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The Endless Practice: Becoming Who You Were Born to Be Paperback – July 14, 2015
by Mark Nepo (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 173 ratings
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“Navigational tips for the journey--ways to grow and expand, ways of handling mess and sorrow, and ways of finding love and beauty and joy. The Endless Practice brings Mark Nepo’s many years of teaching and writing and musing into one potent offering. I recommend it heartily.” -- Elizabeth Lesser, cofounder of Omega Institute and author of Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow
“In The Endless Practice, Mark Nepo is a kind friend, sage mentor, and curious fellow journeyer, walking alongside us as he observes the magnificent complexities of the human experience. The notion of an endless practice gives us hope and encouragement—that even when we trip, struggle, grieve, or feel lost, we have an opportunity to expand, and that it’s through this lived experience, with all its ups and downs, that we come closer to the heart of who we were born to be." -- Kris Carr
“In his deep understanding of our complicated lives, Mark Nepo says, “Love the task and work the light.” I’ve done this ten thousand times as the curtain lifted on stage, never thinking to try to live that way after the curtain dropped, in my everyday life. It wasn’t until I fought my addiction and won that I realized I was in my own way, and until I put something else in front of me, the life I wanted wouldn’t show up. And then one day, along with all the blessings I received, I picked up a copy of The Book of Awakening. And fourteen years later, I’m on my third copy, because as I read each day I underscore and leave my own notes. But the journey ain’t over as Mark’s new book, The Endless Practice, is yet another candle to light our understanding along the spiritual path called Life.” -- Steven Tyler
“I have spent my life searching for the reason I was born. I think anyone in middle age does. Mark Nepo has been my guide in the quest. Simple and yet wildly profound, his words of clarity and, most importantly, connection, his ideas and suggestions, are ones I inculcate and metabolize daily.” -- Jamie Lee Curtis
“This book held me in its warm embrace. Mark is a true poet of the soul, using fresh, vivid language to capture realities that are too often cast as mere cliches. What a blessing!” -- Tosha Silver, author of Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead
“A poetic and marvelous invitation into presence and love. Let this book quiet your mind and open your heart, and help you live from the rhythms of your soul.” -- Jack Kornfield author of A Path With Heart
“Mark Nepo has created and encoded a work of wisdom, love, truth and beauty. Reading his words will open your heart, expand your mind, and nourish your soul. Just holding this book shifted me into a state of grace.” -- Arielle Ford, author of, Wabi Sabi Love: The Ancient Art of Finding Perfect Love in Imperfect Relationships
"Nepo writes reflectively and poetically about the lifelong spiritual journey. His tone is intimate, his perspective mature. Mystics will delight." ― Publishers Weekly
"Mark Nepo’s The Endless Practice is the kind of spiritual book you will want to read slowly so that the wisdom and the epiphanies can simmer in your consciousness." ― Spirituality & Practice
About the Author
Mark Nepo is the author of twenty books, including Seven Thousand Ways to Listen, The Endless Practice, and the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Book of Awakening. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Mark traveled the country with Oprah Winfrey on her sold-out 2014 “The Life You Want” tour and has appeared several times with Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program (OWN TV). He lives in southwest Michigan. Visit him online at MarkNepo.com and ThreeIntentions.com.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
THE DAILY MIGRATION
We have been stopped for so many years by not being able to
follow small things.
—Lars-Anders Hansson
I recently learned about the daily migration of microscopic zooplankton in the world’s water supply—trillions of them. Plankton are organisms—comparable to sea larvae and tiny jellyfish—that drift in oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The word zooplankton comes from the Greek zoion, meaning animal, and planktos, meaning wanderer or drifter.
Their migration isn’t like the journey of whales or butterflies or flamingoes over thousands of miles or like caribou who circle the same arctic edge every year. The daily migration of these unseeable creatures is a persistent drift from depth to surface and back to depth. Along the way, they eat and process phytoplankton and, through their daily rite of survival, they serve as a filtering agent and so play their role in the aquatic food web. Innately, they both survive and contribute to the survival of the waters they live in.
This daily odyssey can span a few feet in small ponds or as far as five hundred yards in the open sea. Environmentalist Alan Burdick tells us that this is equivalent to a human being rowing a small boat five hundred miles every day to breakfast and back!
This is microscopic evidence that we need to work very hard to arrive where we are. The journey is inevitable—essential to our own survival and the health of the Universe we are a small part of. In fact, it’s fair to assume that every part of life has its own version of this daily migration by which it exercises its being into place.
This persistent drifting from depth to surface and back is particularly instructive for the life of the soul, and how we need to stay in the world and process our experience in order to feed and cleanse both our working spirit and the small part of the Universe we inhabit. For years, I thought I was inwardly fickle, struggling to surface when drowning in the deep, only to be battered at the surface and long for the stillness of the depth. And now these microscopic creatures present a fractal of the larger physics at work. Now I wonder about the practice of persistent drift—from depth to surface and back—and how the many aspects of being and becoming are all part of the constant cleansing action that keeps us and life healthy.
