The Creative Grief Journey

Dawn Renee Bova
  • 5.0 (21)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to the Creative Grief Journey Podcast.Each soul-led podcast offers tools and stories to help you navigating loss through creativity, community, and sacred practice.  Hosted by intuitive artist and grief recovery expert Dawn Renee Bova, this podcast explores how creativity, nature, and rituals can gently transform your darkest moments into light.  Together, we explore love, life, and loss—with courage, color, and compassion.

  1. 1d ago

    Sister Chat: Sarasota Daydreams and Banter

    The host welcomes listeners and chats with her sister Denise about having fun, their day trip to the Ringling Art Museum in Sarasota, and an unplanned Goodwill stop that ran long and led to a hanger dispute. They share laughs as part of grief recovery, talk about watching “Sheep Detectives,” indulging in Blue Bell ice cream, and getting lost in the heat before finding the museum. They discuss a playful “picture war,” how proximity changes communication with friends, and the pros and cons of working from home. The conversation includes side-hustle ideas using Facebook Marketplace, a Belize creativity wellness retreat through Helios Recovery in November, dog-sitting Brisket mishaps, playing euchre with beginners, thrifted art projects, and trying budget recipes and local Greek food. 00:00 Welcome and Sister Chat 00:29 Ringling Museum Day 01:03 Goodwill Haul and Hanger Drama 02:04 Ice Cream and Heat Mishap 03:29 Picture War Shenanigans 04:17 Friends and Working From Home 06:00 Vacation Styles and Florida Walks 07:17 Side Hustle Ideas on Marketplace 10:00 Belize Wellness Retreat Plug 11:33 Brisket Dog Sitting Stories 12:55 Euchre Night and Creative Plans 14:30 Budget Cooking and Vacation Eats 16:01 Wrap Up and Subscribe 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟 Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com

    16 min

  2. Jun 24

    A Childs Raw Take on Grief

    In this episode of the Creative Grief Journey, the host talks with her guest, Brynnlee, about what grief feels like for a child after her baby brother Willy died when he was one. Brynnlee shares that she felt sad and describes how painting, coloring, and making things together helped her feel happy and gave her no time to be sad. They discuss the different art materials Brynnlee uses, what she likes to paint, and how creativity can help a sad heart feel better over time. Brynnlee also talks about planting and caring for flowers and a special tree, and how she comforts her mom when she cries. The episode emphasizes that grief looks different for everyone, it’s okay to cry, and loved ones can be held in hearts and memories, with an invitation to join a free Skool support community. 00:00 Childhood Grief Intro 00:48 Willys Story 01:30 Coping Through Creativity 02:48 Art Supplies Evolution 04:09 Painting Joyful Details 05:41 Choosing Happiness 06:35 Healing With Nature 07:49 Helping Mom Through Tears 08:19 How Grief Changes 10:05 Closing Support Invite 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟 Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com

    12 min

  3. Jun 4

    Why Heartbreak Makes You More Creative

    Discussing how being a multi-creative who once felt pressured to choose one passion, now sees many passions as a gift, a lesson reinforced through grief. While preparing the backyard and cleaning the pool, an unexpected memory of Bradley getting hurt on the pool gate triggers sudden tears, illustrating how grief arrives uninvited in ordinary moments. They emphasize the goal isn’t to stop grief, but to keep living while holding both tears and joy, supported by travel, retreats, self-care, creativity, and community. After realizing they rarely celebrate accomplishments, they recall “ripples” they’ve created, including an act of kindness for Jake—giving him Bradley’s tennis shoes after an overdose—which he later credits as meaningful in his recovery. The episode invites viewers to list hardships they’ve overcome, pursue joy without guilt, and consider the Rooted and Rising Retreat in Belize and the speaker’s Skool group. 00:00 Many Passions Gift 01:35 Grief Hits Suddenly 03:09 Living With Both 04:02 Recovery Needs Community 04:33 Celebrate Your Ripples 05:45 Jake And The Shoes 07:49 Invitation To Create 09:15 Joy Honors Love 09:47 Belize Retreat Invite 11:24 Final Encouragement Join us in Belize Here is the info: Belize Retreat 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟 Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com

