Real Love Ready: The Series

Real Love Ready
  • 4.9 (10)
  • Relationships
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to Real Love Ready: The Series. After four years and 100+ conversations with relationship experts, Robin Ducharme shares what she's learned about loving well in a world longing for connection. Real Love Ready is a series exploring why love can feel impossible today and offering a framework to believe in it again. Robin sits down with therapists, coaches, authors, and people from all walks of life who, because of who they are or what they've been through, have something to teach us about love. New episodes every Tuesday. Distributed by Realm.

  1. 4d ago

    Cindy Gallop – The Sex Talk Nobody Gave You | Real Love Ready Ep 18

    What happens when porn becomes sex education by default? Cindy Gallop is the founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, a social sex video-sharing platform built on a simple idea: the problem isn't porn itself — it's what happens when a culture that can't talk openly about sex leaves porn to fill that gap by default. In this episode, Robin and Cindy explore the space between what we see on screen and what sex actually looks and feels like in real life. They talk about why there's no formula for great sex, how mainstream male-lens porn shapes expectations without us realizing it, and why communication, curiosity, and shared sexual values matter more than knowing the "right" move. The conversation also covers body image and desirability, sexual agency, and what it looks like to bring empathy, respect, generosity, and honesty into the bedroom. Cindy shares how parents can talk to kids about sex and porn without shame, how couples can finally open conversations they've avoided for years, and why becoming a great lover starts with a willingness to learn — not perform. At its core, this is a conversation about what becomes possible when we stop outsourcing our understanding of sex to porn, and start treating sex as a place to practice the same values we want in love: honesty, respect, curiosity, reciprocity, and care. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/loveready. IN THIS EPISODE (00:03:04) From Advertising to Reinventing Sex Culture (00:05:06) When Porn Becomes Sex Education (00:10:50) Great Sex Starts With Communication (00:12:31) Body Image & What We Really Find Attractive (00:15:56) Love, Vulnerability & Real-World Sex (00:19:49) Why Sex Is Part of Who We Are (00:24:35) What Are Your Sexual Values? (00:26:33) The Male Lens & Why Not All Porn Is the Same (00:29:47) How to Talk to Kids About Sex & Porn (00:40:43) What Teenage Boys Really Want to Know (00:45:39) Sex & Communication in Relationships (00:52:19) Teaching Children About Sex, Love & Connection (00:56:43) How Couples Can Talk About Sexual Values (01:02:57) The Future of Sex Education (01:09:00) What Makes a Great Lover? (01:13:16) Romantic Love Isn’t the Only Love QUOTES “We cannot talk about real love and leave sex out of it.” – Robin Ducharme “It’s not porn’s job to educate; it’s society’s.” – Cindy Gallop “Great sex is born out of great communication.” – Cindy Gallop “The values have to be shared in the bedroom too.” – Robin Ducharme “What makes a great lover is someone who absolutely comes to bed with a willingness to learn.” – Cindy Gallop ABOUT THE GUEST Cindy Gallop built her career in brand-building, marketing, and advertising, running the US office of Bartle Bogle Hegarty starting in 1998 and earning Advertising Woman of the Year in 2003. In 2009, she launched MakeLoveNotPorn at TED, one of the most talked-about talks of the conference, and later grew it into the world's first user-generated, human-curated social sex video platform. She's the founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn and IfWeRanTheWorld, a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusion in advertising and tech, and author of the TED book Make Love Not Porn: Technology's Hardcore Impact on Human Behavior. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cindygallop/ Website: https://cindygallop.com/ MLNP Academy: https://makelovenotporn.academy/ GET THE REAL LOVE READY BOOK Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy is a clear, compassionate guide to the knowledge, skills, and daily practices that help us love with greater intention, truth, and heart. https://geni.us/RealLoveReadyBook Follow Us: @realloveready  @robinducharmeofficial  @soulprintmediaco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Cindy Gallop – The Sex Talk Nobody Gave You | Real Love Ready Ep 18

  2. Aug 25

    Dr. Alexandra Solomon – Marriage 101: How to Get Better at Love | Real Love Ready Ep 17

