Peaceful Exit

Palliative care physician Dr. BJ Miller survived a near-death experience and lost three limbs at just 19 years old. In this intimate conversation, he tells Sarah how confronting mortality reshaped his purpose, and opened his heart to awe, humor, creativity, and love. BJ has been on a mission to redefine end-of-life care through his work at Mettle Health and his book, "A Beginner's Guide to the End." He invites you to challenge the ...

Peaceful Exit is back with new episodes starting Tuesday, November 11! Host Sarah Cavanaugh is on a mission to dispel people's natural fear surrounding death, dying and grief. This season, she'll talk with a new slate of exciting guests: writer Mary Roach, palliative care physician Dr. BJ Miller, psychologist Dr. Lucy Hone, grief activist Lisa Keefauver, poet Jenny George, and many others....

Dacher Keltner is the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s one of the world’s leading scientists studying emotions, and his latest book is "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life." In this episode, ...

Journalist Katy Butler spent years listening to hundreds of people’s stories of good and difficult deaths. She’s talked to countless experts in palliative care, geriatrics, hospice, and oncology. Those conversations, paired with lots of research and the story of her own father's challenging death, come together in her deeply practical and existential book, "The Art of Dying Well: A Practica...

Hospice nurse Barbara Karnes helped set the standard for end-of-life care 35 years ago, when she wrote "Gone From My Sight." It's a little blue pamphlet that uses simple, straightforward language to explain the dying process - and it is still widely used today by hospice agencies across the country. In this episode...

Michelle Hord has lived through any parent's worst nightmare: her ex-husband murdered their seven-year old daughter Gabrielle. She talks about her book, "The Other Side of Yet," and tells Sarah how she transformed her grief into action, hope, and resilience, particularly through founding the nonprofit Gabrielle's Wings. Michelle also discusses the impact of other significant deaths in her life, the unexpected gifts loss can bring, ...

This week, we’re re-releasing an episode featuring Sarah's conversation with Michael Wiegers, who gives us a masterclass in poetry. He's the editor-in-chief at Copper Canyon Press, an independent nonprofit press that publishes award-winning poetry. Under his leadership, CCP has published over 400 titles, including winners of the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes, as well as the National...

This week, we’re re-releasing an earlier episode featuring Sarah's conversation with Episcopal priest, playwright, and former economist Steven Tomlinson. He tells Sarah about his personal journey through grief and healing after the sudden loss of his partner, David. Tomlinson reflects on how community, faith, and the process of writing...

Basil Twist is a world-famous puppeteer. His first full-length production, Symphonie Fantastique, flipped the audience's concept of the art form by existing entirely underwater in a massive tank. As he looks back on his decades-long career, we talk about what aging feels like, how losing a mentor changed him, and all the wonderful live shows he has collaborated on, and why seeing performances in-person matters. We explore the world...

Quan Huynh's story details the resilience of the human spirit. His book, "Sparrow in the Razor Wire: Finding Freedom from Within While Serving a Life Sentence," is an open, honest look at his life while incarcerated for committing murder. Quan was paroled in 2015, and, just six months later, he started his first company. He has devoted his entire career to helping incarcerated people have the best shot at a second chance. His lesso...

This mother-daughter, writer-illustrator duo, has created two illustrated books together. The first stemmed from Hallie's painful realization that her mother would die someday. The second from Suzy's heartbreak when her husband of 30 years unexpectedly left her. The three of us talk about the ways that a break up is like a death, all the feelings that come with grief -- including rage -- and how to make your own ritual as a healing...

In my conversation with poet Danusha Laméris, we talk about art, poetry, grief, and language. She reads from her latest collection of poems, "Blade by Blade," which is described as a book of hungers. We talk about what that means, how it relates to grief and how grief is rarely isolated. It's always connected to so many other human experiences and feelings. And she would know. We talk about two big losses in her life -- her brother...

Lauren Canaday has lived quite a life. Two lives, if you ask her. In her memoir, Independence Ave: How Individualism Killed Me and Community Brought Me Back, Lauren recounts her dating life and career from statician to hair stylist to hair industry executive. Then the moment that changed everything -- Lauren suffered sudden cardiac arrest and didn't have a heartbeat for 24 minutes. By her husband's quick action and one fierce EMT, ...

Oliver Burkeman's latest book, "Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts," is a guide to embracing what he calls the imperfect life. It's the realization that you're never going to sort your life out. So instead of attempting that futile task day after day and viewing your limitations as a human as obstacles to a meaningful life, you embrace them. In our conversation, Oliver and ...

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer knows grief. Her dad and son died in the same year. Like her latest book, The Unfolding, if this interview were music, it would be in the key of grief. Rosemerry shares how her daily writing practice helped her navigate the days and weeks following her son's death. She also explains how we can hold opposite things that may both be true. We can let go of the tired stories we tell ourselves and find new meta...

Joél Simone Maldonado is a licensed funeral director and embalmer, spiritual death care educator and the founder of the Multicultural Death & Grief Care Academy. She's helping to revolutionize the death care industry by educating practitioners about culturally sensitive protocols and death care for communities of color. In this episode, we talk about everything from restorative art, to various disposition methods, to how Covid ...

Rabbi Neil Blumofe is the senior rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim in Austin, Texas, and has been part of that community for 26 years! Rabbi Blumofe and I talk about how music can help facilitate community and spirituality. If life is improvisation, then Judaism is jazz. And sometimes rock 'n roll. We also talk about forgiveness, belonging, what makes something sacred and how forgiveness is possible at any time.

You can learn m...

Daryl Horton is the senior pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. He explains why community is a key tennant of his faith and why it's so critical that we preserve Black churches. We also talk about the death of his brother, getting the call to ministry and how the church can be a critical voice in the conversation about racial justice.

You can learn more about Pastor Horton's work here: https://www.mtzion-baptist.o...