    12 min

  4. May 28

    How Can I Dream Again

    The speaker explores how grief affects both sleeping dreams and “living dreams,” sharing personal stories of losing her father in an automobile accident and later her son, Brad, and how these losses altered her relationship with dreaming. She recounts a vivid, comforting dream Brad’s friend shared—seeing Brad on a rainy Florida beach saying, “Tell everybody it’s beautiful here, and I’ll see you later”—and explains psychological reasons dreams can change during grief, including disrupted REM sleep, stress hormones, trauma, and emotional processing, while also describing dreams as potentially spiritual and mysterious. Shifting to life dreams, she describes how grief can shrink motivation and joy, and encourages rebuilding purpose through focus, vision boards, journaling, and meaningful action, including her work with Ohio CAN (Change Addiction Now) supporting early recovery. She closes with reflective questions to help viewers reconnect with hope, creativity, health, environment, relationships, meaning, and future possibilities, and invites people to join her community, retreats, and coaching. 00:00 Grief And Dreams 00:49 Personal Loss Stories 01:47 A Comforting Dream 03:18 Why Dreams Change 04:42 Spiritual Meaning Of Dreams 05:54 Awake Life Dreams 06:57 Purpose From Pain 08:58 Focus And Attraction 11:46 Write These Questions 12:35 Joy And Aliveness 13:04 Creativity Prompts 14:12 Body And Energy 15:01 Home And Environment 15:55 Relationships And Support 16:48 Meaning And Legacy 17:14 Future Vision Questions 17:39 Closing Encouragement 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟 Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com

    19 min

  5. May 20

    I Stopped Living After Loss; Here's How I Came Back

    How grief can pull you into survival mode, making you stop dreaming, planning, and caring for yourself, and argues that healing isn’t “moving on” but coming back to yourself without toxic positivity or denying the pain.  How grief affects the nervous system and brain—fatigue, depression, guilt about joy, memory issues, decision fatigue, increased cortisol, low dopamine—and emphasize that neglecting yourself isn’t laziness but overwhelm.  This episode offers practical “baby steps” and bigger steps to rebuild identity and safety through movement/strength training, decluttering, creativity, nourishing routines, community, and retreats, and discusses visualization, neuroplasticity, and intentional action (including a personal story of manifesting a Florida home). Inviting you to a day-long Younique Wellness retreat in Bellevue, Ohio focused on creativity, nourishment, nervous system regulation, and community. 00:00 When Grief Erases You 00:41 Coming Back to Yourself 02:03 Why Self Care Stops 03:37 The Healing Pivot 04:56 Tiny Habits That Rebuild 06:57 Creativity and Flow State 07:52 Manifestation With Action 11:13 Dream Home Visualization Story 13:58 Let Yourself Desire Again 15:10 Baby Steps vs Big Leaps 17:45 Retreat and Community Healing 19:24 You Still Get to Live 20:15 Final Goodbye and Subscribe 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟 Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com

    21 min

  6. May 13

    The Exhaustion Nobody Warns You About After Grief

    Dawn explains that grief affects the body as well as emotions, often causing deep exhaustion, heaviness, brain fog, pain, sleep and appetite changes, gut issues, immune crashes, and nervous system and hormonal disruption. Drawing on personal experiences after losing her son and later a father, she describes “grief brain,” difficulty thinking, and how society’s pressure to “keep going” conflicts with a body stuck in survival mode. She challenges common beliefs such as needing to be strong or that time alone heals, emphasizing restoration and rest. Small, consistent actions—journaling, making the bed, stretching, walking, sunlight, cooking, music, and simple creative practices like doodling—can build momentum, support dopamine and endorphin release, and help move grief through the body. There is a free Creative Grief Journey Skool community, journal prompts, and upcoming retreats in Belize and Ohio. 00:00 Grief Lives in the Body 01:41 Physical Signs and Survival Mode 03:13 Grief Brain and Trauma Fog 04:49 Symptoms Checklist and Nervous System 07:44 Grief Myths and Permission to Rest 08:57 Tiny Habits and Creative Healing 12:41 Self Soothing and Momentum 14:25 Community Support and Retreat Tools 16:16 Nature’s Pace of Healing 18:16 Closing Encouragement and Share 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟 Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com

