Mark Nepo

A new edition of the #1 NYT’s bestseller by Mark Nepo, who has been called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time” and “a consummate storyteller.”Philosopher-poet and cancer survivor Mark Nepo opens a new season of freedom and joy—an escape from deadening, asleep-at-the wheel sameness—that is both profound and clarifying.His spiritual daybook is a summons to reclaim aliveness, liberate the self, take each day one at a time, and savor the beauty offered by life's unfolding. Reading his poetic prose is like being given second sight, exposing the reader to life's multiple dimensions, each one drawn with awe and affection.The Book of Awakening is the result of Nepo’s journey of the soul and will inspire others to embark on their own. He speaks of spirit and friendship, urging readers to stay vital and in love with this life, no matter the hardships. Encompassing many traditions and voices, Nepo's words offer insight on pain, wonder, and love. Each entry is accompanied by an exercise that will surprise and delight the reader in its mind-waking ability.

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A fresh perspective on the art of being alive and essential insight into how we can minimize what stands between us and an authentic experience of life, in the spirit of works by Deepak Chopra and Ram Dass “Once again, Mark Nepo draws us to the heart of what matters. He illuminates love with the light of his own understanding.”—Marianne Williamson In these fast-paced times, the exquisite risk facing each of us every day is to slow down so that we may experience life rather than simply manage it. In The Exquisite Risk , poet and teacher Mark Nepo encourages readers to become quiet enough and open enough to listen to what truly matters—our own hearts, our loved ones, the wonders of nature—in order to live a life with nothing held back. In rich, lyrical prose, Nepo shares his own spiritual path, including a battle with illness that helped him understand how daring to embrace all that life has to offer can bring us to a deeper appreciation of its meaning and beauty.

A Reader for Navigating the Depths of Our Lives“When we can open our hearts and work with what we’re given, loving what’s before us, life stays possible. Then, through effort and grace, we do what we can with what we have. And when exhausted by all that’s in the way, we’re faced with the chance to accept and love what’s left, which is everything. This is how we discover that Heaven is on Earth.” ―Mark NepoThe Universe holds us and tosses us about, only to hold us again. With Things That Join the Sea and the Sky , Mark Nepo brings us a compelling treasury of short prose reflections to turn to when struggling to keep our heads above water―and help us breathe into all of our sorrows and joys.Inspired by his own journal writing across 15 years, the book shares with us some of Mark’s most personal work. Many passages arise from accounts of his own life events―moments of “sinking and being lifted”―and the insights they yielded. Through these passages, we’re encouraged to navigate our own currents of sea and sky, and to discover something fundamental yet how, simply, to be here.To be enjoyed in many ways―individually, by topic, or as an unfolding sequence― Things That Join the Sea and the Sky presents 145 contemplations gathered into 17 themes, each intended to illuminate specific situations.The themes include Unraveling Our Fear, Beyond What Goes Wrong, The Gift of Deepening, The Practice of Relationship, What Holds Us Up, Right-Sizing Our Pain, The Reach of Kindness, Burning Off What’s Unnecessary, How We Make Our Way, and many more.For those interested in either beginning or expanding their own journaling explorations, this reader also provides a guide to the practice of daily writing, with 100 compelling questions to get you started.“Joy is the sea that holds all,” writes Mark, “the Unity of Being where feelings don’t separate, but surface like waves to remind us we are alive.” Here, he helps us swim in those waters until we are held in the mystery of their buoyancy.

As a poet, philosopher, and cancer survivor, Mark Nepo has been breaking a path of spiritual inquiry for more than thirty years. In his new book, the #1 New York Times bestselling author explores how the soul works in the world.Called "one of the finest spiritual guides of our time," this beloved teacher explores what it means to become our truest self through the ongoing and timeless journey of awakening to the dynamic wholeness of life, which is messy and unpredictable. Nepo navigates some of the soul's deepest and most ancient questions, such as: What does it mean to inhabit the world? How do we stay vital and buoyant amid the storms of life? What is the secret to coming alive? Nepo affirms that not only is the soul's journey inevitable, it is essential to our survival. The human journey is how the force of life grows us, and no matter where we go we can't escape this foundational truth: What's in the way is the way. As Nepo writes, "The point of experience is not to escape life but to live it."Featured on Oprah's Super Soul Sunday program, Nepo's Seven Thousand Ways to Listen has inspired millions of people to redefine themselves in the face of life's challenges. Comforting, moving, and spiritually practical, The Endless Practice is filled with universal insights and stories woven with guidance and practice, which will bring the reader closer to living life to the fullest.

Mark Nepo has been interviewed by Oprah on her Soul Series radio network and his The Book of the Awakening has been featured in O, The Oprah magazine and on the Oprah TV show. In this book, Mark invites readers to explore their own inner core through the stories of ordinary people, political activists, artists, spiritual teachers from a variety of traditions. These are people who have faced themselves, their warts and weaknesses. They have stood by the courage of their convictions in all kinds of moments, great and small. Nepo's insights and commentary are spot on, and help readers relate the stories of others to their own lives. The book is divided into three sectionsfinding our inner core, standing by our inner core, and sustaining the practice of living from that place. Each of the nearly 60 brief essays and stories elucidates and inspires. Nepo's broad range of stories and people, of traditions and insights, offers myriad ways for readers to relate to their own search for courage. The late Howard Zinn said of this book, "A poetic, profoundly thoughtful rumination on how we might live."

Mark Nepo is emerging as one of the truly significant writers and thinkers of today. Nepo has a singular way of distilling great truths down to their essence. Moreover, during his cancer journey, Nepo relied on the power of expression and the writing process to keep him tethered to life. In Reduced to Joy, Mark Nepo explores the places where pain and joy are stitched to resilience, uncovering them with deep wisdom, poetic passages and personal revelations. Nepo reminds us all of the secret and sacred places within, forgotten in the noise and chatter of our busy distracted 21st Century lives. Reduced to Joy is a lesson in stillness, in standing in the mystery and, above all, in the work of love.

Beloved spiritual teacher, poet, and philosopher Mark Nepo returns to the inspiring short-chapter format of his #1 New York Times bestseller, The Book of Awakening, to map an insightful and resilient path for inhabiting the soul by engaging in the world.Mark Nepo has been called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time,” “a consummate storyteller,” and “an eloquent spiritual teacher.” With the rare ability to communicate stirringly profound truths directly to each individual heart, Mark inspires audiences of more than 15,000 people as well as small, intimate groups. Now, in The One Life We’re Given, Nepo’s personal stories, questions, and meditations take us on a deep and uplifting journey to know our own hearts and enliven our souls. “In order to fully live the one life we’re given,” Nepo writes, “we each must affirm how precious this one life is and open ourselves to loving whatever life puts before us. Whether that is suffering, pain, fear or loss, or surprise, beauty, love or wonder, we work to stay in touch with our hearts in order to make sense of our experience. As we learn when to try and when to let go, when to give our all and when to surrender and simply receive, we unfold the moments that reveal meaning and ready us for grace. This is how the heart breaks a path to our soul’s work, leading us to our authenticity, and to how we can be useful to others and the world.” By illuminating the art of finding and restoring what matters and by exploring the craft of awakening, The One Life We’re Given affirms our purpose as not just to stay alive but to stay in our aliveness.

A deeply heartfelt weave of reflections and poems about what it means to live the creative, expressive life.“I cherish the wisdom and embrace the practices offered in this luminous book.” ―Mirabai Starr, author of Caravan of No Despair and Wild Mercy“Meaningful art, enduring art―and the transformative process it awakens―keeps us alive,” writes Mark Nepo. With Drinking from the River of Light , this bestselling poet and philosopher will lead you on a journey to discover just how art and authentic expression can bring our deepest truths to bear in the world.In this collection of interconnected essays and poetry―covering subjects ranging from the importance of staying in conversation with other forms of life to a consideration of how innovators such as Matisse, Rodin, and Beethoven saw the world―Nepo presents a lyrical ode to the creative urge that stirs in each of us. Whether it’s the search for a metaphor to reveal life’s beauty or the brushstroke that will thoroughly capture the moment, Drinking from the River of Light examines what it means to go “. . . beyond the boundaries of art, where the viewer and participant are one.”Here you will · The importance of openly embracing the full scope of your emotions· The need for raw honesty and self-exploration in education· Why a new perspective always waits only a “quarter turn” away· The importance of staying in constant conversation with other creative voices· The crucial difference between giving and getting attention· Concrete guidelines for respectful peer review· What it means to channel the sound of your innermost being―and the universeIn Nepo’s words, “This book is meant to be experienced and journeyed with.” Including dozens of journaling prompts and personal exercises meant to enliven the reader’s creative instincts, Drinking from the River of Light traces the search for our most essential selves and the importance of the life of expression to bear witness to the sorrow, depth, and joy of life.

