Grief & Happiness

Emily Thiroux Threatt
  • 4.9 (24)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Aloha! Welcome to the Grief and Happiness podcast.  My name is Emily Thiroux Threatt, and I am your host. I am the author of Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief, The Grief and Happiness Handbook, and creator of Grief and Happiness Cards: Gentle Support for Dealing with Grief and Finding Happiness  My purpose with the Grief and Happiness Podcast is to demonstrate to people who are dealing with grief and loss that they can grieve and be happy at the same time. The wide variety of guests address the myriad of issues that arise with loss and the spectrum of how grief and happiness relate. After a loved one dies, often people say they will never be happy again. By covering thought-provoking topics like creativity, compassion, community, purpose, inner peace, strength, coping, surrendering, and resilience with authors, speakers, coaches, and friends, listeners find inspiration and confidence guiding them on their grief journey. Each week the podcast showcases an interview with an inspiring guest and an additional brief podcast with a message of support and comfort. Anyone dealing with grief or loss can come to the Grief and Happiness podcast to find comfort, support, love, and happiness. You are welcome here to learn ways to live your best life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Signs

    1D AGO

    Signs

    What signs that you experience remind you of your loved ones. 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 here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    5 min

  2. 4D AGO

    Walk It, Talk It, Write It: Author Laing F. Rikkers' Three-Step Formula for Getting Through Loss

    If you've ever turned to creativity to make sense of loss, episode 422 of the Grief and Happiness podcast is for you. Author and grief specialist Laing F. Rikkers shares how losing her sister during the pandemic led her to a simple but powerful healing framework: walk it, talk it, write it. Through morning pages and botanical poetry, she transformed her grief into an award-winning book — and shows how even the most personal pain can carry something universal. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:53) Introducing Laing Rikkers and her book Morning Leaves (03:17) How losing her sister and the pandemic sparked a creative awakening (06:08) Poem reading: "Cactus" — on loneliness and self-protection (07:16) Why loneliness is the grief emotion nobody warns you about (07:58) Poem reading: "Lemon Tree" — on generosity and resilience (09:00) How nature became the language of her healing (13:42) Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and the power of morning pages (16:27) Walk it, talk it, write it: a three-step framework for healing (17:41) How creativity switches off the inner critic and restores rest (25:19) Why natural sunlight is the most powerful antidepressant (26:17) How stargazing can restore your sense of meaning and purpose Laing F. Rikkers is a business advisor, executive coach, award-winning author, and certified Grief Support Specialist based in Southern California. After 30 years in corporate leadership — spanning human resources at Hess and Walt Disney, and two decades in private equity at HealthpointCapital — she channeled personal loss into a profound creative journey. Her book Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy, a collection of botanical poetry and original paintings born from grief, won multiple awards in its first edition and is now out in an expanded second edition featuring nearly 100 original paintings. In this episode, Laing shares how the sudden loss of her younger sister in 2019, compounded by pandemic isolation, became the catalyst for that awakening. Drawing on Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, she began practicing morning pages, allowing grief, loneliness, and reflection to surface through writing — eventually shaping into botanical poems that use nature as metaphor for loss. She reads two of those poems and offers a simple framework for navigating grief: walk it, talk it, write it. She and Emily also explore how deeply personal writing can carry unexpected universality, with readers often finding their own stories reflected in Laing's words. Connect with Laing F. Rikkers: Website Instagram Substack LinkedIn Get Laing F. Rikkers books! Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min
  3. Plans

    APR 17

    Plans

    What do you have planned for the rest of your life? 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 here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    5 min

  4. APR 14

    "Sorrow Is Not a Waste": Why This Author Believes Grief and Happiness Can Coexist

    If you've ever felt torn between honoring your grief and allowing yourself to be happy, Episode 420 of the Grief and Happiness podcast is for you. Author Steve Beal Sr. shares how years of visiting aging family members and simply showing up became the foundation of his book Generation Jumping. Through storytelling and faith, Steve makes a compelling case that sorrow and happiness are not opposites — and that the stories we carry from those we've lost are a legacy worth telling before time runs out. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:57) Steve Beal Sr.'s journey from family storyteller to published author (04:06) The race against time: why Steve urgently wrote down his family's stories (07:43) How asking the right questions can bring a loved one's memories back to life (09:21) The origin of "Generation Jumping" and what it means to cross generational lines (12:32) The four pillars of the book and why urgency is the most important one (16:49) Why different memories of the same moment are something to celebrate, not correct (19:22) The unexpected reward of simply showing up for the people you love (22:02) Steve's first encounter with grief — and why a funeral felt more like a family reunion (25:10) "Sorrow is not a waste": how hope transforms grief without erasing it Steve Beal Sr. is an author, speaker, and storyteller whose debut book, Generation Jumping: Losing Those Who Are Not Lost, grew organically from decades of notes and conversations with aging family members in New Brunswick, Canada. Shaped by a deeply rooted Christian faith and a lifetime of witnessing loss — from his grandmother's joyful 1985 funeral to walking alongside his father in his final years — Steve writes with a humble, pastoral voice about legacy, redemption, and hope. A self-described storyteller at heart, he spent 25 years writing sports articles to lift up young athletes before channeling that same spirit into honoring the ordinary people who lived through extraordinary moments. In this episode, Steve shares how those years of intentional presence with his elders — asking questions, recording memories, and making trips his mother couldn't make alone — naturally became the book he never set out to write. He reflects on coining the term "generation jumping" at a family member's deathbed, when he found himself the only younger person in a room full of elders who had warmly welcomed him into their circle. He speaks candidly about the urgency of capturing family stories before they disappear, and about the unexpected difficulty of writing about his late father nearly a decade after losing him. Throughout, Steve articulates a faith-rooted perspective that mirrors the spirit of this podcast: that grief and happiness are not opposites, but coexist authentically — and that hope, not the absence of sorrow, is what ultimately redeems loss. Connect with Steve Beal Sr. : Website Facebook LinkedIn Book: Steve Beal Sr. - Generation Jumping: Losing Those Who Are Not Lost Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    30 min
  5. The Magic of Kindness