    What if loving well is something we can actually learn? Dr. Alexandra Solomon is a licensed clinical psychologist, founder of the Institute for Relational Self-Awareness, bestselling author, and longtime professor of Northwestern University’s renowned Marriage 101 course. For more than 25 years, she has been teaching people how to understand themselves more deeply and build healthier, more connected relationships. In this episode, Robin and Dr. Solomon explore what Relational Self-Awareness looks like in practice: noticing the stories, wounds, and nervous-system responses we bring into our relationships, and learning to stay curious about what difficult moments might be trying to teach us. They talk about why healthy relationships are not conflict-free, how to know when to pause, and why real growth requires both acceptance and change. Dr. Solomon reflects on how the way we understand love is changing, what different stages of life can reveal about our partnerships, and why healthy relationships require honesty, curiosity, and a willingness to look at our own part. She also challenges some of the messages we have absorbed about romance, from mistaking intensity for intimacy to assuming that the right relationship should always feel easy. This is a conversation about learning to love with more awareness, intention, and skill. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/loveready. IN THIS EPISODE (00:00:00) Introduction (00:05:34) How Our Gifts Grow From Our Wounds (00:14:32) Marriage 101: Teaching Love (00:20:13) What Young Adults Are Asking About Love (00:27:03) What Is Relational Self-Awareness? (00:29:07) Curiosity, Conflict & the Nervous System (00:36:05) Acceptance, Change & Relationship Growth (00:41:41) The Truth Isn’t Cruelty (00:43:22) Empty Nesting & Who We Become Next (00:52:41) What the Movies Get Wrong About Love (00:57:04) Relational Red Flags & Healthy Love (01:03:09) Why Young People Are Dating Differently (01:07:03) The Myth That Love Should Be Easy QUOTES “Love is not something we find. It’s something we build, something we learn, something we can actually get better at.” – Robin Ducharme “You are the through line in all of your relationship stories.” – Dr. Alexandra Solomon “When we view moments as teachers, our partners as teachers, it just opens up all kinds of possibilities.” – Dr. Alexandra Solomon “You know you’re ready to come back when you want to understand.” – Dr. Alexandra Solomon “I want to learn how to love in the best way, because I know what an impact that makes in our lives and the quality of our lives.” – Robin Ducharme “Being loved means somebody celebrating your evolution.” – Dr. Alexandra Solomon ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Alexandra Solomon is internationally recognized as one of today’s most trusted relationship experts. As a licensed clinical psychologist, she translates research and clinical wisdom to help people expand their Relational Self-Awareness. She is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University, the face of MasterClass In Practice, the host of Reimagining Love, and the award-winning author of three bestselling books including Love Every Day. Her work is frequently featured in outlets like NPR and The New York Times. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.alexandra.solomon/ Website: https://www.dralexandrasolomon.com/ GET THE REAL LOVE READY BOOK Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy is a clear, compassionate guide to the knowledge, skills, and daily practices that help us love with greater intention, truth, and heart. https://geni.us/RealLoveReadyBook Follow Us: @realloveready  @robinducharmeofficial  @soulprintmediaco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Dr. Alexandra Solomon – Marriage 101: How to Get Better at Love | Real Love Ready Ep 17