In spiritually practical ways, this book is an inquiry into the practice of persistent drift: into the cleansing action of introspection, creativity, love, friendship, and how we deal with pain; into our need to stay in the world and process our experience; into the very hard and inevitable work to arrive where we are; and into the soul’s daily migration from depth to surface and back. Relentlessly, the sea of life keeps us vital and buoyant while we in our small way serve as tiny cleansing agents of the sea of life. Mysteriously, spirit is known by its movement through the depth of the world, the way wind is known by its movement through waves and trees and prayer flags strung along the mountain’s ridge.
So still yourself briefly and picture an infinite wave of zooplankton pulsing their way up through the planet’s water and down again, cleansing it as they go. Imagine the tiniest cells of being rising within you this very moment, cleansing your thoughts and feelings. Imagine how you and I pulse our way through the days eating and processing the food of relationship, meaning, and care. All of us processing each other, drifting toward the healthiest exchange, the way plants and humans exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Despite our endless plans, we are animals of being drifting with an instinct to survive and process. Despite our endless struggles, our need to survive and process is cleansing. It’s beautiful and humbling to realize that the spirit inherent in each thing on Earth, including worms and flowers, is migrating to where it is and that this pulsation of being is the self-cleansing agent of all life-force. After all this way, it’s never been about getting to the surface or getting to the bottom, but the inborn call to inhabit the journey in between.
The daily migration is a persistent drift from depth to surface and back to depth. This is how we deal with pain and stay in the world while cleansing life itself—through introspection, creativity, love, and friendship.
A Reflective Pause
In your journal, describe one way that you move between depth and surface during your day. Where are you more comfortable, in the world or the interior? One is a native strength, the other, an aspect of your self you need to know better. Name one way you might explore whichever you are uncomfortable with, the world or the interior.
In conversation with a friend or loved one, describe your own practice of persistent drift. Choose one of the following—introspection, creativity, love, or friendship—and explore how this inner way of being helps you deal with pain and stay in the world.
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Product details
ASIN : 1476774668
Publisher : Atria Books; Reprint edition (July 14, 2015)
Language : English
Paperback : 336 pages
Customer Reviews: 4.7 out of 5 stars 173 ratings
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Mark Nepo
MARK NEPO moved and inspired readers and seekers all over the world with his #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening. Beloved as a poet, teacher, and storyteller, Mark has been called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time,” “a consummate storyteller,” and “an eloquent spiritual teacher.” His work is widely accessible and used by many and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. A bestselling author, he has published twenty books and recorded fourteen audio projects. In 2015, he was given a Life-Achievement Award by AgeNation. In 2016, he was named by Watkins: Mind Body Spirit as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People, and was also chosen as one of OWN’s SuperSoul 100, a group of inspired leaders using their gifts and voices to elevate humanity. And In 2017 Mark became a regular columnist for Spirituality & Health Magazine.
Recent work includes Drinking from the River of Light (Sounds True, 2019); More Together Than Alone (Atria, 2018) cited by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2018; Things That Join the Sea and the Sky (Sounds True, 2017), a Nautilus Book Award Winner; The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting (Sounds True, 2016), a Nautilus Book Award Winner; The One Life We’re Given (Atria) cited by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2016, Inside the Miracle (Sounds True) selected by Spirituality & Health Magazine as one of the top ten best books of 2015; The Endless Practice (Atria) cited by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2014; and Seven Thousand Ways to Listen (Atria), which won the 2012 Books for a Better Life Award.
Mark was part of Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Tour in 2014 and has appeared several times with Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV. He has also been interviewed by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. The Exquisite Risk was listed by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2005, calling it “one of the best books we’ve ever read on what it takes to live an authentic life.” Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship.
Mark continues to offer readings, lectures, and retreats. Please visit Mark at: www.MarkNepo.com, http://threeintentions.com and http://wmespeakers.com/speaker/mark-nepo.
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Customer reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
Top reviews from the United States
Lorna A.
5.0 out of 5 stars I absolutely LOVE THIS BOOK
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2015
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I absolutely LOVE THIS BOOK, both audio and hardcover. I listen to the audio, and my daughter gave the book to me for Christmas which I truly wanted both audio and hardcover. I will re-read, and re-read. Once looking into moments of joy both as a child and then decades later as I'm older, I'm in touch with what I had in the beginning of life before going to school. The "conditioning years" to "fit" into our society began for me when I started school and by the time I was in High School, I felt that the "live spirit inside me " was gone, no longer in touch with it, my only concern was to be what was expected of me. In hindsight I clearly see how I lost my inner being. This book validates so many truths that I have witnessed in myself and many of my friends.