    APR 10

    The Magic of Kindness

    I’m sure we have all had times when we don’t feel our best for one reason or another. When that happens, we have a choice. We can remain sad, or grumpy, or just feeling bad, or we can figure out how to do something about it. 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 here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    4 min

  6. APR 7

    Eight Months, Four Diagnoses, Zero Answers: Why She Stopped Trusting Doctors and Healed Herself

    If you've ever made a decision out of panic — about your health, your grief, or your life — episode 418 of Grief and Happiness is essential listening. Author and life coach Mia Godfrey shares how losing her father, her first husband, and her sister across three decades left her without the tools to cope — until a therapist handed her a journal and changed everything. From the realities of caregiving to a terrifying liver diagnosis she refused to rush, Mia's story is a masterclass in never letting fear make your decisions for you. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:55) Mia Godfrey: author, life coach, keynote speaker, youngest of ten from Romania (01:18) Three devastating losses across three decades — and no tools to grieve (05:35) Why she left Romania: addiction, shame, and a love story (07:46) Growing up under communism and her father's survival lessons on the Danube (10:50) Her sister: 13 months apart, inseparable — and why her loss broke everything (11:26) What 11 months of caregiving taught her about grace and self-neglect (14:43) Why honoring a loved one's treatment decisions matters — even when it's hard (17:23) The end-of-life conversations she refused to have — and what it cost her (19:30) How to navigate conflicting medical advice and advocate for yourself (22:41) A terrifying liver diagnosis and why she refused to let fear decide (33:58) On living guilt-free while grief and happiness coexist Mia Godfrey is a certified life coach, Bible counselor, keynote speaker, and author originally from Romania, where she grew up the youngest of ten children under communist rule. She came to the United States in 2008 through marriage, and over the past two decades has built a career spanning leadership, talent acquisition, and her own coaching practice, Scribbled Pages International Life Coaching. Her debut memoir, Buried, Not Broken: A Memoir of Survival, Sisterhood, and Starting Over, is the through-line of this conversation — a raw, cross-cultural account of loss, caregiving, and the unexpected healing that came from putting her story on the page. In the episode, Mia traces a lifetime of grief she never had the tools to process: the death of her father at 18, the sudden loss of her first husband at 42 (whose end-of-life conversations she shut down, leaving her financially and emotionally unprepared), and the 11-month caregiving journey that ended with her sister's death from ovarian cancer in 2023 — the loss that finally broke her open. It was her therapist who suggested journaling, a practice Mia resisted before eventually turning those pages into her memoir. She speaks with hard-won clarity about what caregiving taught her: that self-neglect is not devotion (she compromised her own health so severely that she faced a frightening liver diagnosis shortly after returning home), that patients must be allowed to make their own treatment decisions, and that panic is the worst basis for any medical choice. Her own health scare — which resolved after months of conflicting diagnoses and a deliberate pause to research rather than react — anchors her central message: weigh all options, and never let fear make the decision for you. Connect with Mia Godfrey: Website Book: Mia Godfrey  - Buried, Not Broken Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    36 min
  7. Waiting

    APR 3

    Waiting

    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 here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    5 min

  8. MAR 31

    The Smile Experiment That Changed Strangers' Lives — Michele Phillips on the Power of Micro-Moments

    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 self Michele 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: Website LinkedIn Facebook YouTube Books Podcast: Write Your Outcome Let's Connect:  Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest The Grief and Happiness Alliance Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt - Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    29 min
See All (422)

4.9
out of 5
24 Ratings

About

Aloha! Welcome to the Grief and Happiness podcast.  My name is Emily Thiroux Threatt, and I am your host. I am the author of Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief, The Grief and Happiness Handbook, and creator of Grief and Happiness Cards: Gentle Support for Dealing with Grief and Finding Happiness  My purpose with the Grief and Happiness Podcast is to demonstrate to people who are dealing with grief and loss that they can grieve and be happy at the same time. The wide variety of guests address the myriad of issues that arise with loss and the spectrum of how grief and happiness relate. After a loved one dies, often people say they will never be happy again. By covering thought-provoking topics like creativity, compassion, community, purpose, inner peace, strength, coping, surrendering, and resilience with authors, speakers, coaches, and friends, listeners find inspiration and confidence guiding them on their grief journey. Each week the podcast showcases an interview with an inspiring guest and an additional brief podcast with a message of support and comfort. Anyone dealing with grief or loss can come to the Grief and Happiness podcast to find comfort, support, love, and happiness. You are welcome here to learn ways to live your best life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Emily Thiroux Threatt
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    422
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Emily Thiroux Threatt
  • Show Website
    Grief & Happiness

You Might Also Like