Episode Details

In his book Letters to a Young Poet

Celebrated author and poet  Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:

“Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. 

Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. 

Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”

In 2025, with the publication of her beautiful book:

How to Fall in Love with Questions: A New Way to Thrive in Times of Uncertainty

Journalist and applied behavioral scientist, 

Elizabeth Weingarten carries Rilke’s work forward. 

Through contemporary research, powerful storytelling, and her beautifully written prose,

Elizabeth charts a new path for personal growth—

a way to embrace the questions of our lives instead of seeking fast, easy answers.

She writes:

“What do you do when faced with a big, important question that keeps you up at night? 

Many people, understandably, seize answers dispensed by "experts," influencers, gurus, and more. 

But these fast, easy, one-size-fits-all solutions often fail to satisfy, and can even cause more pain.

What if our questions—the ones we ask about relationships, work, meaning, identity, and purpose—are not our tormentors, but our teachers?”

In today’s conversation we’ll explore the fascinating possibility of living the questions.  

Elizabeth will share stories from her journey of discovering a fresh, evidence-based approach for navigating uncertainty. 

One inspired by Rilke’s 150-year-old advice, and the moving stories of many others, whose lives have transformed through a different, and better, relationship with uncertainty.

Elizabeth’s work offers a powerful reminder:

When we find the courage to love the questions of our lives

It opens the door the kind of self-discovery that’s only possible when we feel most alive -

That is, in the moments where don’t know what will happen next.

For more on Elizabeth, her book, and other offerings please visit elizabethweingarten.com

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Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

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