The ManKind Podcast 223 - The Sixth Stage of Grief: Finding Meaning with David Kessler
Aug 20, 2025
David Kessler, internationally known grief expert and author who added the sixth stage of grief, shares personal origins and a lifelong focus on loss and healing. He explores how unprocessed grief shapes culture, why toxic positivity harms, the power of communal healing, and how meaning helps cushion pain. Practical ways to be present with someone in grief are also discussed.
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Grief Is The Valley You Must Walk Through
- Grief is the valley between life's peaks; skipping valleys robs us of fully appreciating highs.
- Kessler argues culture teaches peak performance but rarely teaches how to walk through valleys, making grief literacy lacking.
How A College Class Launched David Kessler's Grief Work
- David Kessler learned grief language in college after his mother died following a hotel mass shooting when he was 13.
- He stumbled into a Death and Dying class and discovered Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, which transformed his sense of isolation and set his life's work in motion.
Politics Often Replaces Witnessing Grief
- Society is grief illiterate and often substitutes political debate for witnessing personal pain.
- Kessler notes people in grief need to be seen for their loss, not drawn into arguments about current events.
