Living the Questions: A Quote to Ease Uncertainty
Sometimes, when life feels especially uncertain, a single quote can shift our perspective in lasting ways. About 20 years ago, a friend shared a passage with me during a time when I was desperate for clarity about a major life decision. Like many people, I wanted certainty—wanted to know how things would turn out. But instead of offering predictions or advice, my friend read me a quote that has stayed with me ever since.
It’s from Rainer Maria Rilke, and it speaks directly to the part of us that aches for answers when we’re not ready to receive them. I’ve passed it along to many clients over the years who, like me, are learning to tolerate ambiguity and grow through the not-knowing.
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
At Clarity Counseling Seattle, we often sit with people in these very moments—when answers feel out of reach, and all that’s left is to live the questions. Whether you’re navigating a life transition, relationship uncertainty, or emotional overwhelm, therapy can be a space where the questions themselves are honored rather than rushed past.
If you’re finding yourself in a season of uncertainty, you might also find value in Rumi’s wisdom on emotional acceptance, or in our reflections on setting intentions rather than resolutions. These posts, like the Rilke quote, offer grounding and guidance when you’re between answers.
You don’t have to figure everything out right now. You just have to begin by noticing what’s true, and maybe letting yourself feel it. That’s where healing begins.