A powerful new book of spiritual awakening from #1 New York Times bestselling author Mark NepoIn The Book of Soul, Mark Nepo, the bestselling author of The Book of Awakening, offers a powerful guide to inhabiting an authentic and wholehearted life. After we are physically born, we must be spiritually born a second time, a process that takes place through the labor of a lifetime as we develop into more fully realized beings. The Book of Soul delves into the spiritual alchemy of that transformation in all its mystery, difficulty, and inevitability.The book is divided into four sections that mark the passages we all face: enduring our Walk in the World, until we discover Our True Inheritance, which allows us to live in the open by Widening Our Circle, as we Help Each Other Stay Awake. The Book of Soul is a piercing guide, replete with beautiful truths and startling insight, that leads us deeply into the process of transformation.

Weekly wisdom from The New York Times bestseller, The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo. The Book of Awakening has become a modern classic, a spiritual guide for living in hard times and good times that speaks to the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers. Now, this spiritual favorite, chosen as one of Oprah Winfrey’s favorite things, is available in a special pocket-size paperback edition. The Little Book of Awakening takes some of the very best wisdom from The Book of Awakening and distills it into a set of weekly readings. Each week explores a theme, such as abundance, awareness, blessing, interdependence, presence, opportunity, being heard, being real, and facing our suffering. Award-winning author Mark Nepo writes about spirit and friendship, urging readers to stay vital and in love with life, no matter the hardships. Encompassing many traditions and voices, his words offer insight on pain, wonder, and love. The Little Book of Awakening is the ideal inspirational gift for any occasion.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author and popular spiritual teacher presents a poignant and timely meditation on the importance of community, and demonstrates how we live more enriching lives by cultivating connectedness.At once a moving meditation and an empowering guide, More Together Than Alone is an compelling testament to the power of community and why it’s so essential in our lives, now more than ever. Mark Nepo draws from historical events, spiritual thought leaders, and the natural world to show how, in every generation, our tendency is to join together to accomplish our greatest achievements, from creating education to providing clean drinking water, and preserving the arts.Nepo’s historical snapshots, from ancient times to contemporary examples, show how community creates a light in the darkest of times, and gets to the heart of how we come together in varied and beautiful ways, whether forming resistance groups during the Holocaust or rebuilding after the nuclear devastation in Nagasaki. These inspiring stories teach us that even in the bleakest days, we have the power to create connections and draw strength from one another.Featuring thought-provoking analysis and practical takeaways, More Together Than Alone will help us inhabit a stronger sense of togetherness where we live and in the world so we can achieve our highest potential, as individuals, and as communities.

Stories carry the seeds of our humanness. They help us, teach us, heal us, and connect us to what matters. As Far As the Heart Can See is an invitation to be in relationship with deep and life-giving material. Poet and philosopher Mark Nepo reaches people through their hearts, bringing something fresh and new to the field by stimulating change through reflection of thoughts and feelings. The stories he shares in As Far As the Heart Can See come from many places--from Nepo's personal history to dreams to the myths of our ancestors. Each one is an invitation to awaken an aspect of living in relationship with the sacred.Following each of the forty-five stories are three forms of an invitation to further the journal questions, table questions, and meditations. The questions, whether reflected upon in a journal or discussed in deeper conversation with friends or family, are meant to lead the seeker down unimagined paths and back into life; the meditations are meant to ground the learning. These stories and parables about universal concepts and themes offer a poet's sensuality and a philosopher's sensibility to personalizing the journey of the human experience in the world.

Nothing compares to the sensationof being alive in the company ofanother. It is God breathing onthe embers of our soul.―Mark Nepo, "The Way Under the Way"When we shift from trying to be special to seeking what is special in everything, we discover "the way under the way"―the timeless terrain of that mysterious force which animates and unites us. The Way Under the Way brings you a sweeping three-part collection of 217 of Mark Nepo’s original poems and essays to open the heart, awaken insight, and support you on each step of your unique journey through life.The first two works, Suite for the Living and Inhabiting Wonder (originally published by Bread for the Journey Intl.) bear witness to the messy and magnificent adventure of being human. Evolving these further, Mark Nepo integrates nearly 60 new poems into the thematic reach of the material. The Way Under the Way presents a wholly new work, centered on "the place of true meeting that is always near" and the natural rhythms of opening and closing that can become the art that keeps us vital."All we ever need is right where we are, if we can open the ordinary treasure that is always before us," writes Mark Nepo. The Way Under the Way is an invitation to "ignite your own exploration of the nature and workings of the inner life."

