Open To Life

Empowering Chats with Susan Burrell

Ep #262 - Open To Life - An Interview with author, Emily Thiroux Thrett.

This Episode of Empowering Chats is about grief. And this month’s theme is “Eternal.” I intentionally placed this interview under this theme. I believe that all of us have an eternal essence, an eternal soul and an eternal energy that stays in the hearts of those we come in contact with even when we have left our physical bodies.

My guest, Emily Thiroux Threatt is here to talk about grief and how to find our happiness within the folds of losing someone close to us. Her latest book is called, The Grief and Happiness Handbook, which is also a guidebook. This handbook has exercises to help guide you out of your grief.

Emily lost 2 wonderful husbands who ironically both died of the same thing. After losing her first husband who was sick for 2 years, she never thought she’d marry again but then she met Ron, her second husband.

He was a new thought minister and together they practiced living in the moment. And after his diagnosis she thought that practice of living in the moment was going to make all the difference in the world. And in some ways, it did help her, when he transitioned, but in other ways not so much.

For a time, she found herself quite lost with no motivation to do much of anything but watch TV. Then she began to journal and found that writing grounded her. The more she wrote the more she found it grounding.

What she realized is that when one is grieving, they often get stuck and are not sure where to go. Everything looks and feels different. She found that she needed guidance on where to go next. And this experience of writing, creating grief cards and slowly re-emerging into daily life is how she began to heal.

She took what she learned and began to work with others in her community who were navigating grief and encouraged people to come up with intentions that would serve them directly. Sometimes they are simple intentions like “today I am going to eat healthy.”

Emily says as divine beings we can embrace both grief and happiness as they do not have to directly oppose each other.

The one thing people who are grieving should know is to take care of themselves and remember to ask for help. This is especially important in the early stages of grief. Watch and observe what you are doing. Be with people, go outside and allow yourself to be happy and around people you love. Do not hide.

Emily also founded the non-profit, The Grief and Happiness Alliance where she offers weekly classes and meetings. She lives in Maui, Hawaii and also has a link where you can offer donations to the victims of the Maui fire so that her handbook can be available for anyone directly affected by the fire.

To learn more about Emily visit: LovingAndLivingYourWayThroughGrief.com

To purchase her book visit: LovingAndLivingYourWayThroughGrief.com/books/

To learn more about the Grief and Happiness Alliance visit: GriefAndHappiness.com

To support the Maui Effort visit: GriefAndHappiness.com/maui-grief-relief

To learn more about how I show up in the world please visit my website: SusanBurrell.com