Weekly Reflection: Deeper Lessons
Deeper Lessons We’ve always been taught to land on our feet, but the deeper lessons that changed my life came before getting up. When I fell hard in recess in fourth grade, bloodied and unsure, it was the first time I hugged the earth. And when I was pinned with cancer on my neck, it was the vastness I glimpsed between life and death that restored me. And later, when falling from my dream of being great, I began to find home in the great heart of everything. So, despite our fear of falling, stay down there a while. It’s where we get to inhale the vapors of Heaven. A Question to Walk With: In your journal, describe the first time you fell, outwardly or inwardly, and what that first experience taught you. This is from my book of poems in progress, The Sacrament at the Center of Time.
SAVE THE DATE!
Join Mark in Conversation with Joel Fotinos, May 20th
The Language of the Soul Book Talk & Signing
On Wednesday evening, May 20th, you are invited to attend Mark Nepo’s first and only New York City event in 2026, hosted by The New Center for Holistic Learning NY. Mark will be accompanied by Joel Fotinos, Founder, Vice President, and Editorial Director of St. Martin’s Essentials, for a sit-down to reflect on Mark’s newest book, The Language of the Soul: How the Words You Choose Shape the Life You Live, and on the longer arc of collaboration that produced it. Joel brings more than two decades of publishing experience, a deep list of celebrated authors, and his own practice as a writer.
“I’m excited to offer this publication event with my publisher and editor Joel Fotinos. This is my sixth book with St. Martin’s Essentials that Joel and the SME team have midwifed with me. It does take a village to birth a book. I hope you can join us.” —Mark
Your $35 registration includes a copy of The Language of the Soul, available the evening of the event. This is a rare chance to witness the conversation behind the work.
This event will be held at The Balance Arts Center, 151 W. 30th St, 3rd Floor, NY. Time: 6:30–8pm
Register here, and please save the date!
The Language of the Soul, Coming May 26, 2026
In The Language of the Soul, Mark traces the deep, often forgotten roots of 228 words across thirty-one languages and traditions — uncovering their original, undiluted power to awaken, connect, and heal.
Woven with stories from history, mythology, and his own remarkable life journey, this is a rich and contemplative guide to the spiritual essence of language — and an invitation to remember what we’ve always, somewhere, already known.
The Language of the Soul: How the Words You Choose Shape the Life You Live arrives May 26, 2026.
To pre-order, click here
Meet Mark! A reading and conversation at the Kalamazoo Public Library
Thursday, May 28, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Kalamazoo Public Library, 315 South Rose St, Kalamazoo, MI
Mark will read from his book, The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, followed by an open conversation and book signing.
The Fifth Season is an invitation into the creative life at any stage, a meditation on what it means to keep making, to keep becoming, when the noise of earlier decades begins to quiet. Mark reads the way he writes, with presence. This is the kind of evening that stays with you.
Upcoming Events with Mark in 2026-2027
May 15–17: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, The Sophia Institute, Charleston, South Carolina. Click here to register – IN PERSON & ONLINE
May 20: Mark Nepo in Conversation with Joel Fotinos, celebrating The Language of the Soul at the Balance Arts Center, 151 W. 30th St, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10001. Time: 6:30-8pm. Click here to register *Your $35 registration includes a copy of The Language of the Soul – IN PERSON
May 28: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, Kalamazoo Public Library, 315 South Rose St., Kalamazoo,MI 49007 5:30 pm–7:30 pm FREE EVENT Click here to register – IN PERSON
June 19-21: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, Omega Institute, Click here for more information. – IN PERSON
Aug 28–30: The Language of the Soul, Mercy by the Sea, Madison, CT. Click here to register. *Mercy by the Sea only has “commuter spots” available. Once again, their ministry is willing to offer partial scholarships to those in need. Learn more and apply here. - IN PERSON
Sep 12: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life Day Long Retreat, Sebastopol Community Cultural Center, Sebastopol, California, Click here to register – IN PERSON
Sep 13: @ 1pm PT: The Language of the Soul. An intimate afternoon conversation with Mark and Brooke Warner at Book Passage Corte Madera, California. Click here to register. - IN PERSON
Sep 15: The Language of the Soul. An intimate in-person gathering with Mark at Godmothers Bookstore near Santa Barbara. Register here for this ticketed event.
IN PERSON
Oct 11: @ 11-noon PT/2-3pm ET The Language of the Soul. A conversation with Mark Nepo and Joel Fotinos, presented by Banyen Books & Sound. Zoom link to come. ONLINE
2027
January 10, 17, 24, 2027: The Language of the Soul, The Power to Awaken, Connect, and Heal. A 3-session webinar guided by Mark Nepo. 1-2:30PM ET | 10-11:30AM PT. Click here for more information. – ONLINE
February 8-13, 2027: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, a Mastery week, The Modern Elder Academy in Baja, Mexico, Click here to sign up
IN PERSON
April 2027: Weeklong Retreat with Mark Nepo in a castle outside of Milan, Italy Click here to learn more and register – IN PERSON
Mark, this touches me deeply. There is something here that is necessary, especially now, for so many of us trying to make sense of what remains and what endures.It brings to mind William Butler Yeats and his image of the “rag and bone shop of the heart”, that place where what is broken, discarded, or unfinished becomes the very material of meaning. Thank you for giving language and image to something many of us are quietly carrying. Sheila Grace