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Beyond the Loss: Life and Identity After a Child Dies
Over time, the conversations we choose to have begin to reflect what matters most.
If you’ve been part of this podcast, you’ve heard me speak about human development, systems thinking, and the ways we make meaning of our lives and work. That work continues—and remains at the core of my coaching and professional practice.
What has changed is the space where I am choosing to have a different kind of conversation.
After the death of my son, Michael, I felt called to create a more personal place—one that speaks directly to the experience of loss, and to the questions that emerge when life no longer looks the way it once did.
That space is now Beyond the Loss.
This podcast is for parents who have lost a child, and for those who support them. It is not about fixing grief or finding closure, but about understanding how we continue to live, to make meaning, and to become—after loss.
If you are looking for my current podcast,
you will now find me there.
I invite you to join me on Beyond the Loss.
You are welcome.
Beyond the Loss: Life and Identity After a Child Dies
Episode 225: The Power of Self-Forgiveness with Mark Monchek
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Past mistakes, painful incidents, and challenging emotions often stick with you longer than you'd like to admit. When you confront these feelings with self-forgiveness, however, you allow the process of healing to begin. As you’ll discover in this episode, learning to forgive yourself gives you the power to confront your past and shift the way you view your future.
Today, we are joined by a returning guest and someone who will be with us on a regular basis going forward: Mark Monchek is the Founder and Chief Opportunity Officer of Opportunity Lab, a strategy and facilitation consultancy that provides mission-driven entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profits with resilient systems for sustainable growth in any economy. He is also the author of the non-fiction bestseller, Culture of Opportunity: How to Grow Your Business in an Age of Disruption.
In this episode, we discuss the need for self-forgiveness and share some practical advice for reframing difficult experiences as learning opportunities, breaking the cycle of shame, and shifting the stories you tell about yourself.
To learn more about becoming a more conscious person, managing your business versus managing your ego, and leading from a place of opportunity rather than one of adversity, make sure not to miss this inspiring conversation with Mark Monchek!
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The importance of learning from your mistakes (and forgiving yourself for making them).
- Understanding the difference between shame and guilt.
- Learning to love yourself “just for being.”
- Managing your business versus managing your ego.
- How to shift your story in order to shift the way that you lead.
- The role that religion plays in our capacity for self-forgiveness.
- Some practical tips for practicing self-forgiveness
- Shifting your perspective from “it happened to me” to “it happened for me.”
- First steps in your personal transformation: the power of purpose.
- Why it’s important to acknowledge that your life is finite!
- The need to commit to being a conscious person and loving unconditionally.
- The correlation between forgiving others and forgiving yourself.
- How your experiences, good and bad, shape you.
- The value of holding space for whatever will happen (it might just be a miracle!)
Transcript: Here
Additional Resources:
Website: opplab.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markmonchek/
Twitter: twitter.com/markmonchek
Opportunity Community: https://opplab.com/opportunity-community/
Links Mentioned:
Sapiens: https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316095
Sharon Spano:
Website: sharonspano.com
Facebook: facebook.com/SharonSpanoPHD
Instagram: instagram.com/drsharonspano/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sharonspano/
Book: thetimemoneybook.com
Contact: sharon@sharonspano.com
Twitter: twitter.com/SharonSpano
The Other Side of Potential Podcast: sharonspano.com/podcast/