Poema S9 006 | Amanda Held Opelt on the Black Death, COVID & Cultural Grief

Today I talk to creators and filmmakers Ien Chi and Jon Bregel about Jon's recent documentary, the short film "I Do" which tells the grief story of a married man, from diagnosis, through loss, to grieve and finding life after death. Ien and Jon share their own experiences with creating and producing the movie, and how this exploration of grief in a creative format impacted their own perspective on grief. The both share the way their perspectives on life and death, and spirituality, and their personal journeys, were impacted with this encounter with grief, and together we discuss how powerful grief can be, and how it's power can be used for great good and healing, but can also abused and manipulated.  _______ You can find out more information about the short fulm "I Do" and how to watch it here. 

Friend of the podcast Rob Bell returns today to discuss his new latest work, a novel, "Where'd You Park Your Spaceship? An Interplanetary Tale of Love, Loss and Bread: Book One, Welcome to Firdus." (Yes this is the title).  It's an incredible novel, which explores grief, identity, toxic systems, all from the perspective of someone outside of earth learning it for the first time. Rob tells me his creative process in writing the novel, how the experience changed him, and how he discovered joy and fun in the creative process, and we talk about a WHOLE lot more too. What we hear from Rob here is truly inspirational, and speaks a lot to those going through healing, awakening, embodiment and finding freedom in their creative, personal and spiritual lives.   

This week my friend MJ joins me to discuss Dan Levy's movie director debut, 'Good Grief', which is available on Netflix.  The movie is about a person who loses their mother and husband in the space of the year, and their grieving process which reveals a lot of secrets and surprises, and how it impacts his life.  MJ and I, who both have lived experience of grief, watched it together and in this episode we share our own reflections, insights and lived experiences. We talk about the ways the movie covers and explores grief so well and tenderly, and what we learned. 

This week my friend Jenna DeWitt returns to discuss Taylor Swift's "1989 - Taylor's Version" which released earlier this year.  Jenna shares her own experience with the album - both the new version, and the original - and what these meant for her as she explored her own identity. Then together we explore various tracks on the album and the stories behind them. We discuss how these songs and their stories, and art in general, can help us as we process issues of grief, transformation and identity.  As we do so, we see more of how the creative process can heal and transform us.

My guest today is Virginia Spotts. She is a writer, actor, fiction podcaster, and aspiring death doula. In this episode she shares her experiences of grief and how they impacted her. As a writer, actor and fiction broadcaster, she shares unique experiences of how witnessing death and going through the grieving impacted the creative aspects of her life and identity.  Virginia also shares her experience of training as a death doula, helping people prepare for death. Its' a fascinating and unique insight into death and grief.

Today we begin another series exploring grief on the podcast, with Andrea De Ward talking about her experiences of doing pastoral work with the dying, as chaplain of a care home. Andrea talks about how this impacted her perspectives on death and grief, as she then herself had experiences of grief and loss. She tells us how these impacted her life, her relationships and her personal/spiritual journey. Andrea's story gives us a very unique perspective on death and  grief, and can help us understand these experiences much better. 

Today I'm joined by writer, advocate and podcast host Shari A Smith. She talks to us about her advocacy works with trauma victims and survivors, and the importance of sharing our stories.  Shari shares her experiences of sharing and bearing witness to trauma and grief stories, and how its' impacted her and the people sharing those stories. She tells us how sharing stories can provide solidarity to those hearing, and a voice to those who share them, and help us in the road to healing. 

Today I'm joined by therapist Heidi Dennis, MS LPC, to discuss her new book, "Hello Anxiety", and explore a new approach to dealing with anxiety.  Heidi shares how we can learn to say "hello" to our anxiety. Heidi shares what anxiety is, why it’s there and how to respond to it instead of distracting from it. She tells us how listen to our anxious feelings and work with them instead of against them, and find our way towards peace. 

This week I'm joined by activist and writer Justin Ancheta. In this episode they share their own story of discovering they were a biromantic demisexual & the prejudice they faced as a Filipino-Canadian, queer man with a stutter. They also talk about the connections between asexuality and tarot, and how discovering tarot helped them feel more at peace with their own identity, and discovering that liminal space of acceptance and belonging.    

In our first episode of 2024, my friend Cat Dean joins me for a fun conversation about being human in the changing seasons of life.  We discuss how the changes in the movement of the earth can impact our lives so directly, how we process change and the grief involved, and how it can impact our connection to our own humanity, and our creative lives.  We also explore how growth and healing increase connection to our bodies, and awaken us to the falseness of the systems we live in, connecting us more to our humanity, and to the earth.  This was such a fun, relaxed and often spontaneous conversation between friends, with great insights. Enjoy!