Author Archive for Brooke Warner
Mark’s new audio books are now available!
The Book of Awakening is available at:
Finding Inner Courage is available at:
Soul Series archive now available
Mark Nepo’s conversations with Oprah on her “Soul Series” radio show are now archived online. Listen to clips of Mark and Oprah’s inspiring conversation here.
The Book of Awakening is Hoda’s favorite thing!
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Mark Nepo poetry reading tonight at Kalamazoo College
Mark Nepo will give a poetry reading at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 15, at Stetson Chapel on the campus of Kalamazoo College. The event is free and open to the public. Read more about the event here.
Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening is one of Oprah’s 2010 Ultimate Favorite Things!
The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo is a year’s supply of inspirational stories and beautifully written essays that the reader can reflect on in daily doses. “Mark Nepo is a poet,” Oprah says. “He’s an author and a philosopher and has been through two different cancers. So when he writes, he writes purely from the heart.”
Oprah was given The Book of Awakening as a birthday gift and says she does one lesson from the book every morning. “If we all do it together, we can begin to open our hearts, change the world and begin to have the life you want by being present to the life you have now,” Oprah says.
Mark Nepo on Teach Now
Listen to Mark in conversation with Jennifer Louden of Teach Now. This is yet another wonderful interview, complete with Mark’s deep authenticity and profound insights.
Click here to hear the interview.
Mark Nepo in O Magazine
Oprah writes about Mark Nepo in her “What I Know for Sure” column in the most recent issue of the O, The Oprah Magazine (November 2010). Pick one up today!
“As part of my morning ritual of mediation and prayer, I read Mark Nepo’s Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have. Today’s lesson, as is often the case, was so spot-on that I have to share it.
Nepo speaks of ‘my struggles as a teenager when my mother wanted me to be a lawyer and my father wanted me to be an architect. Somehow I knew I needed to be a poet; something in it brought me alive.’
He quotes Mechthild of Magdeburg, a medieval mystic: ‘A fish cannot drown in water. A bird does not fall in air. Each creature God made must live in its own true nature.’
And he offers these observations of his own: ‘Part of the blessing and challenge of being human is that we must discover our own true God-given nature. This is not some noble, abstract quest but an inner necessity. For only by living in our own element can we thrive without anxiety. And since human beings are the only life form that can drown and still go to work, the only species that can fall from the sky and still fold laundry, 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.’
What I know for sure: There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive.
2 poems by Robert McDowell
Robert read two of his poems during Saturday’s class:
400 Apples
The Sheep That Feeds You
Reflections from Your Heroic Journey Class 2
Day 2 of Your Heroic Journey yesterday. Everyone on the call was particularly moved by this teaching about the land. Robert’s prompt to us: write about the land that’s sacred to you.
Follow Us