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Sep 12
57m 53s

Ep. 611 – Dying to Live with Andy Chalef...

BE HERE NOW NETWORK
About this episode

Author Andy Chaleff speaks to personal and collective grief, teaching listeners that embracing loss can help us live a more fulfilling life.

Get your copy of Andy’s book, Dying to Live: Finding Life’s Meaning Through Death

This week on Mindrolling, Raghu and Andy have a conversation on:

  • Andy’s early experiences with fear, existential dread, and childhood loss
  • Andy’s emotional and intellectual process of writing
  • Childhood grief, losing a parent, and losing a pet
  • Breaking free from a victimhood identity by reframing life’s challenges
  • Shifting perspective to see the world with gratitude and compassion
  • Processing collective grief in the face of global crises, politics, and inequality
  • How to live in love instead of living in fear
  • Finding the blessings in difficult circumstances
  • The wisdom of Stoicism and learning to “live with death on the shoulder”
  • Laughing at the dance between life’s seriousness and absurdity
  • Finding the heart-mind in ourselves and providing service to others

About Andy Chaleff:

Andy Chaleff is an author, mentor, and speaker whose life and work are grounded in radical emotional honesty. At eighteen, Andy’s mother was killed by a drunk driver just hours after receiving a deeply personal letter he had written — a soul-baring message he never imagined would be his last to her. That moment became the start of a lifelong inquiry into grief, love, and what it means to live without holding back.

Today, Andy works privately with a select group of clients, from cultural icons to global leaders, offering mentorship rooted in vulnerability, clarity, and deep presence. His work invites people to reconnect with themselves and embrace the parts of life we’re taught to avoid. His books, often called spiritual memoirs, blend raw personal storytelling with existential insight. His newest, Dying to Live, explores how coming to peace with death can open us to the full beauty of life. Originally from California, Andy now lives in Amsterdam, where he directs Amsterdam's Welvaren, a center for coaching and leadership. Check out Andy’s website HERE.

“It’s the recognition of fear that is a prime ingredient. It always goes back to fear of death, or, you can say it a different way, impermanence.” –Andy Chaleff

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