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Grief and Light™

Grief and Light™

Di: Nina Rodriguez
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This space was created for you by someone who gets it – your grief, your foundation-shattering reality, and the question of what the heck do we do with the shattered pieces of life and loss around us.

It’s also for the listener who wants to better understand their grieving person, and perhaps wants to learn how to help.

Now in its fourth season, the Grief and Light™ podcast features both solo episodes and interviews with first-hand experiencers, authors, and professionals, who shine a light on the spectrum of experiences, feelings, secondary losses, and takeaways.

As a bereaved sister, I share my personal story of the sudden loss of my younger brother, only sibling, one day after we celebrated his 32nd birthday. I also delve into how that loss, trauma, and grief catapulted me into a truth-seeking journey, which ultimately led me to answer "the calling" of creating this space I now call Grief and Light.

Since launching the first episode on March 30, 2023, the Grief and Light podcast and social platforms have evolved into a powerful resource for grief-informed support, including one-on-one grief guidance, monthly grief circles, community, and much more.

With each episode, you can expect open and authentic conversations sharing our truth, and explorations of how to transmute the grief experience into meaning, and even joy.

My hope is to make you feel less alone, and to be a beacon of light and source of information for anyone embarking on this journey.

"We're all just walking each other HOME." - Ram Dass

Thank you for being here.

We're in this together.

Nina, Yosef's Sister

--

For more information, visit: griefandlight.com

© 2026 Grief and Light™ Igiene e vita sana Psicologia Psicologia e salute mentale Relazioni Scienze sociali Successo personale Sviluppo personale
Episodi
  • Grief, Anxiety, and Trauma: How Loss Changes Our Sense of Safety | Phil Lane, MSW, LCSW

    Grief, Anxiety, and Trauma: How Loss Changes Our Sense of Safety | Phil Lane, MSW, LCSW
    Oct 27 2026
    Grief doesn’t always look like sadness. Sometimes, it looks like anxiety, panic, or a world that no longer feels safe.In this episode of Grief and Light™, host Nina Rodriguez talks with Phil Lane, MSW, LCSW, a psychotherapist, anxiety and panic survivor, and author of three books on anxiety, panic, self-esteem, and mental health. Phil is also a son, a brother, and a caregiver who has experienced the loss of his mother and his twin brothers, Joseph and Matthew. Nina brings her own experience of sibling loss to the conversation.Together, they explore how grief can show up as a racing heart, hypervigilance, panic, medical anxiety, or the unsettling feeling that nothing is real. They talk about why anxiety can intensify when life finally slows down, what happens when caregiving ends, and how the body can respond to loss before the mind has fully caught up.This conversation makes room for the physical, psychological, and often misunderstood experiences of grief without trying to fix them. From finding meaning beyond rigid ideas about acceptance to challenging the expectations placed on men and vulnerability, Phil and Nina explore what it means to meet ourselves with greater understanding when life no longer feels predictable.IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUTHow Phil’s experiences with anxiety, panic, and family loss shaped his work as a therapist.The difference between anxiety and panic, and how both can affect our sense of safety.Medical anxiety and hypervigilance after a parent’s illness.Caregiver grief and the disorientation that can follow when caregiving ends.Why grief and anxiety can surface once the practical demands of a loss begin to settle.Finding meaning as an alternative to rigid expectations about acceptance.How everyday factors such as sleep, hydration, and diet can influence anxiety.Derealization and depersonalization after sudden loss, and how these experiences may serve a protective function.Sibling loss, twin loss, and the expectations men face around expressing grief.Vulnerability, connection, and why the myth of the alpha male gets collaboration wrong.Phil’s reading about grieving the anxious self from his book on illness anxiety.Why “you’ll be fine” often misses what someone needs, and why tending to the body can be a place to begin.KEY TAKEAWAYSGrief is not only emotional. It can affect the body, our sense of safety, and how we experience the world.Anxiety about your own health after a loved one’s illness can be part of the grieving experience. It isn't selfish.Sometimes grief and anxiety become more noticeable when life finally slows down.Feeling unreal after shocking news can be a response to overwhelming circumstances.Naming what is happening and gently attending to the body can help us respond to panic with greater understanding.Vulnerability can create connection and healing, particularly for men who have been taught to keep their feelings to themselves.CONNECT WITH PHIL LANE:phil-lane.comPsychology Today ContributorGet a Copy of the Books@thetherapist_philCONTENT NOTE: This episode includes discussion of sudden loss, sibling loss, traumatic experiences, and cancer. This conversation is for educational purposes and does not replace care from a licensed professional.Send us Fan MailSupport the showGrief and Light™ is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, deeply human experience of loss and grief.Grief-fluency is a life-affirming skill we were never taught. We're here to change that.Hosted by grief-informed guide and sibling loss survivor Nina Rodriguez, the show fosters a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. At its heart is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully. Now in Season 5, with 130+ episodes, the show features changemakers, researchers, creatives, and leaders exploring loss, identity, uncertainty, and what it means to keep living when life changes.Connect with Nina: Website · Instagram · SubstackSubscribe to the newsletter🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · Signal Awards Silver Winner 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2× Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick 2026DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Seek qualified support.Full Disclaimer...
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    49 min
  • What We Hide to Belong: Denise Soler Cox on Grief, Identity, and Liberation