Falling Down and Getting Up is an invitation to view adversity from a new perspective. In this gentle, insightful guide, Mark Nepo helps readers navigate the challenges of life by transforming their experience into a chance for deepening and renewal.Each one of us is offered opportunities to choose between surviving and thriving, managing risk and enhancing risk, opening and closing, giving and receiving, living a balance between solitude and community. We can choose to enlarge our sense of things when pain and fear make us small. We can choose to delight in the never-ending practice of course-correcting and tuning as we go. Falling Down and Getting Up introduces readers to their own gifts and wisdom, helping them explore the perennial practices and choice-points we all face in life.Mark Nepo is a master teacher who has been convening circles and guiding retreats for fifty years all over the world. Beloved as a poet, teacher, and storyteller, he has been called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time,” “a consummate storyteller,” and “an eloquent spiritual teacher.” Filled with humble insights and wise words, Falling Down and Getting Up will encourage and inspire readers from every walk of life.

"This book is an enduring resource for our times. Journey here and discover your own strength." ―Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author and founder of the Modern Elder AcademyIn Surviving Storms , bestselling author and spiritual teacher Mark Nepo explores the art and practice of meeting adversity by using the timeless teachings of the heart.We live in a turbulent time. Storms are everywhere, of every size and shape. And like every generation before us, we must learn the art of surviving them, so we can help each other endure.In order to stand firm against life’s unavoidable storms, we need to know our true self, deepening our roots and solidifying our connection to all Spirit and all life. Then we, like a firmly rooted tree, can endure the force of trials and heartbreak.A profoundly timely resource, Surviving Storms describes the heart’s process of renewal and connection with insight and accuracy. Though we must each map the territories of our souls for ourselves, this spiritually practical book is an indispensable guide, bringing us to common passages and paths and urging us forward on the journey. Once the rubble clears, we, like those before us, are inevitably called to build the world one more time, admitting that we need each other.

Now in his seventies, poet and philosopher Mark Nepo explores the rhythms of aging in the second half of life. As the years go by, the question for each of us becomes more and more What does it mean to age? Despite the limitations that come as the body wears down, Mark Nepo believes that there are many gifts to inhabit by aging. So much is gained and so much is shed along the way. As Mark began to reflect on the gifts and challenges of this process we’re all immersed in, he realized, more than ever, that we are called to live a creative life as we age. We are led to what the Chinese call “the fifth season”—that moment in late summer when the glare of the sun fades so that we can see clearly the true colors around us.The Fifth Season offers Mark’s wise and gentle insights on growing older, helping readers identify the second half of life as a turning point, a time of integration and transformation that guides us in making sense of our experiences. All seasons lead to this season; all experiences lead to this understanding of experience.In truth, Mark writes, we each must face living and dying from the inside of the one life we are given. But we can share the journey, which is the purpose of this book, to be a companion in your effort to enter the fifth season of your life.

Facing the Lion, Being the Lion is work from the heart that helps us find our own courage and experience how connection to our own core connects us to all of humankind, as well as to nature and spirit itself. Nepo invites us to encounter the stories of ordinary people, political activists, artists, and spiritual teachers from all traditionspeople who are summoning the best of who they are in all kinds of moments, great and small. This book empowers us to take those moments into our own hearts, to be inspired by them, to let them fill our lungs and circle our hearts, empowered to stand more firmly by our own core and a little taller in the world.

Many are familiar with teacher and poet Mark Nepo's books on inner transformation, relationship, and the emergence of purpose in our lives. But less well-known is the journey that shaped his vision as a teacher that began in 1987 when he was diagnosed with cancer. The revelations during that time would inform every dimension of his work to follow.With Inside the Miracle, Mark Nepo shares what he discovered along this challenging terrain, and the insights most essential to those of us who now find ourselves there. The lessons and stories here are for all of us, ill or not, when the inevitable question arises: How do we move through an overwhelming crisis--whether from physical illness, grief, or a major life change--into the rest of our lives?This offering presents in its entirety Nepo's 1994 literary gem Acre of Light, written shortly after his recovery. Here, he expands and enriches its themes with new poems, essays, and teachings gathered in the decades since. Throughout, Mark includes compelling questions and exercises from his popular workshops, to invite us to personalize the experience.What emerges is a reading companion to be explored in many ways: as a memoir, as a survival kit of wisdom and verse that helped Mark during his own journey, and as a conversation to spark our own contemplation, journaling, and discovery.To live in wonder on the other side of suffering and disappointment, reflects Mark Nepo, is to know how magnificent and fragile it is to be here at all. Inside the Miracle calls us to leap into our lives with tenderness and courage, so we can fully inhabit the miraculous moments that await us.

