022: Pleasance Silicki - Remembering Our Beloved Dead, Grief, & Slowing Down

Pleasance Silicki is an ayurvedic lifestyle counselor, holistic health coach and the author of Delight: Eight Principles for Living with Joy And Ease. Pleasance has taught mindfulness, stress management and self-care in academic, corporate and private settings and today, she and Jonathan discuss grieving, the transformational power of death, and how our culture deals with death.

Pleasance speaks to the importance of honoring ritual, showing up for others who are experiencing grief and practices we can implement to better understand death.

📺 Watch on YouTube

https://youtu.be/WWk2SgFpBBk

Key Takeaways

01:08 – Jonathan introduces today’s guest, Pleasance Silicki, who joins the show to discuss death, grief and loss

05:38 – Death and culture

08:06 – How we can truly show up for others going through grief

16:14 – Exhaustion and transformation

24:18 – The depth of grief and why there are no time limits on grief

30:26 – Remembering our beloved dead and defining what healthy grief is for each of us

39:23 – Jonathan reflects on feelings of guilt

46:35 – Pleasance provides one practice to implement for those experiencing grief

53:12 – Pleasance reflects on the importance of honoring rituals in our lives

58:33 – The last thing Pleasance changed her mind about and one thing that she would like people to know about her

1:02:13 – Jonathan thanks Pleasance for joining the show and let’s listeners know where to connect with her

Tweetable Quotes

“Talking about death and grief and loss is one of the great mysteries of life. It’s the one thing we all have in common, that we’re all going to die, and everyone we love is going to die, and everything we love is going to die.” (02:32)

“I’m passionate and a lover of learning, studying, and sharing wisdom traditions that have helped humans for all of time.” (06:14)

“Grief is like that. Death is like that. You are different. You are transformed at a cellular level from this loss. And now your mission is, ‘What needs to change? Who am I now? How do I love myself through the grief when I’m not that productive person, when I’m not that healthy and firing on all cylinders?’” (16:14)

“The sensualness of tears, of water, of the element of water and transformation is essential. And to not feel that would be completely disengaged from being embodied. And I really feel like we just need so much more embodiment in the world.” (23:58)

“We want to tell the stories of our beloved dead. We want to remember. It’s so healthy, in my experience. If I could tell you about my grandmother right now, the rest of my day would be filled with her spirit because she was unbelievable and still is because she’s living through me and my children.” (33:01)

“What people can do is listen to the whole body, not just the mind. What other people think you should do is where we all get messed up.” (50:43)

“One of my teachers always says, ‘Prayer is right pace.’ That’s so mind blowingly awesome to me.” (53:47)