  3. Aug 18

    Marianne Williamson – What Blocks Love? | Real Love Ready Ep 16

    What would change if love was not just something we believed in, but the principle we used to make our decisions? Marianne Williamson has spent more than four decades exploring that question. A bestselling author, spiritual teacher, and longtime student of A Course in Miracles, her book A Return to Love introduced millions of people, including Robin as a teenager, to a different way of thinking about love, fear, forgiveness, and inner peace. In this episode, Robin and Marianne explore how we can train our minds away from judgement, blame, and fear, recognize the everyday thoughts that block our capacity to love, and practise forgiveness without abandoning boundaries or the ability to say no. They talk about what we bring to our relationships, why love requires us to take responsibility for our own part, and how even small moments of judgement can shape the way we move through the world. Marianne also reflects on what running for president taught her about power, speaking up, forgiveness, and owning her mistakes without becoming consumed by resentment or self-blame. This is a conversation about choosing love as a practice, from the way we think about a stranger in a café to the way we treat the people closest to us and the world we create together. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/loveready. IN THIS EPISODE (00:00:00) Introduction (00:05:49) What A Course in Miracles Teaches About Love (00:08:36) Training Your Mind to Choose Love (00:13:31) Making Love Our Bottom Line (00:17:45) The Blind Spots That Block Love (00:20:36) Mercy, Forgiveness & Intimate Relationships (00:24:54) Ego, Fear & the Illusion of Separation (00:28:01) Radical Accountability & Spiritual Detox (00:35:30) Forgiveness, Repair & Atonement (00:36:29) What Running for President Taught Marianne (00:44:55) Owning Your Part & Choosing Again QUOTES “Every moment you are making a decision. Will your heart be open to accept, to be your best, to hold another person in a space where they can be their best?” – Marianne Williamson “How very important it is for us to take radical accountability for our part. As human beings, that’s hard to do, but that’s what’s required.” – Robin Ducharme “When someone treats you without love, the only appropriate response is to see that as a call for love.” – Marianne Williamson “How can we be more loving in our individual lives, so that we are contributing to a more loving world?” – Robin Ducharme “The miracle is the new beginning. Get up, choose again.” – Marianne Williamson ABOUT THE GUEST For more than four decades, Marianne Williamson has been a leader of spiritual and progressive circles. She is the author of 17 books, four of which became #1 New York Times bestsellers, including A Return to Love, A Woman's Worth, The Law of Divine Compensation, and The Mystic Jesus: The Mind of Love. She founded Project Angel Food, which has delivered more than 20 million meals to homebound patients with life-threatening illnesses across Los Angeles since 1989, and co-founded The Peace Alliance in 2004 to support the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace. Williamson has run for U.S. president twice. Instagram: www.instagram.com/mariannewilliamson/ Website: Marianne.com Substack: MarianneWilliamson.Substack.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarianneWilliamsonCommunity GET THE REAL LOVE READY BOOK Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy is a clear, compassionate guide to the knowledge, skills, and daily practices that help us love with greater intention, truth, and heart. https://geni.us/RealLoveReadyBook Follow Us: @realloveready  @robinducharmeofficial  @soulprintmediaco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Marianne Williamson – What Blocks Love? | Real Love Ready Ep 16

  4. Aug 11

    Janna Meyrowitz Turner – Love Is a Form of Leadership | Real Love Ready Ep 15

    What does love have to do with leadership? For Janna Meyrowitz Turner, everything.  After twenty years building power for women, shaping cultural narratives for brands like Estée Lauder and the WNBA, and organizing 150 venture capital firms behind reproductive justice, Janna had a revelation: the powerful women she'd spent her career building up were going home to men who weren't growing alongside them.  That observation became Antenna Up, a platform of summits and community infrastructure built to send new signals about the health and wellbeing of American boys and men. Recorded in New York as part of the East Coast Tour, Janna and Robin trace her pivot from the women's space to the men's space, and why she calls love a leadership skill. More than a conversation about men and women, this episode offers a framework for reimagining leadership itself, what changes when we build institutions, relationships, and culture around love instead of greed. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/loveready. IN THIS EPISODE (00:00:00) Introduction (00:02:50) Meet Janna (00:03:52) From Building Women Up to Seeing the Gap (00:12:41) Founding Antenna Up (00:18:39) Love as a Form of Leadership (00:23:12) What Is Buoys Club? (00:27:26) The Antenna Up Fund (00:31:34) The Business Case for Healthier Men at Work (00:37:40) The Vulnerability Gap (00:47:08) Time, Money & Relationships (01:02:17) Myths of Love & Janna's Definition QUOTES “I believe that love is a form of leadership.” – Janna Meyrowitz Turner “We need to build organizations and institutions that are both financially rich and emotionally rich.” – Janna Meyrowitz Turner “None of us are free until all of us are free. That applies to men and boys too.” – Janna Meyrowitz Turner ABOUT THE GUEST Janna Meyrowitz Turner is the CEO of Antenna Up, a company platforming events and conversations alongside brands, media, and corporate sponsors to send new signals about the health and wellbeing of American boys and men. A career strategist and entrepreneur, she spent 20+ years building values-aligned coalitions in the women's space — shaping cultural narratives for brands like Estée Lauder and the WNBA, and coaching Fortune 500 leaders — before having a reckoning that the men adjacent to the powerful women she was building up weren't growing alongside them, and the women in their lives were paying the price. Antenna Up and Buoys Club, Antenna Up’s 700-member ecosystem of men's wellbeing leaders across North America, operates with the core thesis that healthier men = healthier societies, workplaces, families and communities. Antenna Up: https://www.antennaup.com Buoys Club: https://www.antennaup.com/buoys-club LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jannameyrowitz/ GET THE REAL LOVE READY BOOK Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy is a clear, compassionate guide to the knowledge, skills, and daily practices that help us love with greater intention, truth, and heart. https://geni.us/RealLoveReadyBook Follow Us: @realloveready  @robinducharmeofficial  @soulprintmediaco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Janna Meyrowitz Turner – Love Is a Form of Leadership | Real Love Ready Ep 15

