logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2019
19m 30s

Learning to see things as they are, by L...

Waitwhat
About this episode

Watching her daughter chase a balloon through a graveyard, Dr. Lucy Kalanithi comes to realize that maybe she can learn from four-year-old Cady. After the death of her husband, Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of "When Breath Becomes Air," Lucy focuses on Cady, on teaching Cady how to deal with grief and loss. But as Cady bounds through the cemetery, on the way to see her dad, she teaches Lucy. She sees things that Lucy misses. She doesn’t bring as many assumptions to situations, so it’s easier for her to see them as they are. For Cady, right now, at this age, things just are.

Read "When Breath Becomes Air."

If this episode resonates with you, we’d love to hear from you. Please take a moment to share your reflections by rating and reviewing Meditative Story in your podcast player. It helps other listeners find their way to the show, and we’d be so grateful.

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
Today
Asking for what we need, by Kathryn Nicolai
Kathryn Nicolai, creator of the Nothing Much Happens podcast, learns at an early age to diminish her own needs. She never wants to become a problem for other people, so she pretends like she’s always okay. When she gets an opportunity to study abroad in Italy, a difficult experie ... Show More
35m 17s
Aug 19
Building trust in ourselves, by Rohan Gunatillake
Today’s meditation features a special guest, Rohan’s 7 year-old son, Arne. Letting go can come in stages, or so Rohan experiences on a recent holiday with his family. As his 7 year-old son Arne builds his swimming skills, Rohan realizes he’s gone from an active, hands-on support ... Show More
17m 39s
Aug 12
Loving our living world, by Carl Safina
We all need to love and be loved, we all want to feel not alone in this world. And this is true for all of the living world, says ecologist and author Carl Safina. Carl has spent his whole life interacting with the wild, from raising pigeons on a Brooklyn rooftop to trekking thro ... Show More
30m 38s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2018
What Matters in the End
Dr. Lucy Kalanithi brought us to tears in this poignant, moving, and ultimately uplifting conversation about love, grief, family, and the ties that bind us long after death. Kalanithi is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Stanford and a general practitioner interested ... Show More
43m 23s
Apr 2023
Healing Your Inner Child Through Raising One
When we have children, we are presented with the unique opportunity to give them everything we needed when we were growing up. It’s an opportunity to reparent ourselves; to heal our own inner child.In today’s episode, this notion has become so apparent in Rachel’s life as she tea ... Show More
48m 46s
May 2022
The Science of Loss and Recovery | Mary-Frances O’Connor
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Very few of us will live a life without loss.  As part of our Mental Health Reboot series in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, this week’s episod ... Show More
1h 6m
Apr 2023
The Buddha’s Eight Part Recipe for Happiness | DaRa Williams
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- This episode kicks off our series on the Eightfold Path which will continue on Wednesdays for the next two weeks with Eugene Cash and Joseph Goldstein. DaRa ... Show More
50m 13s
Jul 2022
Best Of: Ruth Ozeki’s Enchanted Relationship to Minds and Possessions
Today we're taking a short break and re-releasing one of our favorite episodes from 2022, a conversation with the novelist and Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki. We'll be back with new episodes next week!The world has gotten louder, even when we’re alone. A day spent in isolation can st ... Show More
58m 40s
Jun 2023
The Buddha’s Four-Part Strategy for “Ultimate Happiness” | Sally Armstrong
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- “Mindfulness” has become a buzz phrase. There are books on mindful parenting, mindful lawyering, even mindful sex. But what does the word even mean? And how ... Show More
1h 6m
Nov 2021
Best of the Archives: How Your Emotions Are Made | Lisa Feldman Barrett
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett is at the forefront of understanding human emotions: what they are, why humans evolved to have them, how they’re different from feelings, and what science says about how to manage them. She is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeas ... Show More
1h 7m
Mar 2021
Uprooting Your Delusions | Andrea Fella
I know you guys, and it is pretty clear you love deep dharma episodes. Today we’ve got a dharma episode that is quite timely. As you all know, we live in a time when most people are getting their news from carefully curated information silos. As a result, we often create very spe ... Show More
1h 10m
Mar 2023
Carole Mac - How to Heal After Loss of a Child: Carole Mac's Inspiring Journey From Grief to Finding Joy Again
Carole Mac shares her personal journey of experiencing the loss of her child and the difference between pain and suffering. She explains how she was able to find meaning in her pain and how it inspired her to help others going through similar experiences.We discuss the importance ... Show More
44m 49s
Jul 2023
How Thinking About Death Can Improve Your Life | Alua Arthur
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- There seems to be one clear bug in the human operating system — most of us do not like talking about death. Yet when we do talk about it, it can genuinely up ... Show More
52m 22s