Nicola Duffell

21/11/2025

Because of love | There was never going to be any doubt as to whether I would love Come See Me in the Good Light.
I have watched it twice, I’m about to watch it for a third time.
Andrea and Megan are needed in the world right now. In a world of soul-loss, in a world of hate and fear, in a world so bereft of love and care, Come See Me in the Good Light is needed right now.
I never thought it possible to miss a stranger, someone I’ve never met, but someone who impacted me greatly. I miss Andrea. And I’m so grateful to for her soul, her words that continue to open me wide - to hear her words of grief, of love is such an honour.
And it’s all because of love.

10/11/2025

New podcast | It's always an honour to get to speak about my own journey of grief and how I came to this work. Sometimes you get to speak to someone who really gets it, who puts so much thought into the questions they ask and it's just a beautiful thing - Magalie from Moon Herbs did exactly this. I loved our conversation together.

Seed Wellness

Podcast Episode · Seed Wellness - Helping You Flourish · 06/11/2025 · 1h 3m

12/09/2025

Why the gates of grief matter in these times | Perhaps I should have said - why the gates of grief are essential in these times.
An invitation for you to join us in the territory of grief. For you, for me, for us, for all.
Life’s Poetry is a six month journey through each gate of grief. It’s a journey of courage and of beauty. It can bring you to deeper intimacy.
Everything I do is always done with care, I care deeply. I love deeply and so these elements will be integral.
As says in this beautiful song - “Come stranger we don’t need to know each other before we grieve.”
It’s always with gratitude to my teachers and mentors particularly Francis Weller, who saw these gates of grief and put them into words and form over 10 years ago, and . Thank you.

08/09/2025

It’s time | I feel a bit lost for words today, in that I have so much that I want to say the coherence is escaping me.
So I’ve used the words of my teacher and mentor Francis Weller from his new book In the Absence of the Ordinary.
We are in un-ordinary times.
Which requires an extraordinary response. “Bold gestures” as Francis says.
What’s your response?
What’s our collective response?
I’d highly recommend In the Absence of the Ordinary, it is a balm for our times. It doesn’t shy away from the atrocities that we are facing and it invites us back to the ways of soul.
I believe coming back to the ways of soul can be the start of the restoration that’s needed.
The question of what is soul, is for another time. But even questioning what you think you know soul to be. What I’ve come to know through my work with Francis is that this is much deeper, more unexpected and more necessary than we could ever imagine. Soul is the antidote to these times.
If you’d like to explore soul, you can come and join us for Life’s Poetry. Life’s Poetry is a six month community exploration of what it is to come to grief and soul as a way of life, as a way of restoring the world. We begin on Monday 6th October.

08/09/2025

Grieving our beloved companions | One of my colleagues Rohan Narse is offering a grief-tending gathering specifically for dogs.
Grief impacts us in all sorts of ways and we don't usually give our beloved animal companions the attention they need during the grieving process - if you're grieving your dog, know that it's necessary and needed.

“The bond with a true dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth can ever be.” ~ Konrad Lorenz, Austrian ethologist and Nobel Prize winner, Man Meets Dog

01/09/2025

Life's Poetry | As we start to see the turn in season, the light beginning to dim, the waning of the summer I'm thinking about Life's Poetry.
Life's Poetry is a six-month journey that explores grief in all its ways. Grief goes beyond bereavement. It's all the ways we've felt like we haven't belonged, it's all our needs that haven't been met, it's the way we look at the world and start to examine the sorrows of the world. Grief is broad and deep, and it is very present right now.
I purposefully hold Life's Poetry through Autumn and Winter as we begin to enter into Spring. Through Life's Poetry we let the seasons support us, transform us, we come into alchemy and connection with the world around us.
There are eight places remaining. If you'd like to join us you can book your place or get in touch.
https://www.nicoladuffell.com/lifes-poetry

Life's Poetry is a 6 month community programme which explores life through the lens of grief. Together we will explore grief, sorrow, shame and joy, beauty and freedom. We will use Francis Weller's Five Gates of Grief to guide us, and Francis will be joining us for a teaching session.

26/08/2025

Grief isn’t for the fainthearted | I woke up with these words rolling around my mind this morning. In my exhaustion, in me questioning everything, in me wondering how I turn towards the world and parent today. How I work and be mother.
Grief works us. If we can allow it to work us.
We don’t need to work it. We don’t need to fix it, manipulate it, make something out of it.
We can let it do what it needs to do.
We can relinquish control.
We can show up and see what wisdom grief will offer us.
When we turn towards our grief, it opens us up to so much more grief. The grief of the systems we live in. The grief of our world. The grief of our school system. The grief of privilege. The grief of colonisation. The grief of what it was to be disconnected from our bodies for so long. The grief of not knowing how to care for ourselves and others deeply. The grief of what it has been to focus on I/me instead of us and we.
It’s all here.
And it can gift us so much.
I want to grieve. I want to feel deeply. I want to be part of what it is to see change in the world. I want to risk getting it wrong for the greater good. I want to wail and scream. I want to love. I want to tend to the earth. I want to offer a loving arm. I want to continue to question and be in curiosity about what is being asked of me and us, and the world.
I don’t want to do any of this alone.
If you’d like to grief together, to see what we may open up together, to see what we can tend to together. Come and join us for Life’s Poetry. Life’s Poetry is a six month exploration of grief in all its ways. It uses the beautiful work of Francis Weller and the Five Gates of Grief to guide us. We will work with grief in death, in shame, in belonging, in sorrow, in the ways of the world, in the systems we live in, in the impact of the earth.
We will do this together.
There are 10 places still available.
You can find all the details on my website and you can get in touch if you’d like to speak to me and know more.

04/08/2025

What do you stand for? What are you against? | I’ve been thinking a lot about what it is I’m for and what it is I’m against. Inspired by my teachers, my mentors, those who inspire me.
This isn’t exhaustive, more of a shared exploration. To perhaps inspire you to see what you may be for and against.
That these enquiries can act as a guide in how we show up in the world.
That they may tell you what matters.
And not just what matters for you. We have to start moving from our individualistic ways. What matters for the good of others too.
What matters for our earth. What matters for our relationships. What matters for our animal kin and our oceans. What matters for our soul, and the collective soul of the world. What matters for humanity.
What matters?
If you want to explore this further, come and join me for Life’s Poetry that begins in October. It’s a journey through the landscape of grief. It invites you into aliveness through the exploration of grief and soul. It asks you to explore your edges and what may be found on the outskirts. I’ll be your guide and we will learn together. We’ll also be joined by Francis Weller and Holly Truhlar.

18/07/2025

Beautiful Grief | I know that grief can tear us apart.
I also know that it can be the most beautiful thing.
This past week I’ve become immersed in all that it is to grieve beautifully.
I’ve mourned the death of Andrea Gibson.
I’ve listened to their poetry.
Held their books tight.
Cried.
Written them a poem.
Watched as their team shared the outpouring of love.
Listened to Hey Galaxy over and over again.
It’s moved me to be with the sheer beauty of grief.
To feel the gentle smile on my face, as my tears fall.
That grief can only be born out of love.
There are so many ways that grief is beautiful.
Thank you Andrea for showing us in death what you showed us in life - love, beauty, awe, wonderment.
You have gifted me so much. And thank you Meg too, and the team behind Andrea. I’m sure there are many souls weaving their magic and their grief all at once right now.
I feel grateful that this is all interwoven with Life’s Poetry that begins on 6th October. Life’s Poetry is a six month journey in the ways of grief, of life and of love. If you would like to join us in an experience of grief that could just change the way you experience life, you know where to find everything.

15/07/2025

Honouring the soul that is Andrea Gibson.
13/8/75 - 14/7/25
Thank you ♥️🌹