In this very special episode of Grief Heals, host Lisa Michelle Zega is thrilled to welcome the podcast's very first guest, Denise Clanin.

Denise is a former accountant turned stay-at-home mom and debut novelist living in North Idaho.

What began as a simple college writing assignment over a decade ago has blossomed into Denise's novel Among the Stars - but the story behind the story is what makes this conversation truly compelling.

After losing her brother six years ago, Denise found herself returning to that forgotten manuscript during her toddler's nap times, discovering that writing became an unexpected pathway through grief.

Her novel explores themes that mirror her own journey - loss, healing, community, and the messy, complicated nature of grief itself.

In this heartfelt conversation, Lisa and Denise dive deep into how creativity can become a companion in healing, the way our loved ones continue to inspire us beyond their physical presence, and why no one is ever truly a lost cause.

Whether you're navigating your own grief journey, curious about the intersection of writing and healing, or simply love hearing authentic stories of human resilience, this episode offers profound insights wrapped in genuine warmth.

Plus, you'll discover how Denise's entire family moved together from California to Idaho after her brother's passing, the unique ways her brother's fearless spirit continues to influence her approach to building community, and how writing fiction helped her learn to be patient with herself in the grieving process.

To purchase Among the Stars by Denise Clanin, you can find it here

You can also follow Denise on Facebook and Instagram.

Of course you’ve

judged yourself for how you feel…

cried at work and then felt ashamed…

pushed something down in the name of being strong or good or grateful…

So – this wildly unpolished episode is for you.

Here’s a glorious unraveling and remembering of what I mean when I say grief heals. It isn’t about being fixed. It’s about being fully human or

Experiencing our humanity with awareness and mercy.

I think that’s what healing – experiencing wholeness – actually looks like.

So perhaps

It’s not bad to cry at work.

Perhaps, our big emotions aren’t problems to fix but parts of us seeking to belong.

Just maybe that long list of things we judge ourselves for – you know

Avoiding people, mindless eating, binging tv, sleeping all day, endless learning without doing…

Reveal how we survived.

Survived so we can be here now. ALIVE.

Sigh. – Don’t know about you, but I feel like saying thank you. Thank you to everything I’ve ever done so that I get to be here with you now.

I feel Grief as Love. Grief as witness. Grief as medicine.

Because Grief is big enough for all of it.

So that parts of me once judged get welcomed to the kindergarten carpet – There’s room for all of it

“Hey, rage – you can sit beside me on the pink square.”

Yep. Inspired by Rachel Sachs’ Mind Your Body, I imagine all of us—our whole selves—gathered on one of those big, multicolored kindergarten carpets. No part left out. Not even the ones we try to hide.

Because if love heals, then grief does too.

Come listen. Let’s remember together.

I’ve been practicing what it is to truly welcome what is – how it is.

I’m talking about welcoming what’s outside the shiny and preferred

Like the

Ache. envy. not-enoughness.

Bugs on the skin. Memories that still sting. Joy that expands vision.

I’m exploring grief as living.

Yes. Grief as response to death…

And

As a presence that awakens LIFE.

I’ve been starting my morning, lying on the earth, breathing with my tree (yes, I know how that sounds),

reading two beautiful books—Cured by Jeffrey Rediger and The Hidden Gospel by Neil Douglas-Klotz. And in that stillness, I’ve been meeting parts of myself I usually try to push away. Envy. Rage. Doubt. Dissatisfaction.

Those parts that have been

Hidden. Banished. Disappeared.

Wondering –

What if grief is how we welcome all of it? Not to fix or force change, but to become more whole.

This episode is raw. It’s unfinished. It's real. I talk about mosquitoes, spontaneous remission, ancient language, sibling rage, sacred anger, and the strange beauty of becoming a part of something bigger than myself—bigger than any one of us.

Sensing grief as a bridge

to love, to belonging, to collective healing.

When you listen, you’ll also hear how for me, grief invites the paradox of belly laughter and holy weeping, of sacred rage and deep peace.

And if you’ve read The Guest House by Rumi, you’ll know what I mean when I say this episode is one long welcome to whoever shows up at the door.

May we welcome the grief.May we welcome the life.