  5. Jul 28

    Ashley & Lair Torrent – Can a Relationship Help You Heal? | Real Love Ready Ep 14

    Sometimes the parts of us that helped us survive are the very parts that make love harder to receive. Ashley and Lair Torrent both learned early to become what the people around them needed. Ashley learned to read every room, care for everyone else, and disconnect from herself when life became unsafe. Lair learned to be the good boy, the caretaker, and the hero, while making his own needs and feelings as small as possible. Today, Ashley is a psycho-spiritual counsellor, intuitive medium, and spiritual guide. Lair is a licensed therapist and the author of The Practice of Love. Together, they co-host The Practice of Love podcast and have spent more than 25 years learning what it means to love each other well. In this episode, Robin, Ashley, and Lair explore how childhood wounds become adult relationship patterns, why conflict is rarely about what it appears to be, and what it takes to stop fighting to win and start listening for what is underneath the reaction. They talk about protective parts, the “not enough” wound carried by so many men, and why some of our deepest healing can only happen in relationship. Ashley and Lair do not present love as perfect or easy. They share what it has taken to become mirrors and safe containers for each other, to receive difficult truths without turning away, and to recognize when the parts of themselves built for protection are taking over. This is a conversation about what it takes to keep choosing connection and why love is not just something we feel, but something we practise again and again. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/loveready. IN THIS EPISODE (00:00:00) Introduction (00:03:49) How Ashley & Lair Learned to Love (00:09:09) The Good Boy, the Caretaker & the Hero (00:16:22) When Survival Patterns Enter the Relationship (00:20:09) Becoming Mirrors for Each Other (00:23:21) The Moment Healing Begins (00:32:47) What Are You Really Fighting For? (00:38:03) The “Not Enough” Wound in Men (00:48:01) Healing Happens in Relationship (00:54:05) What Love Teaches Us QUOTES “Sometimes the thing that helped us survive becomes the very thing that keeps us from the love we want.” – Robin Ducharme “There’s a part of me here that is not designed for connection. There’s a part of me here that is designed for protection.” – Lair Torrent “Anytime I’m fighting to win, that means she loses. If she loses, that means we lose.” – Lair Torrent “You’re fighting about something, but really, you’re fighting for something.” – Ashley Torrent “Love requires work. It takes responsibility. It requires a lot of courage.” – Robin Ducharme “It’s a myth that you’re going to do all the healing on your own. I think it’s in relationship that we heal the most.” – Ashley Torrent “Love asks more of us. It’s asking you to dig into yourself and find the wounds that are there, the things that need healing, the parts of you that nobody claps for.” – Lair Torrent ABOUT THE GUESTS Ashley and Lair Torrent bring a rare mix of psychology and spirituality to conversations about love. Ashley is a psycho-spiritual therapist and intuitive medium who works with individuals and couples and co-hosts The Blue Butterfly Effect Podcast; Lair is a marriage and family therapist and author of The Practice of Love, with work featured by NPR, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. Together, the longtime couple co-hosts The Practice of Love Podcast, exploring what it means to love with intentionality, curiosity, and care. Instagram: @ashleytorrent29 @lairtorrentholistictherapist Website: ashleytorrent.com , lairtorrent.com GET THE REAL LOVE READY BOOK Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy is a clear, compassionate guide to the knowledge, skills, and daily practices that help us love with greater intention, truth, and heart. https://geni.us/RealLoveReadyBook Follow Us: @realloveready  @robinducharmeofficial  @soulprintmediaco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  6. Jul 21

    Lori Gottlieb – The Stories We Tell About Love | Real Love Ready Ep 13

    We are all unreliable narrators of our own lives. The story we tell ourselves about why a relationship ended, why we have not met the right person, or why someone else needs to change before things can get better may feel completely true. But it is still only one side of the story. Lori Gottlieb is a psychotherapist, bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, New York Times advice columnist, and host of the podcasts Dear Therapists and Since You Asked. She has spent years listening to the stories people tell about their lives, while also being honest about her own experience on the other side of the couch. In this special episode of Real Love Ready, recorded live at the Global Love Conference in New York City, Robin and Lori explore what changes when we become willing to question our own version of events. Together, they talk about why the most dangerous story in a relationship is that everything was the other person’s fault, what flexibility can tell us about someone’s capacity for partnership, and how to know whether someone is genuinely ready for love. They discuss ghosting, rejection, chemistry, and the conversations we are often afraid to have early on in a relationship. They also look at how AI and texting are changing intimacy, what many of us have been taught about vulnerability, and what it takes to make room for someone new after divorce, loss, or a whole life lived before them. This is a conversation about becoming a more honest narrator of your own life, not by taking responsibility for everything, but by getting curious about the part that belongs to you. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/loveready. IN THIS EPISODE (00:00:00) Introduction (00:06:52) The Stories We Tell Ourselves (00:10:20) Unfinished Business & Flexibility (00:14:38) Are You Actually Ready for a Relationship? (00:17:19) Ghosting, Rejection & Taking It Personally (00:22:37) The Cement Is Still Wet: Speak Up Early (00:25:51) The Conversations Couples Need to Have (00:29:28) AI, Texting & Real Connection (00:38:02) Starting Over & Making Room for Someone New (00:45:34) Situationships, Infidelity & Audience Questions QUOTES “It’s not that people aren’t telling the truth; it’s that they’re telling the truth as they see it.” – Lori Gottlieb “The stories we tell ourselves often shape the way we love.” – Robin Ducharme “Relationships are like cement. In the beginning of a relationship, the cement is still wet.” – Lori Gottlieb “It’s so much about communication. It’s so much about just being honest. It’s scary to have those hard conversations, but you have to have them.” – Robin Ducharme “The easy part of a relationship is: we are both really interested in each other. The harder part is, how do we deal with difficulties that come up?” – Lori Gottlieb ABOUT THE GUEST Lori Gottlieb is a licensed psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, which has sold more than three million copies and been translated into more than 30 languages. She writes The New York Times' "Ask the Therapist" advice column, co-hosts the podcasts Dear Therapists and Since You Asked, and spent six years writing The Atlantic's "Dear Therapist" column. Her highly acclaimed 2019 TED Talk, "How Changing Your Story Can Change Your Life," has been viewed more than 7 million times and was named one of the year's 10 Most-Watched TED Talks. Lori is a frequent guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today, CBS Mornings, CNN, and NPR's Fresh Air. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorigottlieb_author/ Website: https://lorigottlieb.com/ GET THE REAL LOVE READY BOOK Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy is a clear, compassionate guide to the knowledge, skills, and daily practices that help us love with greater intention, truth, and heart. https://geni.us/RealLoveReadyBook Follow Us: @realloveready  @robinducharmeofficial  @soulprintmediaco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. Jul 14

    Terry Real – Is It Too Late To Break The Cycle? | Real Love Ready Ep 12

    There is a version of love most of us were never shown. Not because it doesn't exist, but because the people who raised us hadn't found it yet either. Terry Real has spent his life showing us what that love looks like. He is a family therapist, the creator of Relational Life Therapy, the founder of the Relational Life Institute, and the bestselling author of four books including Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship. His first book, I Don't Want to Talk About It, published in 1997, was the first book ever written on male depression. Esther Perel has said, ‘When I need advice, I call Terry Real.’ He is also Robin's former therapist. He sat with her through one of the hardest chapters of her life. And this conversation is unlike any other in this series, because today Robin gets to flip the dynamic and ask Terry questions.  In this episode, recorded in Boston, they explore what it actually takes to break the cycle of generational trauma and love better than we were taught. They talk about the Adaptive Child and the Wise Adult, why grandiosity feels good and what it costs you, and what it means to be the one person in a generation who turns and faces the flames.  This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/loveready. IN THIS EPISODE (00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:23) Meet Terry Real (00:02:42) The Work That Saved Robin (00:06:38) Terry's Origin Story (00:12:52) Breaking the Cycle (00:16:14) Something Better Than This (00:26:15) Is It Too Late? The Wounded vs. Adaptive Child (00:33:41) Never Too Late (00:37:42) Men & Masculinity (00:49:10) Grandiosity, Contempt & Empowerment (01:01:33) Myths of Love & Defining It QUOTES “If you treat someone as they are, they will be as they are. If you treat someone as they ought to be, they may become who they ought to be." – Terry Real “The only thing that counts is love, and everything else is just BS” – Terry Real "Family pathology rolls from generation to generation like a fire in the woods until one person in one generation has the courage to turn and face the flames. That person brings peace to their ancestors and spares the children that follow." – Terry Real "The relational answer to the question who's right and who's wrong is 'who cares?'" – Terry Real ABOUT THE GUEST Terry Real is a nationally recognized family therapist and the creator of Relational Life Therapy (RLT). He's the author of four books, including the New York Times bestseller Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship and I Don't Want to Talk About It, the first book ever written about male depression. A former senior faculty member at the Family Institute of Cambridge and Clinical Fellow at the Meadows Institute in Arizona, Terry now trains therapists in his RLT method and leads workshops for couples and individuals through the Relational Life Institute. Instagram: www.instagram.com/realterryreal/ Website: https://terryreal.com/ GET THE REAL LOVE READY BOOK Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy is a clear, compassionate guide to the knowledge, skills, and daily practices that help us love with greater intention, truth, and heart. https://geni.us/RealLoveReadyBook Follow Us: @realloveready @robinducharmeofficial @soulprintmediaco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. Jul 7

