235: On Grief and Healing with Amanda Held Opelt

The Next Right Thing

Emily P. Freeman

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2022

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Doing the next right thing is perhaps most necessary when we find ourselves in the midst of grief and loss. Today I’m glad to talk with author, speaker, and songwriter Amanda Held Opelt. She believes in the power of community, ritual, shared worship, and storytelling to heal even our deepest wounds. Amanda is well acquainted with grief after experiencing several years of profound loss, including the sudden death of her only sister, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans.

Amanda explores the rituals of grief and what they can teach us about ourselves, our faith, and each other in times of deep loss in her new book, A Hole in the World. If you find yourself in the midst of the fog of grief or want to grow in your understanding of what grievers are going through, listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

A Hole in the World by Amanda Held Opelt
Amanda's Instagram account @amandaheldopelt
Amanda's website
Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing
Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Emily P. Freeman and welcome to the next right thing. You're listening to episode 235.
0:08.0	This is a podcast about making decisions but also about making a life. If you struggle with
0:13.8	decision fatigue, chronic hesitation, or if you just need a few minutes away from the constant
0:18.8	stream of information, and the sometimes delightful but also distracting hum of entertainment,
0:24.9	you're in the right place for discerning your next right thing.
0:28.3	Today, I'm glad to talk with author, speaker, and songwriter Amanda Held O'Palt.
0:34.7	She writes about faith, grief, and creativity, and she believes in the power of community,
0:40.3	ritual, shared worship, and storytelling to heal even our deepest wounds.
0:45.7	Amanda is well acquainted with grief after experiencing a profound season of loss,
0:52.0	including when her only sister, author Rachel Held Evans, died suddenly in 2019.
0:57.9	If her started following Amanda's work after watching online, as she delivered the
1:02.7	eulogy at Rachel's funeral, her words and stories about her sister have stayed with so many of us
1:09.6	since hearing them that day. So when I learned she had written a book about her own grief, as well as
1:15.0	grief rituals from around the world, I knew I wanted to have this conversation with her on the next
1:20.5	right thing. If you find yourself in the midst of the fog of grief or want to grow in your understanding
1:26.9	of what grievers are going through, listen in. Amanda, welcome, welcome to the next right thing.
1:41.9	Emily, thank you for having me. I'm so glad you're here. Well, for years, I have been writing about
1:48.6	and talking about the simple, soulful practice of doing the next right thing in times of confusion,
1:54.7	hesitation, or decision fatigue. But I've discovered we need this practice of knowing and doing one
2:02.4	next right thing at a very practical and somatic level, perhaps most of all, when we're grieving.
2:09.6	And you write beautifully, I might add, about rituals of grief and healing in your brand new book,
2:16.7	a hole in the world. Would you be willing to begin today by telling us in what ways was exploring
	...

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