:43)A visualization journey for grief (23:36)Connect with Vickie Menendez:WebsiteMother of All Memoirs websiteLinkedInYouTubeLet's Connect:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterPinterestThe Grief and Happiness AllianceBook: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief