The Present Moment Project
This podcast, hosted by Jill Bershad — a psychotherapist, EMDR and hypnotherapist, Reiki master, and sound healer — is a heartfelt space for healing, growth, and connection. With a blend of authenticity and compassion, Jill invites listeners to join her in real conversations about resilience, trauma, addiction, and self-discovery. Through shared stories and gentle wisdom, she reminds us that while pain is inevitable, suffering is optional, and that we can all “grow through what we go through.” More than just a podcast, it’s a supportive community built to help listeners rediscover joy, laughter, and their most authentic selves — one present moment at a time.
The Present Moment Project
Ep. 9 - How Gratitude Changes When You Have Lived Through Grief
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Jill Bershad sits down with Danica Bajaj, a 23-year-old Duke graduate and Robertson Scholar whose life changed after losing her brother to terminal brain cancer. That loss sent her searching for meaning, and gratitude became the thread she followed through science, spirituality, and the land itself.
Danica shares what it was like to spend days in silence at a Buddhist temple in Japan, to live and work in a tiny town in New Zealand where community and sustainability are inseparable, and to keep asking strangers around the world one simple question: what are you grateful for?
Together, Jill and Danica talk about the kind of gratitude that does not bypass pain, the difference between forcing positivity and building a real practice, and the quiet shift from why was he only given 30 years to he was given 30 years and that was the gift. They also reflect on grief, time, connection, and why slowing down with others around a table can make people feel safe enough to tell the truth.
Contact Jill K. Bershad, LMHC, CAP
- Email: jill@jillbershad.com
- Website: jillbershad.com
- Instagram: @jillkbershad.lmhc
- Facebook: jillkbershad