    What We Hide to Belong: Denise Soler Cox on Grief, Identity, and Liberation
    Oct 20 2026
    Filmmaker, author, and speaker Denise Soler Cox joins Nina Rodriguez, host of Grief and Light™, to explore Latina identity, inherited cultural taboos, sibling grief, self-erasure, and what it takes to reclaim your voice. Drawing on her book, What Will They Say? A Liberating Guide for Latinas, Denise shares how the rules we inherit about family, belonging, and worthiness can shape the way we live, work, grieve, and show up for ourselves.After her documentary Being Eñye gained attention, Denise spent more than a decade speaking about identity and belonging. At hundreds of events, women began confiding secrets they had never told anyone. Those conversations became the foundation for her book, which explores ten recurring taboos, including childhood experiences of sexual assault and witnessing domestic violence.In this conversation, Denise and Nina discuss how cultural expectations, shame, and the pressure to be strong can lead to self-silencing, overgiving, and difficulty setting boundaries or advocating for ourselves. They explore the tension between collectivist cultural values and individual needs, and how we can honor where we come from without inheriting every rule.Denise also introduces thermal equilibrium, a physics concept that became a central metaphor for healing in her book. What happens when we stop burying painful experiences and allow truth, warmth, and connection to reach the parts of ourselves we've kept hidden? Denise reflects on writing the book, grieving her brother David, and recognizing how not having space for her own grief became one of her earliest lessons in self-erasure.In this episode, we explore:Latina identity, belonging, and the experience of living between culturesInherited cultural taboos, shame, and the question, “What will they say?” (El ¿Qué dirán?)How overworking, over-giving, and people-pleasing can become patterns of self-erasureThe tension between collectivism, familismo, and individual needsHow childhood experiences can shape adult confidence, boundaries, and self-advocacySibling grief, the pressure to be strong, and the cost of hiding our painThermal equilibrium as a metaphor for healing and emotional truthReinvention, liberation, and learning to return to ourselvesKey takeawaysSelf-erasure can begin when we learn to minimize our feelings and needs to protect others or maintain belonging.Grief isn't limited to the loss of a person. We can also grieve the versions of ourselves we were expected to become.Healing doesn't require us to have everything figured out. It begins with making room for the truth of our experiences.We can honor our families and cultural roots while questioning inherited beliefs that no longer serve us.Being witnessed without judgment or the pressure to fix our pain can help us reconnect with ourselves.What is thermal equilibrium in Denise Soler Cox's book What Will They Say?Thermal equilibrium is a physics concept Denise uses as a metaphor for healing. She describes warmth moving toward cold and connects that process to allowing truth, connection, and compassion to reach the painful experiences we've kept hidden.What is What Will They Say? A Liberating Guide for Latinas about?Denise Soler Cox's book explores ten recurring cultural taboos shared by women after her speaking engagements. It examines how inherited expectations, shame, and silence can shape Latina identity, self-worth, relationships, and professional lives.How does self-erasure relate to grief?Denise reflects on how she was expected to be strong after her brother David died, leaving little room for her own grief. She came to recognize that experience as an early lesson in self-erasure: learning to minimize her own pain because another's seemed to matter more.How can cultural expectations affect self-worth?Cultural expectations around family loyalty, sacrifice, success, and keeping private matters private can influence how people value themselves. When those expectations leave little room for personal needs, they may contribute to overgiving, shame, difficulty setting boundaries, and reluctance to speak up.Is What Will They Say? available in Spanish?Yes. Denise confirms that What Will They Say? is available in both English and Spanish, making it possible for readers and family members to engage with the book in their preferred language.Connect with Denise Soler Cox:denisesolercox.comBuy the bookInstagram: @denisesolercoxSend us Fan MailSupport the showGrief 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. At the heart of the show is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully.Subscribe to our newsletter here.🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2x Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s PickFollow Grief and Light™ wherever you watch or ...
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    47 min
  • A message from Nina | Deadline is OCT 15

    A message from Nina | Deadline is OCT 15
    Oct 13 2026

    Great news! Grief and Light™ is a finalist for the Signal Awards’ Listener’s Choice Award. And I’m in the running for Top Host to lead my own podcast produced by iHeartRadio, take home $25K, and be a guest on an episode of onairwithryan.iheart with Ryan Seacrest, BUT I need your support to get there:

    PLEASE VOTE HERE: griefandlight.com/vote

    Why does this matter?

    We’re taught how to prepare for so many things in life, but not how to navigate arguably the most human experience of all -- grief. Grief literacy is a life-affirming skill. It helps us understand loss, support one another, and make space for the full complexity of being human.

    I’m on a mission to foster a more grief-fluent, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.

    Winning would help me bring this work to a much broader audience, have bigger conversations, and shift the way we talk about one of the most universal human experiences we share.

    THAT would be life-changing.


    Every vote helps. And if you feel called to share it, even better.

    We're in this together.
    Nina

    The deadline is OCT 15 griefandlight.com/vote

    Will you vote for us?

    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. At the heart of the show is one belief: to grieve fully is to live fully.

    Subscribe to our newsletter here.

    🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers’ Choice Best Podcast 2025 · 2x Women Who Podcast Awards Winner · Podground Editor’s Pick

    Follow Grief and Light™ wherever you watch or listen.

    Connect with Nina Rodriguez:

    • griefandlight.com
    • @griefandlight
    • Resting Grief Face on Substack

    Thank you for listening!

    DISCLAIMER: Grief and Light™ is an independent podcast hosted by a grief-informed guide, not a licensed therapist, doctor, or attorney. Nothing shared here is intended as therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel. Please seek qualified professional support when needed.

    Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers
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    3 min
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