I lost my grandmother Harriet at the end of August.

She was my last living grandparent and my mom's mom and my mom passed away in 2016.

Part of missing her and part of the grief that I think is really powerful for me now is

that it's so much going on.

There was a book release, my baby turned one.

I hadn't really sat with the weight of my grandmother's loss, learning what it means to

mother and the absence of the mothers that were most formative in my life.

I don't have the ability to just pick up the phone and call and ask them a question.

I can hear their voice in sort of the cosmic spiritual sense and I know that they are ancestors

guiding me.

But sometimes I just really want to call my granny.

I really want to call my mom when I'm at my wits end.

I'm Dacker Keltner, welcome to the Science of Happiness.

Part of life is experiencing pain and loss and sometimes we find meaning in it.

This week we're exploring an exercise shown in laboratory studies to help us make sense

of grief and find meaning during challenging times.

We're joined by Reverend Jennifer Bailey, a minister in Nashville, Tennessee and the

author of To My Beloveds, Letters on Faith, Race, Loss and Radical Hope.

She's also the founder and executive director of Faith Matters Network, a women led organization

supporting activists and faith leaders.

Reverend Jen tried an expressive writing practice for our show after losing two powerful

women in her life, her mother and grandmother.

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