How To Deal With Grief and Trauma

Grief, Shame, and the Soul's Work: A Conversation with Francis Weller Part 1 | 202

Nathalie Himmelrich Season 20 Episode 202

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0:00 | 39:38

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There are voices in the grief world that stop you in your tracks — not because they are loud, but because they carry something true. Francis Weller is one of those voices. I have followed his work for some time, moved by the depth of his writing and the rare quality of his presence, and I have long wanted to bring him into this conversation. Today, that moment has arrived, and I am genuinely looking forward to what we will explore together.

Francis brings to this work something that is not easy to name but impossible to miss — a willingness to sit inside the hardest human experiences without rushing toward resolution, and a gift for language that meets grief where it actually lives.

In this episode, we cover

  • 06:00 Becoming Acquainted With the Customs of Sorrow and Grief
  • 07:06 People Feeling Sorrow Differently - Why?
  • 08:38 The Two Primary Sins of the Western World
  • 09:51 Places to Take Grief to
  • 11:19 Grief is Never Far
  • 12:08 Cultivating an Apprenticeship with Sorrow
  • 21:22 My Anchor in Grief
  • 24:09 Learning to Trust Grief
  • 27:04 Every Human is a Carrier of Grief
  • 34:05 What Happens on Grief Retreats?

About today's guest

Francis Weller is a psychotherapist, writer, and soul activist. Author of the bestselling The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief and In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty, he has introduced the healing work of ritual to thousands of people. His writing and voice have appeared in anthologies, journals, and media such as Anderson Cooper's All There Is podcast, The Sun, Utne Reader, Kosmos Journal, and Ruminate. He is currently completing his fourth book, Facing the World with Soul and Why It Matters.

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