33 people found this helpful
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Victor
4.0 out of 5 stars His writing technique brings life to the material and balance to life's perspective
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2016
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This is my first Mark Nepo book, his writing technique brings life to the material and balance to life's perspective, I really enjoyed the book overall. Mark writes about his path and experience more than I would like, although sometimes relevant it became lengthy and repetitive.
I would recommend this book to anyone open to learning and seeking a path to the middle way between loss and joy; it would be a great work book for groups. I look forward to hearing more about his journey on the path to enlightenment, it helped me on mine.
7 people found this helpful
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linda benfield
5.0 out of 5 stars Read slowly and quietly,so as not to miss anything.
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2018
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Mark Nepo writes so beautifully that you have to read slowly savoring each morsel, realizing that while enthralled by his artistry, wisdom emerged like something shiney, and wet from the deep to treasure. So many books and so little time. Don't miss this one. Highly Recommended!!!!
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Dora Bianchini
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent , Thoughtful and Delightful to read and ponder.
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2018
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I use this as part of my daily devotions. It is plain talking, as the author to,each individual. The examples are from his experience and there are opportunities to mentally review and apply to situations in your own life. I am still reading and have found an interesting and thoughtful addition to the age old question, “What and why am I here on this earth and how do I make the most of this experience and leave a positive legacy.
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Sharon M. Campbell
5.0 out of 5 stars and he says it profoundly and beautifully.
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2015
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I have been a reader of Mark Nepo for several years. His Book of Awakening has been part of my mornings for ten years. With The Endless Practice his voice is at a new level; it is the wisest book I have read. He reminded me that life is an endless practice, never ending, always beginning again, and he says it profoundly and beautifully.
20 people found this helpful
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dlangler
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book and love the audible with great voice Mark Nepo reading it.
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2019
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Listen to it nightly. Love the book and author with nice relaxing voice reading it. Highly recommend it
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Bloom
5.0 out of 5 stars Real. Inspiring. Beautiful.
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2016
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Right now, this is my favorite spiritual book--and I read a lot of them! Nepo beautifully expresses the high self to which we all aspire while, at the same time, always allows you to come along as best you can and to call that good. His poetic expression of truths are so powerful and memorable--I feel a deep kinship with him through his words. I love this book and return to it all the time.
4 people found this helpful
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L. BAILEY
4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful in getting to "Who am I" and What am I here for
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2017
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Helpful in gaining perspective on "Who am I" and what am I here for. Takes a lot of thinking. I could only read and ponder one chapter at a sitting. Recommended by my therapist.
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Mr. A. R. Lockwood
2.0 out of 5 stars Promised a lot but no narrative heart and overwritten poetics
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2016
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Promised a lot, and while the overall tone and exercises are attempts to be spiritually useful, I don;t know, the book lacks a narrative centre, and it is overwritten, the poetry of its syntax strays into the vague. I hoped for a lot but was left, after reading more direct works such as Singer's Untethered Soul, and also much more poetic works, such as Stephen Cope's books on Yoga, this one just left me disappointed.
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LdW
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent quality and quantity reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2016
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Got it as..used..cheaper..excellent quality and quantity reading ! And postage
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Noel Watson
4.0 out of 5 stars A deep and challenging book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2016
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A very insightful and inspiring book- with a deep challenge to the soul. It comes not just from the head but draws from the heart of experience of Mark Nepo's life experience..
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Elizabeth D. Lancaster
5.0 out of 5 stars Becoming Who you Are
Reviewed in Canada on October 24, 2017
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This is a very insightful book which focuses on self knowledge and spiritual growth. It is not a religious book but would appeal to people of any, or no, religion who want to grow spiritually and who want to experience new meaning and depth to life.
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Alan sundquist
The Endless Practice: Becoming Who You Were Born to Be
by
Mark Nepo
4.17 · Rating details · 224 ratings · 33 reviews
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. (less)
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Hardcover, 336 pages
Published August 19th 2014 by Atria Books
ISBN
1476774641 (ISBN13: 9781476774640)
Edition Language
English
· 224 ratings · 33 reviews
Jul 30, 2015Maggie rated it really liked it
Shelves: non-fiction, secular-inspirational, autobiobraphy-memoir, self-help, mental-health
sometimes this book seems too long YET as soon as i think of putting it down i am startled by another passage that i am so grateful not to have missed. well worth the time to read, this book will support what you know deep within yourself because it captures the silent or quiet awareness of the human condition. highly recommended.
