What do you learn standing so close to the edge with so many people? Listen for wisdom on mortality and hope—like how the habits of love are hard to break and what makes a ‘good funeral’ directly from a thoughtful and funny funeral director himself.

In this episode, Kate and Thomas discuss:

• How the habits of love are hard to break, no matter how old the person died who you grieve
• How those we grieve know our hearts and our love more fully
• What elements make up a good funeral

This episode originally aired in 2022, but we’re revisiting it because I think it might be the best conversation I’ve ever had. I can’t wait to hear what you think.

CW: suicide, death

Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts.

Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our most precious relationships are often our most complicated, aren’t they? Poet and bestselling author Kwame Alexander wrote an honest book of poems and essays that name the difficult and beautiful and heart-wrenching conversations we have (or should be having) with the people we love and with the ones who love us.

In this conversation, Kwame and Kate discuss:

• How we can’t outrun our grief
• How our own parents love us in the ways they want to be loved, but maybe not in the ways we need—and how we find our ways back to each other
• The desire to share with our kids how we love, where we fail, where we tried, and who we were before we were their parent

CW: death of parent, divorce

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Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts.

Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is a strange tension when we want so badly for the people we love to support us, but want to shield them from the pain at the same time. This is a beautiful, terrible kind of love.

In this conversation, Kate and bestselling writer Suleika Jaouad discuss:

• What it is like to be the one suffering—all the guilt and shame and rage and mercy and grace
• How we can create better economies of love around those who need it
• The toll illness takes on those around us

This episode originally aired in 2021, but is one of our all-time favorites for an honest conversation on being a cancer patient and how to support people in your lives who are undergoing treatment. Kate ends with a blessing for those who feel like their problem is too much to handle—a blessing if you feel like "the bad thing."

If you liked this episode, you might also love:

• Suleika Jaouad on living between the kingdom of the well and the kingdom of the sick
• Tig Notaro on being the luckiest unlucky person
• For When You’ve Been Diagnosed Support Guide
• You are Not the Bad Thing Printable + Phone Background
• A blessing for the lives we didn’t choose
• A blessing for keeping our hearts soft when everything is broken

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Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts.

Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.