    20 min

  7. May 7

    Grief Doesn't Have to Destroy You, Here's What I Did

    In this episode, the host shares a personal shift in her grief journey, describing grief and life as ongoing works in progress and suggesting grief can be a catalyst for joy, abundance, freedom, and contentment. Drawing from Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret, she outlines three steps—ask, believe, and receive—and explains how vision boards and detailed visualization (including her goal of owning a Mercedes-Benz) support manifestation alongside consistent action. She recounts a difficult week of missing Brad and how returning to gratitude, creative projects, and supportive, like-minded people helped her shift. Examples include receiving a $500 escrow refund, improved health through consistent weight training and nutrition, new job opportunities, finding a lost iPad, and booking a better-paid wedding portrait. She encourages morning routines, journaling, gratitude lists, and joining her Skool community or seven-week Creative Grief Journey Method program. 00:00 A Shift in Grief 01:37 Finding Joy in Ordinary Moments 02:24 Happiness Is Inside 04:07 Law of Attraction Basics 05:36 Visualization and Vision Boards 06:47 A Grief Dip and Reset 08:15 Programs and Community Support 09:07 Life Happens for Me 10:42 Money Miracle Example 12:25 Vision Board Tour 13:18 Consistency Creates Change 15:08 Jobs and New Opportunities 16:51 Contentment and Unexpected Wins 19:46 Letting Go to Move Forward 20:32 Applying This to Grief 23:21 Daily Routines to Shift Energy 24:47 Closing Invitation and Goodbye 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟 Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com

    26 min

  8. Apr 29

    Can't Sleep After Loss, You're Not Alone

    The speaker, a nurse practitioner who has experienced multiple traumatic losses, discusses how grief commonly disrupts sleep through rumination, intrusive thoughts, stress and hormone changes, noting research that up to 91% of people with complicated grief have sleep problems and that untreated insomnia can worsen depression, anxiety and PTSD. They recommend cognitive behavioral therapy and share practical sleep-hygiene strategies: consistent bedtimes, reducing screen time and moving phones away, keeping the room cool, creating a wind-down ritual, using calming music or guided meditation, breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, limiting caffeine after noon and avoiding alcohol. They also mention options like occasional melatonin, potassium, essential oils, herbal teas, journaling (including dream journaling), mantras, and possibly weighted blankets, emphasizing persistence, seeking therapy or short-term medical help if needed, and finding support through community and lifelines. 00:00 Grief And Sleepless Nights 01:48 Why Grief Disrupts Sleep 03:49 Help Options And Therapy 05:06 Bedtime Routine Basics 07:11 Music Breathing Meditation 09:24 Caffeine Alcohol And Relaxation 10:57 Natural Sleep Supports 13:52 Journaling And Support 17:04 Mantras And Final Encouragement 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE 🌟 Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bova IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com

    18 min
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Trailer

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out of 5
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About

Welcome to the Creative Grief Journey Podcast.Each soul-led podcast offers tools and stories to help you navigating loss through creativity, community, and sacred practice.  Hosted by intuitive artist and grief recovery expert Dawn Renee Bova, this podcast explores how creativity, nature, and rituals can gently transform your darkest moments into light.  Together, we explore love, life, and loss—with courage, color, and compassion.

Information

  • Creator
    Dawn Renee Bova
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    113
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Creative Grief Journey
  • Show Website
    The Creative Grief Journey