Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post. Over a lifetime, we are humbly changed by things we often don’t notice along the way. We’re often connected to other life we’re not aware of. This piece bears witness to such connections. How We Make Our Way When he hits the conga with his palm, it feels like color splashing in a wave. When she bounces the bow lightly on the strings, it feels like stones dropping in a lake. When... Read more

Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post. Sometimes, in the midst of working through frustrations, it’s possible to glimpse the truth that, though I’m frustrated, not everything is frustrating. Sometimes, in the midst of sadness, it’s possible to glimpse that, though I’m sad, not everything is sad. This poem came upon me while in such a mood.   Near the Light I’m saved by what is timeless. Can taste it though it fills no cup. Can feel it though... Read more

Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post. For all the dreams we dream and things we work toward, we sometimes stumble into a moment when what waits inside our dream somehow comes true. This poem speaks to such a moment. GOING HOME It was the middle of the day. Early September. Light skirting out from under the leaves. I was taking the compost to the edge of the yard when I saw you pinching a pot on the old... Read more

Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post. While guiding a workshop, we fell into a deep conversation about the part of us that is constantly changed by meeting the world and the depth of who we are that never changes. The Rocky Mountains were nearby and as I began to explore all this, the wisdom of the mountains was suddenly in reach.   In the Thick of It I’m in Estes Park, Colorado, that divine bowl in the middle... Read more

Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post. I’m always surprised to rediscover that life waits behind a door that can only be opened when we give our all, when we hold nothing back. This video clip from an interview with Sounds True took place in Colorado during a week of recording my box set of teaching conversations, Staying Awake: The Ordinary Art. HOLDING NOTHING BACK (VIDEO—SOUNDS TRUE) Mark Nepo – Holding Nothing Back from Sounds True on Vimeo. A... Read more

Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post. Since life can be abrupt and harsh, it’s a constant challenge to meet experience without shutting down. If we’re too guarded, we’re never touched by what matters. On the contrary, it seems that to be touched by what matters, we need to develop our gentleness. Gentleness and Co-dependence Receiving depends on gentleness, which relaxes our boundaries. It lets us interact with what comes our way. It lets us lend some of our... Read more

Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post. It’s important to discern between steadfastness and stubbornness. There are crucial, if subtle, differences between the two. To be steadfast is to be faithful to what we know to be true, without a need to explain or justify that truth, but simply to live it. To be stubborn is to resist views and truths other than our own, to avoid the challenge of growth. Steadfastness brings us closer to life, while stubbornness... Read more

Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post. We live in an age where information, demands, and choices are more plentiful than ever. This rush of possibility gives us the illusion that we can do anything without limit. With this rush of possibility and the illusion of no limits comes a relentless urgency to do it all. This poem comes from the ground of Oneness that waits under all urgency.   THE MYTH OF URGENCY Everyone wants you to quietly... Read more

Read Mark’s weekly reflections on The Huffington Post. Experience opens us to humility and humility opens us to compassion, which means to suffer with, to keep company with, to be with. Nothing can as strong and soft at the same time as compassion.   Side by Side Until we trip, we don’t understand why it takes so long to get up. Until we lose our way, we have no patience for indecision. Eventually, we land so close to the shallow... Read more