What if grief was more than just sadness—what if it was a spectrum of emotions as rich and varied as a 152-color crayon box?

In this episode, I’m joined by the Poet, Biographer, and Memoirist Molly Peacock. Molly shares her experiences of how her husband’s long illness and widowhood have informed her work, particularly in her new book The Widow’s Crayon Box. After her husband’s death, she realized she was not living the received idea of a widow’s mauve existence but instead was experiencing life with all 152 colors of the crayon box.

Throughout this episode, Molly Peacock reflects on the societal expectations of grief being limited to a few emotions like sadness, but for her, it has been a complex and lively process. She highlights the transformative aspect of grief, where the mourner is not just in a state of loss but also in a state of personal evolution and rediscovering parts of themselves. She also reads a short excerpt from her poetry, illustrating how emotions in grief can be contradictory yet colorful. Finally, Molly touches on the importance of storytelling in the grieving process, both for processing one’s own emotions and for connecting with others who share similar experiences.

Tune in and listen to episode 278 of Grief and Happiness, and learn how Molly challenges the conventional view of grief, showing how it can lead to a deeper understanding of life, self, and the richness of human emotions.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Introduction to Molly and the metaphor of using a 152-color crayon box to represent the emotions of grief (01:19)
• Finding vibrancy in loss (05:42)
• The grieving person’s transformation and the reclamation of the self (10:12)
• The structure and content of “The Widow’s Crayon Box” (20:06)
• The importance of storytelling and listening to the grief journeys of others (27:35)

Connect with Molly Peacock:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Get Molly Peacock’s Poetry on Amazon!
• Molly featured on CBC’s The Current in a documentary, What Can A Widow Be?

Let’s Connect:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• The Grief and Happiness Alliance
• Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt – Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief

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Emily Thiroux Threatt Podcast Host, Facilitator, Author

Having gone through the experience of the deaths of so many loved ones, I have learned to face life with love, optimism, and joy.

I have kept journals and written to express myself most of my life which led me to a career of teaching writing and writing books. I naturally turned to writing to help deal with my grief, then I discovered I could use writing to help friends deal with grief, too.

In contemplating how I could best help the grieving people I was working with, my Ignite moment came when realized the importance of helping people understand the importance of happiness and how they could grieve and be happy at the same time.

To share my message, I host the Grief and Happiness podcast, I wrote the book Loving and Living Your Way Though Grief, I facilitate weekly meetings of the Grief and Happiness Alliance, I founded the Grief and Happiness nonprofit foundation, I publish a weekly newsletter and blog, and my new book, The Grief and Happiness Handbook is coming out soon.