A celebration of friendship and community from bestselling author Mark NepoIn his newest book, New York Times bestselling author Mark Nepo turns his attention to the value of community, offering another insightful and inspiring take on our shared human experience. You Don’t Have to Do It Alone is an earnest exploration and joyous affirmation of one of the most important aspects of being friendship.Sharing examples from history, mythology, and his own life, Mark unravels the nuances of close friendships, and reveals how a true friend can be the key to our own aliveness―because only in the presence of unconditional love can we feel safe enough to be who we truly are. Journal prompts and thought-provoking quotes from notable philosophers enhance Mark’s reflections, providing readers with the tools necessary to understand and cultivate the friendships in their own lives.Mark Nepo explores all that it takes to love another and be loved, ultimately showing that―despite what we’ve been taught―you don’t have to do it alone.

Poet and philosopher Mark Nepo was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma in 1987. His journey back to health awakened a new life. In his latest book, Nepo explores how sacred and useful everything is. As such, this book is for everyone, not just for those facing illness or pursuing poetry. The poems affirm that surviving has more to do with our authenticity than our longevity. The sixty-eight poems gathered here are the culmination of many years of inquiry. As a teacher, Nepo has journeyed with others around these themes across the country and abroad. In leading spiritual retreats, in working with healing and medical communities, and in his teaching as a poet, his work is widely accessible and used by many.

Weekly wisdom from the New York Times bestseller, The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo.The Book of Awakening has become a modern classic, a spiritual guide for living in hard times and good times that speaks to the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers. Now, this spiritual favorite, chosen as one of Oprah Winfrey's favorite things, is available in a special pocket-sized paperback edition.The Little Book of Awakening takes some of the very best wisdom from The Book of Awakening and distills it into a set of weekly readings. Each week explores a theme, such as abundance, awareness, blessing, interdependence, presence, opportunity, being heard, being real, and facing our suffering. Award-winning author Mark Nepo writes about spirit and friendship, urging readers to stay vital and in love with life, no matter the hardships. Encompassing many traditions and voices, his words offer insight on pain, wonder, and love.The Little Book of Awakening is the ideal inspirational gift for any occasion.

This collection contains three books of poems written by Mark Nepo in his fifties and sixties. The first book, A Thousand Dawns, explores the difference between hardening, which will help us get through life, and softening, which will let us experience life. The second book, The Gods Visit, explores one of the anchoring purposes of poetry, which is to help us settle more deeply into what is. This anchoring into the life of being gives us the strength to go on. And the third book, The Tone in the Center of the Bell, explores how we are shaped by the Oneness of Life. For once we open our heart, the thousand feelings come at us non-stop, the endless waves of a Mysterious Unity. How they wash over us and through us transforms us as we are worn into exquisite shapes by the friction of the world, grounded by our suffering and lifted by love and wonder. Let these poems be companions on your path to know yourself and the inner and outer nature of life more intimately.After fifty years of exploring, retrieving, and writing, poet and philosopher Mark Nepo is arranging his life’s poetry, more than 1400 poems, into several volumes to be published in limited editions. The Half-Life of Angels is the first volume in this series, containing three books of poems, written in his fifties and sixties.“What a beautiful journey this book is. I was moved in some places beyond what I can adequately convey. Mark’s capacity to speak such universal truths through poetry is stunning. He is a master.”—Brooke Warner, author, editor, and publisher of She Writes PressThe Great WatersIn the beginning, I thought I wasgoing somewhere. I thought we allwere. But falling in while trying to cross,I finally understood, the journey is to followthe river. All the rivers, especially the onesno one can see. The soul is a fish whosehome is in those rivers. So I can take youacross, if you want. But the secret is to goeverywhere by going nowhere. And I willbe here when you fall in. Which is nota failure but an awakening.

