Cultivate Being
Celebrating mortality and getting intimate with death. Why death? It’s one of the core mysteries of life. Amelia Chiarenza believes that is precisely the point - it is a part of life. She spent most of her life ignoring it, letting it exist in dark shadows. Then, in her early forties, both her parents and best friend died within the span of 16 months, forcing her to acknowledge death. Now, her aim is to pull death from the shadows and bring it into a new narrative of life. Cultivate Being™ is a record of Amelia’s quest. Come along with her.
Episodes
My partner, Angela Chiarenza, is the person who has lived every bit of this journey with me.
She has cared for me and for my loved ones. As a steadfast guide, she has taught me that quiet, steady support is undying; and that it makes a difference in life and in death.
In this conversation we talk about what is spoken and unspoken. She shares about our “grand experiment” and our finding a new rhythm. It’s about being...
In this episode, I speak with another unexpected guide along my journey of loss. Doug Schoenfelder was my parents’ handyman. A carpenter by trade, Doug is a jack-of-all-trades “yes-man,” who always showed up when my parents asked for help, and then when I did too. I first met Doug while my father was dying and then Doug became my handyman.
In this conversation, he shares about his background, working with my parent...
I venture along a new path on my quest as I share in conversation with Machelle Dejong – a woman who knows my parents in a unique way: by going through their belongings after they died. As a member of the estate sale team at my parents’ house, Machelle showed up unfazed by their overstuffed home.
Machelle joins me in the dining room of that same house to talk about what it is like to say goodbye to the belongings that fi...
My quest to get intimate with death continues. In this episode of the Cultivate Being™ Podcast, I speak with my father’s hospice nurse nearly four years after his passing.
My journey with Molly Heeney started a year before my father died and revealed to me not only what hospice is, but what hospice can be. With this second episode, get a window into our reflections and perspectives as we talk about my father’s end of lif...
What is it like to talk to people who knew your loved ones who died? My quest to get intimate with death begins as I talk with someone who knew my parents who I never knew existed until after they died.
I met Marie Bowden very shortly after my father died. He was her mentor, but she and I had not met. Through our conversation, I learned that she is a person surrounded by death. She grew up in a home surrounded by death. She wo...
Cultivate Being™ is a Tribeca Official Selection Podcast for the 25th Anniversary Tribeca Festival in June 2026.
For more from Amelia, sign up for the Cultivate Being® Newsletter.
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