How to live after your soulmate has died | Michelle Thaller

Astronomer Michelle Thaller explains the healing power of physics after losing her husband.

Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1
Up next, Antifragility: How to use suffering to get stronger ► https://youtu.be/ISjRSek5Xbs

Grief is a haunting and powerful psychological force. It struck astronomer Dr. Michelle Thaller in 2020 when her husband died of cancer. She was left feeling utterly disconnected from the people and places around her, as if the fundamental nature of reality had shifted and Earth was no longer her home.

She still lives with the pain. But as she told Big Think, she has found that the pursuits that make us feel connected to the Universe — science, poetry, art, literature — can serve as tools that help us continue pushing forward and living enriching lives.

The pain from losing our loved ones may never disappear completely. But finding ways to connect to something larger than ourselves just might give us a path out of grief.

Further reading: https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/the-most-beautiful-letter-richard-feynman-ever-wrote/

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/healing-power-of-physics

———————————————————————————-
About Michelle Thaller:
Dr. Michelle Thaller is an astronomer who studies binary stars and the life cycles of stars. She is Assistant Director of Science Communication at NASA. She went to college at Harvard University, completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Calif. then started working for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) Spitzer Space Telescope. After a hugely successful mission, she moved on to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), in the Washington D.C. area. In her off-hours often puts on about 30lbs of Elizabethan garb and performs intricate Renaissance dances. For more information, visit NASA.

———————————————————————————-

Read more of our stories on grief:
Three responses to grief in the philosophy of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Camus
► https://bigthink.com/thinking/philosophy-grief/
Why do we mourn people we don’t know?
► https://bigthink.com/the-present/public-mourning-queen/
He lost his baby daughter. Then he turned his grief into a tool for NICU parents.
► https://bigthink.com/health/nicoboard-nicu-parents/

———————————————————————————-

About Big Think | Smarter Faster™
► Big Think
The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century.
► Big Think+
Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/

———————————————————————————-

Want more Big Think?
► Daily editorial features: https://bigthink.com/popular/
► Get the best of Big Think right to your inbox: https://bigthink.com/st/newsletter
► Facebook: https://bigth.ink/facebook
► Instagram: https://bigth.ink/Instagram
► Twitter: https://bigth.ink/twitter