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Mark Nepo

Mark Nepo Biography

Poet

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“In Greek mythology, there is the story of a man, Theseus, who, in order to find his way home, had to find his way through a labyrinth that led him to a dark center. Stories like these carry wisdom we must encounter if we are to become whole. Most of us spend our lives trying to avoid the dark center, trying to find a shortcut around the labyrinth. But the only way to the light is through the dark. The only way to the other side is through the center. For it is in the dark center, in the heart of our own personal labyrinth, that we encounter the Minotaur—that part of us we have been taught to fear, the part of us we have been told is monstrous. Yet, if we have the courage to face what we fear, to look the Minotaur in the eye, we find that it is not a monster at all, but a part of ourselves that has been waiting to be seen, waiting to be loved, waiting to be integrated into the whole of who we are. Stories like these carry wisdom we must encounter if we are to become whole and become familiar with both your labyrinth, your way in, and your thread, your way out.”

CourageMindfulnessCenter
Book:The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have
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“Havin loved enough and lost enough, I'm no longer searching, just opening, no longer trying to make sense of pain but trying to be a soft and sturdy home in which real things can land. These are the irritations that rub into a pearl. So we can talk for a while but then we must listen, the way rocks listen to the sea. And we can churn at all that goes wrong but then we must lay all distractions down and water every living seed. And yes, on nights like tonight I too feel along. But seldom do I face it squarely enough to see that it's a door into the endless berath that has no breather, into the surf that human shell calls God.”

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Author:Mark Nepo
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“Seldom seen, growing along the ocean floor, the white-plumed anemone is a watery blossom. It is white lace opening under tons of black, opening as if bathed in the sun, while so far from the sun. This is the trick to staying well, isn't it: to feel the sun even in the dark. To not lose the truth of things when they go out of view. To grow just the same. To know there is still water, even when we are thirsty. To know there is still love, even when we are lonely. To know there is still peace, even when we are suffering. None of this invalidates our pain, but only strengthens our way back into the light.”

GriefGrief Counseling
Author:Mark Nepo
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“In truth, our aliveness depends on our ability to sustain wonder: to lengthen the moments we are truly uncovered, to be still and quiet till all the elements of the earth and all the secrets of the oceans stir the aspects of life waiting within us.”

StillsMomentsEarthWaitingAbilitySecretWonderDependsQuietElementsOceanAspectAspects Of Life
Book:The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have (Gift Edition)
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“It seems that the ancient Medicine Men understood that listening to another's story somehow gives us the strength of example to carry on, as well as showing us aspects of ourselves we can't easily see. For listening to the stories of others - not to their precautions or personal commandments - is a kind of water that breaks the fever of our isolation. If we listen closely enough, we are soothed into remembering our common name.”

IfsMenGivingWellsKindEnoughStoriesSeemsRememberNamesWaterCommonBreakExampleListeningUnderstoodAspectMedicineAncientIsolationCommandmentsFeverPrecaution
Author:Mark Nepo
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“It is imperative that we find that vital element that brings us alive... the true vitality that waits beneath all occupations for us to tap into, if we can discover what we love. If you feel energy and excitement and a sense that life is happening for the first time, you are probably near your God-given nature. Joy in what we do is not an added feature; it is a sign of deep health.”

IfsFeelsFirstsLife IsJoyEnergyGivenWaitingAliveElementsHappeningsFirst TimeFeaturesExcitementOccupationVitalityImperatives
Author:Mark Nepo
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“I don't personally believe in an arrived state of enlightenment. I feel that being human is a constant practice of return. We have moments of clarity, and then we're confused. We have incredibly sensitive periods of being awake, and then we're numb. Being human is a very universal and a very personal practice of learning how to return when we can't get access to what we know.”

KnowsFeelsBelieveHumansStatesMomentsPracticeReturnPeriodsEnlightenmentUniversalConstantAccessClaritySensitiveAwakeConfusedBeing HumanNumbMoments Of Clarity
Author:Mark Nepo
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“The paradox is that we have this amazing capacity in our minds and hearts to learn and gain insights and then to build a kind of personal storehouse of knowledge. The underside is that those insights harden and fill the spaces in our hearts and minds. They become assumptions, conclusions and judgments.”

MindHeartKindSpaceJudgmentGainsCapacityInsightConclusionAssumptionParadoxHeart And Mind
Book:Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred
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“In life as in water, when we curl up or flail we sink. When we spread and go still, we are carried by the largest sea of all: the sea of grace that flows steadily beneath the turmoil of events. And just as fish can't see the ocean they live in, we can't quite see the spirit that sustains us.”

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Book:The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have (Gift Edition)
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“Whether you find it through mediation or sighing over tea or just turning all your devices off for five minutes, listening is an ancient lifeline by which we are awakened time and again. Once reawakened, we more easily find our way to each other, and so help each other live.”

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Book:Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred
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“For being human, we remember and forget. We stray and return, fall down and get up, and cling and let go, again and again. But it is this straying and returning that makes life interesting, this clinging and letting go - damned as it is - that exercises the heart.”

HumansHeartRememberFallForgetInterestingReturnExerciseLetting GoDown AndGet UpAgain And AgainBeing HumanFalling DownClinging
Book:The Exquisite Risk: Daring to Live an Authentic Life
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