Learn how deep listening and poetry are helping transform healthcare and provide an antidote to Burnout.

My guest Jenny Hegland is the Executive Director of The Good Listening Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to humanizing healthcare through the healing power of poetry and compassionate presence. We discuss the work of TGLP and the power of sharing our stories and having them reflected back to us in the form of poetry. Learn more at the website:

goodlistening.org

Read the poem The House Medicine Built here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

• The origin story of The Good Listening Project
• The power of poetry to reflect our deep stories
• Why being heard by someone else is deep medicine
• The synergy between the storyteller and the listener poet
• How TGLP works
• Why Grief is the number one concern of healthcare providers served by TGLP
• You don’t have to be skilled at poetry to become a “listener poet”
• The crafts of listening to and writing poems for others can both be taught
• The quality of listening can actually affect the quality of sharing that happens
• How both community and mystery support us when we hold space for others
• What it involves to become a “listener poet”
• How “Caregiver Haven” supports caregivers

We give the gift of staying with; there is nothing to fix. -The Good Listening Project

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Kickstarter campaign for Wild and Holy
• Latest post on Substack: Grief, Creativity, and Growing the Soul
• What Really Matters Podcast
• Explore the poetry anthologies created by TGLP
• View my  Patreon tier for Soul Supporters and receive extra reflections as a special bonus
• NEW Gift Guides for Caregivers, People Receiving Care, and People Who are Grieving
• Get my two newest books!! Stories from the Dark Night and The Tao of Death
• Get EOLU Podcast Merch here
• Conversations on Death with ChatGPT – Audiobook here; Print Book here
• Leave me a message by email: [email protected], Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
• Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop and Indiebound: 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying and The Journey from Ego to Souloin the team at Patreon.com/eolu and receive free gifts like the “Mind if we talk about death?” mini-poster or Love Your Life sticker or coffee mug. PLUS get our regular bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, monthly What to Watch recommendations, Behind the Scenes Bonus content, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!
• Buy me a coffee
• Donate on Paypal

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu. And thanks to everyone who has bought me a coffee or made a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

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Karen Wyatt Karen Wyatt MD

Dr. Karen Wyatt is the bestselling author of the book 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying, which contains stories of patients she cared for as a hospice doctor and the spiritual lessons she learned from them at the end of their lives. Her other books include The Journey from Ego to Soul, Stories from the Dark Night, and The Tao of Death. Dr. Wyatt also hosts End-of-Life University Podcast, which features conversations with experts who work in all aspects of end-of-life care. She is widely regarded as a thought-leader in the effort to transform the way we care for our dying in the U.S. In addition, she is valued for her application of spiritual principles to illness and healthcare and teaches that in order to live life fully we must each overcome our fear of death and embrace the difficulties that life brings us.