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Jul 08, 2015Nicole Taylor rated it it was amazing
This book is a great reminder that juice of life is in living it fully and meeting it face to face, and that there will be moments when that comes naturally and others when it doesn't, yet we can ride these waves of expansion and contraction without adding judgment. This book came to me at a time when I really needed its message and for that I am grateful. (less)
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Nov 06, 2014Noelle rated it it was amazing
Mark Nepo is divine. DIVINE I tell you.
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Jun 10, 2016Tyler rated it it was ok
Author clearly put a lot of time and effort into writing this book but too poetic for me to boil-down any insights. It was more an appreciation for the crafting of poetic wording than an opportunity that I was able to garner any new wisdom from. Usually I like to take concrete thoughts on a book to mull over for the day, but I just couldn't distill the content down to something for this purpose from the first 35 pages. I do have extreme appreciation for the authors way with words. (less)
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Oct 04, 2018Mary K rated it really liked it
I’m a huge fan of Nepo and 5-starred his other books but I had a tough time with this one, probably because it’s the only one I’ve picked up and put down so many times. I simply never caught the continuity or theme. The book seemed disjointed and meandering. It could at times get repetitive, even sappy. But as with everything Nepo writes, it’s gorgeous and there are gems throughout that I underlined and asterisk’d and stopped to reflect upon. The book goes on my little shelf of books I always want to refer back to and reread. (less)
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Jul 09, 2020Robin rated it it was amazing
I have been savoring this book, bits at a time, for nearly six months. Soulful, thought-provoking, eerily on point with life at times, I appreciate Mark Nepo's insight and poetic voice so much. My favorite way to read his work is first thing in the morning before the day really unfolds. I'm so grateful I had this book to enjoy during staycation this week. As it joins other books of his on my shelf, I'm also grateful I have another of his books waiting in the wings. :-) (less)
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Mar 12, 2016Holly Weiss rated it it was amazing
An eloquent examination into living life fully with whatever comes your way. I took my time and enjoyed Nepo's insights for 10 months. Highly recommended by my friend Henry. (less)
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Feb 05, 2021Maria rated it really liked it
As others have mentioned the book weaves and winds so there is a hanging on to the reading as it flows...I had a pencil and rule to underline and anchor passages that resonated, if which there were so many.... poignant, profound and true, for me.
Mark's poetic writings speak as though the come from me.
My only gloss over would be the constancy of his reference to cancer in his life, this is the only time I flip a page, I want to say, ok ok we know we know... though that could be a me thing not a Mark thing.
Otherwise, the books mt heart has longed for where I no longer berate myself for somehow bringing pain and suffering in my life.
I try, as we all do to accept that it is a part of life...a challenge for those of of Canadian and American born....
XO (less)
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Aug 11, 2020Deryn Tang rated it really liked it
I found this an interesting discourse on life. Mark Nepo clearly set out the rhythms and patterns of life, that we so easily dismiss as something out of the ordinary when something hard or difficult happens to us. He shows us how we are being spiritually attuned to the patterns of our Creator in the pulse of life, its ups and downs, the continuum of generations and the endless rhythm of the ocean.
I would recommend this book for anyone who seeks to understand the deeper meaning of life, it is not a quick easy read. (less)
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Aug 24, 2019Cindy rated it really liked it
Shelves: audiobooks, nonfiction
This is a workbook, a meditation, a path to understanding. As Melinda Gates suggests (in her own excellent biography), it is a book for the nightstand, to be dipped into again and again for inspiration. I listened to the audiobook and did not stop to do the exercises, but could see the value if one is in the right mindset. Will likely buy a copy, as there are many sections that are worth a second (and third) look.
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Mar 14, 2020Karen rated it liked it
I’ve read lots of Mark Nepo. He writes beautifully and shares some incredibly profound insights. I had more trouble with this book than with many of his others. There were many times where this one felt too poetic, too sappy, and more than a little disjointed. There’s enough that’s worthwhile to make it a three star book for me, but I think I’ll have to wait a while before reading any others by this author.
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Jul 22, 2017Kristi rated it it was amazing
I discovered Mark Nepo a few months ago, and I am so grateful. His eloquent insights about life and this spiritual journey we're all on spoke right to my heart. I read it slowly, a chapter or so at a time, and was often struck by a sentence that would knock me over with its truth. Will definitely be reading more by him. (less)
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Mar 21, 2020Carla Basquez rated it it was amazing
"...I remain a student of things as they are and this has led me to the astonishing guidance that all things are true. I simply have to keep my heart open long enough to keep discovering how."
~ Mark Nepo
No matter how many times you read Nepo's books, the threads of understanding continually unravel anew (less)
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Jan 20, 2019Yoko rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
I've read several Mark Nepo's books and by far, this is my favorite.
I received warm message from the author that it's okay to be who you are and be truly authentic.
It's also a good reminder that life is an endless learning process.
He's also a poet and so beautifully written. (less)
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