Demystifying Death: Hospice Nurse Barbara Karnes on Grief, the Dying Process, and End-of-Life Truths

2025-06-23

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This episode is different. It is personal.Because for the first time, I will be sharing something I have not yet spoken about publicly.My father passed away this March. Just two days before my birthday.And in the weeks that followed, I gave myself permission to fully grieve, to feel, to remember, to process.It was a conscious act of mourning, supported by ceremony, solitude, and also by ketamine therapy, medically supervised at our clinic in Santa Monica.It helped me meet the waves of grief and let them move through...

This episode is different. It is personal.

Because for the first time, I will be sharing something I have not yet spoken about publicly.

My father passed away this March. Just two days before my birthday.

And in the weeks that followed, I gave myself permission to fully grieve, to feel, to remember, to process.

It was a conscious act of mourning, supported by ceremony, solitude, and also by ketamine therapy, medically supervised at our clinic in Santa Monica.

It helped me meet the waves of grief and let them move through me, not around me.

And in that space, I kept returning to one question: Why, in our culture, is death treated as something to avoid, deny, or sanitize?

Why is something so universal, so sacred, still held in so much fear?

Today’s guest has devoted her entire life to shifting that.

Barbara Karnes is a hospice pioneer and one of the most respected voices in end-of-life education.

Her booklet Gone From My Sight, known as The Little Blue Book, has sold over 40 million copies and changed how countless families understand and approach death.

In this conversation, Barbara offers profound wisdom: she offers a map, a presence, a way of holding death that allows us to also hold life more fully.

This is much more than a conversation about dying. It is a conversation about what it means to live without fear, and to love more openly, even at the edge of goodbye.

Episode highlights:

02:45 Ariana's Personal Story of Grief and Healing

05:29 Understanding the Dying Process

10:40 The Role of Caregivers and Cultural Myths About Dying

21:51 The Emotional and Spiritual Costs of Caregiving

31:36 The Role of the Witness in the Dying Process

33:04 Creating a Sacred Experience Before Death

34:08 Saying Goodbye and Processing Grief

42:16 The Importance of Personal Choice in End-of-Life Care

44:44 Cultural Perspectives on Death and Aging

52:32 Rehearsing for Death Through Life's Changes

54:25 Barbara's Personal Relationship with Death