Episodes

This week, Alexandra chats with Tara Simpson who also lost her husband to suicide. Tara talks about her process after he passed, especially with her 4 children who were young. Tara is vulnerable and raw, truly letting the listener feel the emotional rollercoaster that loss can bring. Connect with Tara- simpsontarad@gmail.com Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Please see...

This week, Alexandra talks about her experience with Thought-Field Therapy. She has been working with her TFT therapist for 5 years now and it has completely changed her life. Alexandra gets a little woo as she talks about her recent experience and session. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Please seek professional help or assistance if needed. Learn more about your ad...

This week, Alexandra gets to chat with Melissa Vera, podcast host of Chats From the Blog Cabin. Melissa has taken so many of her experiences and personal growth to help others. Through her own loss experiences, Melissa has gained so much wisdom and shares it with the Forward to Joy community. Connect with Melissa: Instagram- @frugalmom Website: adventuresfrugalmom.com Facebook: Adventures of Frugal Mom Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@...

This week, Alexandra shares how she has entered a new phase where she is able to start making choices for herself rather than for hours she and Shawn would have done things. Instead of being reactionary, she is more responsive. DABDA Info: https://rootrisetherapyla.com/blog/2022/5-stages-of-grief?format=amp Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Please seek professional help...

This week, Alexandra talks about the third phase she experienced where started to see joy and beauty around her. To do this meant to zoom out and be open to moments that showed that she could keep moving forward. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Please seek professional help or assistance if needed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Alexandra talks about the next phase in grief she experienced. She had to start working through her grief while also having to engage in more “normal” things like work, daycare, house maintenance, car maintenance. All these things needed to be handled while also trying to start working through grief emotions. She felt like she was stuck in two different worlds. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or to...

This week, Alexandra rewinds a bit to talk about the experience of shock right after a major event. It is different for every person and is really an automatic protective measure for us. She talks about her own experience and wants to ensure everyone knows that it is different for every person. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Please seek professional help or assistanc...

This week, Alexandra chats about the different types of signs that loved ones can send us. It’s different for every person and some people don’t believe in signs. It’s about being open to them and seeing what messages our loved ones are sending. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Please seek professional help or assistance if needed. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

This week, Alexandra chats about how stressful managing stress can be. When we embark on healing and changing ancestral patterns while also handling our daily lives, things can feel overwhelming. This week is a reminder to take things low, have compassion for ourselves and start with one thing at a time. It’s not easy but doable. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Please...

This week, Alexandra talks about how the past does not have to be an indicator for the future. Rather, it can build the trust we have in ourselves to handle things when life happens. Life events can feel daunting and overwhelming and yet it is possible to trust ourselves to be resilient and resourceful to handle what comes our way. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Plea...

Enjoy this extra episode of Alexandra being interviewed by Irene Weinberg of the Grief and Rebirth Podcast. Connect with Irene at her website: https://ireneweinberg.com/ Books: They Serve Bagels in Heaven: https://a.co/d/apiPOhb Good to the Last Drop: https://a.co/d/3Ig26Cr Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Please seek professional help or assistance if needed. Learn ...

This week, Alexandra gets to chat with podcast host and author, Irene Weinberg. Irene and Alexandra met when Alexandra was on Irene’s podcast as a guest. They hit it off immediately and just knew they were supposed to be in touch. Irene has definitely taken a very difficult situation and turned it around to find meaning and purpose in her life. She has found moments of joy and has helped many people through their grief journey. Connect with Irene at her website: https://ireneweinberg.com/ Books...

This week, Alexandra discusses her ideas about forgiveness, which is that it is a choice that does not involve the other person. This does not mean that when we forgive we condone what has happened or that no one involved can be held accountable. It means that we want to release the intensity and severity of our emotional and potentially physical reaction when activated by an interaction or event. It is the decision to work through the pain and move forward. Connect with Alexandra on her websit...

This week, Alexandra chats about compassion. The moments that call for compassion are those when we feel called to negatively judge another. We don’t know what is happening before a scenario. We don’t know what the context is of what is going on around us. We don’t know what is going on under the surface. Those moments are when we can be more compassionate and again, zoom out for more clarity. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojo...

This week, Alexandra talks to Callie, one of the first people she was put in touch with after Shawn died. Callie also lost her partner to suicide and shares her story on Tom’s death and how she has found meaning and purpose through launching a new program to help children learn healthy coping skills. To connect with Callie: www.mindfulmusicians.org Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be...

This week, Alexandra jumps into the idea of love and what she feels it truly means to love others. It’s not just about romantic relationships or friendships. To truly love is to understand human connection and bridge the gap of division to see people for who they are and their experiences. Love is about zooming out and truly being there for others no matter what differences come up. This does not mean that boundaries cannot be set or that we cannot stick up for ourselves when needed. It is about...

This week, Alexandra chats with her good friend Amy who made a decision on her own to start healing childhood wounds. Amy shares about the tools she uses to help her release and surrender old patterns and family dynamics. She embraces vulnerability to share about her childhood home and how her healing journey continues while her parents still live in her home. If you’d like to connect with Amy, reach out to Alexandra at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forward...

This week, Alexandra talks about how to change a perspective when it feels like things are just not going well. She references the children’s book When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left by Marc Colagiovanni. The idea is that when things are tough take off the feelings that are hard- fear, worry, frustration- to zoom out and see the big picture. This also offers a chance to trust ourselves that we can handle whatever comes from the situation. Links to the books mentioned: When Things Aren’t Go...

This week, Alexandra welcomes back one of her favorite people and guests, Advanced Certified Yoga Instructor Avery Rich. Alexandra follows up on her yoga practice, the benefits she is experiencing and what she has noticed emotionally. Avery continues to provide her expert guidance in an accessible and encouraging way. Connect with Avery: Journey Into Yoga podcast- http://www.averyrich.com Join Avery’s newsletter for how to declutter: Website- averyrich.com Connect with Alexandra on her ...

This week, Alexandra talks about the ideas around doing versus being. So often we fill our days up with doing and can miss opportunities for embracing our being. When we slow down and sit in quiet we can start thinking about and feeling into our being. Who we are changes and evolves. We can get caught up in the busy, losing who we are becoming. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be tri...

How often do you describe yourself as busy? Life is just busy. The thing about busyness is that it can also be a tactic to avoid looking at ourselves, our feelings and events that have impacted us. It’s not necessarily a conscious decision. It can be a protective mechanism. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwardtojoy.com. Portions or topics on this show may be triggering. Please seek professional help or assistance if needed. Learn m...

This week, Alexandra dives into the differences between apathy and surrender. She has been working on surrendering more which led to questions around apathy. Apathy tends to have feelings of helplessness and hopelessness with a “What’s the point?” attitude. Where surrender still has action attached to it. True surrender still requires us to trust ourselves that we can handle whatever comes our way. Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forwar...

This week, Alexandra chats with Licensed Professional Counselor, Erik Petersen about the importance of emotional and mental wholeness when working through grief. All the thoughts and feelings associated with grief can be very overwhelming and difficult to manage. Erik gives some great guidance on how to start working through the grief process. Connect with Erik: https://www.lifeafterlosscolorado.com/ Connect with Alexandra on her website, forwardtojoy.com, or send her an email at alexandra@forw...

This week, Alexandra continues discussing the area of spirituality and how evaluating the messages we get as children about morality, value systems and spirituality can impact our spirituality as adults. It helps to determine if those messages still align with our current lives. If so, great! And if not, then we can take steps to figure out what does align. Please note that Alexandra does not suggest that others follower her spiritual views. Rather, she encourages all to evaluate their own. Con...