Miist was five years old when her parents removed themselves from her life. Not through death — through choice. As she tells me in this episode, that distinction made the wound deeper, not shallower. She knew they could come back. They simply didn't.

By 28, she had a terminal cancer diagnosis and doctors telling her she had a month, maybe three. And here's the part that stopped me: she still doesn't hold any bad feeling toward that diagnosis. It's the thing that finally brought her family back into the room with her.

She picked up a ukulele during treatment. She didn't write her first song until she was 34. Today her music has charted on Billboard, she's the first native Chinese artist to reach the Pop AC chart, and she hosts a top-ranked mental health podcast.

This conversation goes somewhere I didn't expect. We talk about loneliness after loss — the grief that arrives with no funeral, no casserole, no one checking in — and what it actually takes to come back from it.

Miist wrote a song for a young man who passed alone in his apartment in Japan. He had food. He had shelter. He had nobody. She kept thinking about all the strangers he must have walked past on any given day, and how one moment of real eye contact might have been enough to hold him a little longer. That song, "Could You Lend Me a Smile," now exists in 16 languages.

Out of it came the idea we spend much of this episode on: the 15-second action. Small enough that nobody can claim they don't have time. Smile at someone. Be silly. Be grateful. Say a kind word. Remind someone that you love them.

We recorded this on my 65th birthday, which made one part land hard for me. Miist asked when the last time was that someone called you for no reason at all, just to say they love you. I told her about the most viral Substack post I've ever written — it was about calling my father on an ordinary day, for no occasion. It went everywhere because almost nobody does it.

WHAT WE COVER

• Why abandonment can cut deeper than death, and how the earliest wound becomes the root of everything built on top of it
• How Miist pushed away her closest childhood friends, and the apology she eventually wrote as a song
• Choosing, in advance, to sit inside the grief of losing her dog rather than reaching for anything that would make it stop
• The three days she asked her vet for, and what her whole family learned from them
• Reconnecting with and forgiving the father she hadn't seen in over 20 years
• Being discovered by producer Narada Michael Walden — and being asked to sing at the piano where Aretha Franklin recorded "Respect"
• The Kindness Kube and the five actions on it
• Using music intentionally to move through anger, sadness, and back toward joy
• Why losing an old habit that no longer serves you can feel like its own kind of loss
• Why both of us say plainly: we are still healing

ABOUT MIIST

Miist is a multilingual recording artist, songwriter, and podcast host who began her professional music career at 34 after being discovered by acclaimed producer Narada Michael Walden. She's a Teen Cancer America Ambassador and the founder of the World Smile Initiative, a nonprofit built around bringing moments of relief and light to people who are struggling. Her podcast, Make Me Smile with Miist, blends original music, personal storytelling, and research, and each episode closes with a 15-second action listeners can take that day. The book of the same name is now available.

🎵 Website: https://www.miistthesinger.com (https://miistthesinger.com)

🎙️ Podcast: Make Me Smile with Miist — available wherever you listen

📖 Book: Make Me Smile with Miist

🧊 The Kindness Kube: available on her website

A FEW THINGS TO SIT WITH

Which of the five actions would be hardest for you right now — and what does that tell you?

Is there someone you've been meaning to call for no reason at all?

Is there a loss in your life you've been outrunning rather than sitting with?

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

I'd love to hear what landed for you in this one. Head to https://grief2growth.substack.com to read the companion article, leave a comment, and connect with me and with other listeners walking a similar road.

If this episode helped, share it with someone who's feeling disconnected right now. That's a 15-second action of your own. 💜

CONNECT WITH BRIAN

🔗 All my links: https://pages.grief2growth.com/profile

🔗 Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/grief2growth

📰 Email list: https://pages.grief2growth.com/join-the-club

⏰ Free consult: https://grief2growth.as.me/30-minute-consult

👛 Tip jar: https://www.grief2growth.com/tipjar

Approve and I'll move to Step 5: the blog article outline.

You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.

Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 

I get that. And I want you to know th...