Weekly Reflection: The Five Questions
Video credit: Unknown, please let us know if you know the creator.
The Five Questions I feel numb. Are you spending more time keeping things out than letting them in? I feel trapped. Is there a pattern you need to break that keeps you from being here? Everything seems the same. Will you admit the strange angels when they come knocking? I feel so alone. Will you admit the friends you haven’t met that will save your life? I’m so afraid. Are you letting everything happen, so you can keep going? A Question to Walk With: In your journal, speak to where you are in relation to the five questions today, now. This excerpt is from my book of poems in progress, In the Clearing.
A Sneak Peek into The Language of the Soul
All these efforts to be truly reliable, to broaden our perspective, and to let things in and see how they go together contribute to our practice of acceptance, which comes from the Latin acceptare, which means “to take something to oneself.”
The practice of acceptance, then, is how we take life into us by meeting things as they are, how we meet life as clearly and truthfully as possible. Ultimately, acceptance is not static, not an act of resignation, but a dynamic, ongoing act of surrender and cooperation with the forces that are larger than us.
Acceptance is how a fish finds the current and aligns with it, swimming fully in rhythm with the river or sea that is carrying it. How, then, are you being asked to practice acceptance? How are you aligning and cooperating with the forces of life that are greater than you? What are you specifically being asked to look at truthfully and how are you being asked to embrace that aspect of life?
Join Mark in Conversation with Joel Fotinos, This Wednesday! The Language of the Soul Book Talk & Signing
Hosted by: The New Center for Learning NY
What does it mean to speak from the soul? Mark’s newest book, The Language of the Soul: How the Words You Choose Shape the Life You Live, explores one of the most intimate questions we can ask ourselves: how the language we reach for shapes not just what we say, but how we experience being alive.
This Wednesday evening, Mark sits down with Joel Fotinos, Founder, Vice President, and Editorial Director of St. Martin’s Essentials, for a conversation that goes behind the book. Joel has been Mark’s editor and publisher across six books now, and together they bring a rare depth of shared creative history to this kind of dialogue.
This is a publication event in the truest sense: a meeting between author and editor who have spent years in the work together, bringing something new into the world. Six books. One enduring creative partnership. And an open invitation to be part of the moment this one arrives.
This is Mark’s first and only New York City event of 2026, and your $35 registration includes a copy of The Language of the Soul, available the evening of the event.
Wed, May 20th | 6:30–8pm | The Balance Arts Center | 151 W. 30th St, 3rd Fl, NY
Heart of Mind, WBAI
Mark recently sat down with Kathryn Davis on Heart of Mind, on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York City, and the conversation went somewhere quietly profound.
In this clip, he reflects on what honor truly means — not as a title or a gesture, but as something lived from the inside out. It’s the kind of exchange that stays with you.
You can listen to the full interview with Mark by going to the WBAI archives and look for Heart Of Mind, hosted by Kathryn Davis, at this link: https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=65288
And if this stirs something in you, his new book The Language of the Soul arrives May 26, 2026 – a deep exploration of the words we live by.
Heart Of Mind, Kathryn Davis, WBAI Radio, 99.5 FM
Upcoming Events with Mark in 2026-2027
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
February 26-28, 2027: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, The Shallowford Counseling Center, Atlanta Georgia, Link to Come, IN PERSON
April 18-25, 2027: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, Weeklong Retreat with Mark Nepo in a castle outside of Milan, Italy Click here to learn more and register – IN PERSON
May 21-23: The Language of the Soul, Sophia Institute, (link to come) -- IN PERSON and ONLINE
JUNE 25-27: The Language of the Soul, Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY, (link to come) -- IN PERSON
AUG 20-22: Mercy By The Sea, Madison, CT, Our Time on Earth: New and Selected Poems 1977-2027, a publication retreat. Register at Mercy by the Sea, (link to come)-- IN PERSON
SEPT 10-12: Siena Retreat Center, Racine, WI, The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, (link to come)-- IN PERSON