A Poet's Guidance for the Practice of True Self-ExpressionAll spiritual traditions affirm that fully participating in our own life is what allows us to find our place in the fullness and beauty of the world. As such, holding nothing back is less a forceful act of will and more a surrender into the current of life we are always in. In Holding Nothing Back, Mark Nepo invites us to enliven the one obligation we are born with: to be completely who you are. Our reward is nothing less than the realization that all of life is in whatever moment we wake to. Holding Nothing Back illuminates:The Fall into Life--our inevitable journey into what is real, and how we only find meaning through relationship- Alone and Together--the paradox of being and belonging and how we need both solitude and community- The Mystery of Transformation--staying true to the spirit within while the person carrying it keeps evolvingTo hold nothing back means staying committed to letting whatever we experience make its way in and letting whatever is in make its way out, explains Nepo. Holding nothing back means holding the intention to be an open vessel, in a daily way. Here is his passionate call to each of us to find and befriend the quiet courage to bring all of who we are to every step we take through the miraculous world.Excerpted from the full-length audio program Staying Awake.Course objectives: Discuss the transformative journey of holding nothing back as a practice of truth and love.- Define our soul's calling, or what we are called to do, and the call of the soul, or the continual call to aliveness.- Discuss paradox: being alone and belonging, as well as effort and grace as the path of oneness.- Define and discuss enthusiasm, obstacles, and sincerity as teachers on the transformative journey toward living an authentic life and awakening.- Practice deepening the discussions with suggested reflection, writing exercises, storytelling, ritual and meditation.

Most of us can remember a time when we felt completely awake--fully present, deeply engaged, our heart and mind wide open. We also know those periods of sleepiness when our purpose is unclear, we lose our way in relationship, and life's challenges seem more than we can bear. In Staying Awake, Mark Nepo invites us to inhabit our truest selves in all ways in all directions, as we find our own voices in the One Conversation in which each of our lives is a story waiting to be told.With a poet's keen view of the vast and often hidden territory of the inner life, Mark Nepo talks directly about what a gift it is to be here and about the resources that the mysteries of being and experience reveal. Informed by his journey through cancer, he explores the lessons brought to us by the press of love and suffering. For each of us is born awake and yet it takes courage to stay awake, to remember that all we encounter is real.Sharing his own rich poetry along with the inspired writing of luminaries across generations, Nepo guides us in the central practice of staying awake: to be who we are, no matter what we face, and to enter our days and moments to the fullest. We do this, he teaches, by holding nothing back--by bringing all of who we are to every situation, enlivening our connection with everything life has to offer. Using teaching stories and a series of exercises and reflections, Nepo invites us to listen to our own stories and to find our own wisdom.We are stronger, gentler, more resilient, and more beautiful than any of us imagine, teaches Mark Nepo. Staying Awake is his offering to all of us who seek the love of truth and the truth of love that help us live.HighlightsThe direct tasting of life- The unwanted guest and what it asks of us- The deep listener, the deep speaker, and the deep questioner within- Metaphor and whole-mind thinking- The gifts of paradox- The risk to be present- The reliable truths that never change- Nine hours of poetry, story, exercises, and explorations for practicing the ordinary art of staying awake

Embracing the Life of Growth and Transformation"Each of us carries some wisdom waiting to be discovered at the center of our experience, and everything we meet, if faced and held, reveals a part of that wisdom," teaches Mark Nepo. Flames That Light the Heart brings you into the company of the beloved poet and author for a rich conversation on the life of transformation and the heartwork that is required to be a spirit in the world.Teachings and Practices for Making Sense of Our ExperienceHow do we listen to life and not to what life does to us when suffering and loss meet us at every turn? How do we make sense of our experience? "My offering here is to explore these challenges and introduce you to your own wisdom and gifts, to help you personalize the ways you can nourish the spark of life we each carry inside," explains Mark Nepo. In 10 audio sessions, he explores the passages that open us, as well as the skills and ways of being that help us meet the difficulties that life brings us. Join him in this intimate conversation on our shared "growing pains of transformation" and the art of living "as an awakened part in an awakened whole." Highlights:• What it means to be transformed by what we go through• Being true to your own nature• The wisdom of a broken heart• Changing our relationship with fear• The practice of loving what you do• Obstacles as teachers• The peace that abides in every moment• More than five hours of insightful teachings, moving poetry, and practical guidance

The collection before you is the trail of my attempts over the last twenty years to experience and understand the nature of this mystery we wake in every day. These twenty-one essays contain seeds of inquiry that I have pursued much of my life. None of these attempts were created in a vacuum, but each represents how ideas can grow over time with their own sense of alchemy in the crucible of dialogue and sincerity. In that regard, this book of attempts is akin to a live recording and I hope you can feel the presence of others in and around the words. Much like a stone that has been worn by years of the stream, what is here is the one stone revealed by the current�s scouring. (Mark Nepo)

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