    Dr. Sunita Puri – What Dying Teaches Us About Love | Real Love Ready Ep 11

    What does love look like when everything else has been stripped away? When there is no more time to perform it, delay it, or get it right later? Dr. Sunita Puri has spent her career in the rooms where that question gets answered. As a palliative care physician, she sits with people who are dying and what she has witnessed again and again in those rooms is something profound about love. About what people reach for at the end. About what they wish they had said. About what it means to stay present when everything in you wants to run. In this episode, Robin sits down with Dr. Sunita Puri, a palliative care physician, literary memoirist, Rhodes Scholar, and Associate Professor of Medicine at UC Irvine. Together they explore why we are so afraid of death, what a terminal diagnosis can give you that nothing else can, and why the conversations we keep avoiding are actually the most loving ones we can have. They talk about what it means to die as you have lived, how to show up for someone who is dying, and what the dying teach us about how to love more fully right now. This episode carries something deeply personal. It was recorded the day before Robin's mother, Glenda Ducharme, passed away on June 2, 2026. We dedicate this episode to her, a woman who lived fully, loved deeply, and left a mark on everyone she touched.  This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/loveready. IN THIS EPISODE (00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:18) Meeting Dr. Sunita Puri (00:04:08) Why We're Afraid of Death (00:06:28) What Palliative Care Really Means (00:10:21) Faith, Medicine, and Becoming a Doctor (00:21:34) Fighting, Giving Up, and What "Everything" Means (00:32:29) Delivering Hard News and Finding Your Anchor (00:42:29) End-of-Life Clarity and Dying As We've Lived (01:01:44) A Listener's Question on Losing a Parent (01:04:13) Poems on Love and What Remains (01:10:24) Closing Questions: The Myth and Meaning of Love (01:13:54) Dedication and Credits QUOTES "Embedded within each love is loss. It's the sharp side of loving somebody." – Sunita Puri "What remains is often much bigger than what is taken away." – Sunita Puri "I've talked about my dad and when he passed, and the same thing with my twin brother — I loved them so, so deeply. And now that they're not here in the physical, they're even more with me now that they're in spirit — I've taken on more of them in myself, like their gifts, their talents." – Robin Ducharme "Nothing really ever dies. We don't ever really lose people or their essence." – Sunita Puri ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Sunita Puri is an Associate Professor of Medicine at UC Irvine School of Medicine, where she directs the Inpatient Palliative Care Service. She's the author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, a critically acclaimed memoir on redefining what it means to live and die well in the face of serious illness. A Yale graduate and Rhodes Scholar, her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, and her work has been featured on NPR, the BBC, and in a Guardian mini-documentary viewed over 3.5 million times. Dr. Puri is a sought-after speaker on how compassionate language can help patients and physicians navigate conversations about living and dying. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunitapurimd Website: https://sunitapuri.com/ GET THE REAL LOVE READY BOOK Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy is a clear, compassionate guide to the knowledge, skills, and daily practices that help us love with greater intention, truth, and heart. https://geni.us/RealLoveReadyBook Follow Us: @realloveready  @robinducharmeofficial  @soulprintmediaco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Dr. Sunita Puri – What Dying Teaches Us About Love | Real Love Ready Ep 11
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Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Welcome to Real Love Ready: The Series. After four years and 100+ conversations with relationship experts, Robin Ducharme shares what she's learned about loving well in a world longing for connection. Real Love Ready is a series exploring why love can feel impossible today and offering a framework to believe in it again. Robin sits down with therapists, coaches, authors, and people from all walks of life who, because of who they are or what they've been through, have something to teach us about love. New episodes every Tuesday. Distributed by Realm.

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