Radio Country: I emerged deeply heartbroken and with a heart that had never been so full

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Dear reader,

I am experiencing intense grief and loss given the recent loss of both of my parents. My mom in February, and seven months later, my dad - after being diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer August 28th and dying September 29th. I was with him every step of the way. What I learned, more than anything, is the power of surrender and how love does its deepest work when we stop trying to control the outcome.

For a lot of us, as we're caring for our parents, we're also caring for our kids, our careers, maybe spouses, and others. Caregiving is exhausting. And - in my case? It can be profoundly transformative. The experience I had in caring for and losing my parents in rapid succession - especially noting that I had complicated relationships with them both that I had the wisdom to heal entirely well before they passed - is that caregiving at the end of someone’s life and the grief and loss that follow is a PORTAL.

I emerged deeply heartbroken and with a heart that had never been so full.

What I know for sure is that love is not only never wasted. When you pour into someone with pure love and the desire to be entirely present for them - holding genuine space for the magnitude of their experience - you are transformed as a result of it.

And whether a life is extended and an illness is overcome, or it goes in the other direction, that loving caregiving, bearing witness to our human experience with tenderness and even reverence is among the greatest experiences you can share with another human being and one of the greatest gifts you can give to them–and yourself.

That's why I said yes when HeartMind asked me to speak at No Regrets: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life, a free online event running November 10-15.

What if the real opportunity of living longer is not simply having more years, but living them better–substantially better? With greater joy, peace, laughter, depth, awareness, abundance and yes, even reverence.

For six days, some of the most renowned, caring, accomplished physicians, psychologists, palliative-care specialists, grief experts, elder-law authorities, contemplative teachers and poets take on that question from every side.

You'll learn how to:

• Care for aging parents, ill partners, and changing families with compassion, with greater joy and gratitude - without losing yourself in the process

• Grieve fully and without suppression while keeping your heart open and learning more about life through loss

• Prepare compassionately and practically for the future, so the people you love carry less confusion and conflict

• Keep growing as your body, identity, and roles change

I'm on Day 3, Thursday, November 12. The day is called “Loving Through Aging, Illness, and Change,” and I'm speaking alongside Rick Hanson, Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt, Gay and Katie Hendricks, and Margaret Paul. Day 4 is built entirely around grief, with Kristin Neff, Fred Luskin, and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

More than 25 speakers are taking part, and every day's sessions are free to watch for 24 hours.

My session was a great gift for me to record and I am confident you will find it moving and insightful. I recorded it a week after my dad died. The person who interviewed me, Ronald Siegel, PsyD, a professor at Harvard Medical School, was fantastic. I believe you will find our discussion entertaining and even revelatory. And given the A-List line up of other elite speakers featured in this event, I truly hope you catch as many sessions as you can.

Save my free spot

xx, Andrea

P.S. When you register, you get three interviews right away, with some of the world’s greatest, most beloved teachers in this space: Bessel van der Kolk, Arielle Schwartz, and Michael Beckwith. Save your free spot here.

Save my free spot

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A FREE 30-MINUTE RESET TO SHAKE OFF STRESS & COME BACK TO YOURSELF

LIVE community gathering Every Tuesday at 3:30 PM ET

Give yourself 30 minutes to actually reset this Tuesday.

Join Andrea and our HeartState Society community live on Tuesday, November 3rd from 3:30 to 4:00 PM ET for a FREE HeartState Drop-In. It’s a casual midday reset designed to help you step out of the noise, come back into your body, and head into the rest of your week feeling a little more like yourself.

There’s no lecture, no prep, and no pressure to talk. Andrea will start with a quick HeartState activation, then we’ll open the room for whatever the community needs that day.

You can: