What if you didn't need answers to move forward?
What if the questions themselves are where life begins to open again?
In the first conversation of the Summer Shifts Series, grief educator and Grief and Light™ founder and host Nina Rodriguez joins author, grief educator, author, and Grief Is a Sneaky Bitch host Lisa Keefauver to explore what it means to live with the questions grief leaves behind rather than rushing toward resolution.
After loss, we’re often told to find closure, make meaning, move forward, or figure out what comes next. But grief rarely follows a neat narrative. Sometimes the more honest practice is learning to stay curious about what we don't yet know.
Together, Nina and Lisa explore living into the questions as a practice for navigating grief, life transitions, and uncertainty. They talk about the stories we inherit and internalize, the language that can quietly keep us stuck, and how curiosity can create room for wonder and possibility again.
They explore the five small but powerful words that can signal we're getting caught in a story — should, always, never, but, and shouldn't — and discuss how narrative therapy can help us notice the stories we're telling without assuming those stories are the whole truth.
They also introduce the constellation metaphor, imagining the stories we tell about ourselves as constellations in the night sky, and how zooming out can help us notice evidence, experiences, and possibilities that an old story left out.
Along the way, Nina and Lisa share poetry from Gregory Orr, Rainer Maria Rilke, Jack Gilbert, and Mary Oliver, and reflect on the questions that have helped them continue building lives after profound loss, including sudden sibling loss and widowhood.
If you're navigating grief, a major life transition, or a season of uncertainty, this conversation offers language and perspectives for staying with the questions rather than forcing yourself to find an answer.
In this episode, you'll explore
- What it means to live into the questions after loss
- Why grief doesn't always need resolution or a tidy answer
- The "sticky stories" that can keep us feeling stuck in grief
- Five words that can signal you're caught inside a limiting story
- How narrative therapy can shift the way we understand our experiences
- The constellation metaphor and how changing our perspective can reveal overlooked evidence
- Why poetry can sometimes hold what ordinary language cannot
- How curiosity can coexist with grief and uncertainty
- What it means to stay connected to aliveness after loss
- Two questions to carry with you this week: What stories am I holding onto? and What do I already know?
Some questions explored in this episode
What does "living into the questions" mean in grief?
What are "sticky stories"?
What is the constellation metaphor?
How can poetry help us live with difficult questions?
About the Summer Shifts Series:
A three-part live conversation series co-hosted by Nina Rodriguez and Lisa Keefauver exploring what becomes possible when we embrace curiosity, creativity, and the unexpected.
✨ Part 1 | Living Into the Questions
Theme — Curiosity
✨ Part 2 | Shifting Our Stories
Theme — Creativity
✨ Part 3 | Meeting Life Differently
Theme — Possibility
Replays of the Summer Shifts conversations are available on the Grief and Light podcast.
A question to carry with you:
What question are you willing to live into instead of trying to answer?
Send us Fan Mail
Support the show
Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.
🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick
New episodes wherever you watch or listen.
Connect with Nina Rodriguez:
Thank you for listening!
If this conversation resonated with you:
✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it
✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation
✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts
Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers
