Weekly Reflection: The Swift One

We each live in a home. Some are small. Some are large. Some are kept up. Others are run down. In hut or mansion, we have to come out. For food. To have our body repaired. To make our mechanical animals purr. But sometimes we’re drawn out. Into the light. To feel a breeze. To feel the rain. To meet a friend. To rub our face in snow. Sometimes we leave our small shelter because we hear others in need. You could be folding laundry when a sudden warmth in your chest makes you feel uneasy, like when you realize you left the stove on. But you didn’t. And so you wonder if you’re sensing some need in the world. You dress, do the errands, and all day your heart is on the look for who you’re supposed to help. When drawn out this way, the swift one appears in us, and we are for a time stronger than we are, the way seas lift dolphins. Our sense of self is a home as well. Some are small. Some are large. Some are kept up. Others are run down. Whether insecure or full of ourselves, we have to come out. Not to escape our problems or to tunnel through them, but to enlarge the home we live in. And when we dare to give, the swift one appears to help us cross the ocean of suffering. 

A Question to Walk With: What sense of home do you feel when in the company of your soul?

This excerpt is from my book, Things That Join the Sea and the Sky. 

The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life
The Modern Elder Academy, Baja, Mexico

March 2–7, 2025 | IN PERSON

We’re honored to spotlight a powerful upcoming retreat with Mark Nepo at the stunning Modern Elder Academy in Baja. The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life is a weeklong, in-person mastery workshop designed to support those entering the second half of life with presence, creativity, and courage.

Guided by Mark, this immersive experience invites participants to slow down, listen deeply, and reconnect with the creative spirit that lives within. Through daily reflection, meaningful conversation, and soulful community, you'll explore how to live more authentically—and create from a place of clarity, wonder, and purpose.

Set against the tranquil backdrop of Baja’s coast, this retreat offers a rare opportunity to rest, reset, and rediscover your voice in a new season of life.

To learn more & register click here.

Upcoming Events with Mark in 2025!

Aug 22-24, 2025: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life is a new 3-day retreat at Mercy by the Sea in Madison, CT, that will celebrate the publication of his 27th book and look into the gifts and the rhythms of aging. Click here to reserve your spot!

September 7, 2025 | 11 am PT / 2 pm ET | ONLINE: Banyen Books & Music FREE book event Mark Nepo in Conversation with Joel Fotinos. Click here to register.

September 16, 2025 | 7-9PM EST: 92nd ST Y, New York City, Mark Nepo, a reading and talk, in Conversation with Rabbi David Ingber, The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life and The Power of Friendship. Link to come.

September 21, 2025 | 1 pm PT / 4 pm ET | ONLINE: Book Passage FREE event Mark Nepo in Conversation with Brooke Warner for The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life. Click here to register.

2026

January 11, 18, 25: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, a 3-session webinar, 3 Sundays. Register now at live.marknepo.com. – ON ZOOM

March 2-7: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, a Mastery week, The Modern Elder Academy in Baja, Mexico, Click here to register. – IN PERSON

June 19-21: The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life, Omega Institute, Link to come! – IN PERSON