Weekly Reflection: What Our Gifts Open
What Our Gifts Open When you find your place where you are, practice occurs. —Dogen All flowers, plants, and trees grow uniquely into themselves but all come from the same soil. The peony becomes a peony and the apple tree, an apple tree. Likewise, we each are born with a gift that is precise to who we are that will guide us and shape us into who we are to become. The dancer becomes a dancer and the doctor, a doctor. But each of our gifts is birthed and enlivened into blossom from the one gift of life from which we all break ground. When we can welcome the common depth in which our gifts root, we are nourished by each other. When disconnected from the life-force that informs all gifts, we can fall into the dark whirlpool of envy. But we can always return, through the practices of authenticity and welcome, to be re-introduced to our gift. And we can always rekindle our devotion to the unfolding of our gift which, in turn, will lead us back to the one gift we all share. Then, we rediscover deep company along the way. When we can open our heart to the truth that we each have a gift, no one better than another, then we don’t have to force our uniqueness, but can simply drink from the sacred well of all gifts. Then, we don’t have to chase validation, but can devote ourselves to becoming intimate with the truth of our being. Then, it becomes clear that we can’t know where our gifts fit in the world, until we first inhabit the integrity of our fit as a living part in a living Universe. In truth, we are each called to animate our life as an authentic part informed by the Whole, while contributing to the Whole—the way a single blood cell is carried by the bloodstream, which all the blood cells help keep alive. It is a law of connection that the more we can inhabit our own gift, the more we can feel the gift in others. And feeling that sacred flow of aliveness within us and in others, we become aware, again, of how the gift of life moves through us, one to the other, across continents and time—whether anyone knows it or not. Consider how in 1689 in Japan, a kind farmer gave the lost poet Basho a horse that knew the way. And in 1910 when Ted Shawn was paralyzed, before he knew he was a dancer, a dear friend left crutches just out of reach and breakfast on the table. And in 1938 in Paris, Django Reinhardt’s brother left a guitar at the foot of his hospital bed because he knew the badly burned genius would no longer be able to play the banjo. And when Claude Monet at eighty-two was suffering from double cataracts, he somehow knew to keep painting what he saw, which led him to retrieve his masterful “Waterlilies.” Even leafcutter ants in Costa Rica will carry another ant for miles. These examples are evidence that there is an eternal impulse at the core of all living things—a gift of life-force—that compels us to bridge what is with what can be, to welcome the flow of indestructible life through the cracks that our suffering opens. And this risen ounce of care—that skips from living thing to living thing, from generation to generation—keeps life going. This ounce of welcome connects us all throughout the ages. And so, the care in the farmer’s hand giving the reins of his horse to Basho continues in the dancer’s friend as he leaves crutches just out of reach and on into the brother’s hand placing that guitar at the foot of Django’s bed. In my own journey of discovering and inhabiting my gift, I have to acknowledge my father who was a master woodworker. A creative force flowed through him that I marveled at as a boy. Though he never spoke of his gift directly, he modeled the power of care and precision and creativity at every turn. And though I wasn’t drawn to shape things in wood, I realized, decades later, that his welcome of things to build and his devotion to building them have informed my life as a poet and a teacher. I use my heart’s perception to chisel what matters into view, the way he carved wood into marvelous shapes. These acts of care—across continents and time—are all part of one unending gesture that waits in each of us to bring living things together. And the one gift makes you cry out “Stop!” when we pass a turtle in the middle of the road. And you feel compelled with an urge that rises in you from centuries to get out of the car and place the turtle on the other side of the road. A Question to Walk With: In your journal, give a personal example of the lineage of a gift you have and how it might have come to you, though where and how you offer it in the world might differ from how it has appeared before. This might come from the history of your own family or from a kinship with others across time. This is from my book in progress, The Art of Welcome.
The Language of the Soul
Tomorrow, The Language of the Soul arrives! Before it does, I wanted to offer you the opening — the words that began it all.
The Life of Words
For more than half a century, I’ve been a poet, a seeker, a student of wonder, and a witness of suffering, committed to discovering and practicing the art of being human. Over the years, I’ve lost and found my way countless times. Like a prospector, I’ve sifted through the dirt on path after path, surprised to find gold in a word here and a word there that might help us live. This book gathers the nuggets of meaning found along the way.
Toward that end, I’ve gone through all my books, collecting the words and phrases that, when held to the light, reveal gateways of transformation. And each word or phrase, when traced back, can illuminate the Web of Kinship we need to inhabit to be as alive as possible. The origin of each word or phrase, if related to, can help us stay alive and connected.
I confess that I’ve always been fascinated with the origin of words, not because I’m a word geek. But because I’ve found, time and again, that the original forms of words, in all cultures, are more whole, more faceted, more substantial, and, ultimately, more useful. In the same way that mountains, rivers, and forests erode over time, words erode. They break apart, split, fragment, and lose their original reach and impact. And so, I became a seeker of origins.
Since the beginning of time, we all keep reaching for the one language that binds us. One example dates back to the 1800s, where an amalgamated, pidgin form of expression called wantok developed in the South Pacific. It was spoken by lonely sailors who, when docking in New Guinea, were hoping to meet someone who might speak their native tongue. They were desperate to speak directly with another, with no intermediary or translator. They wanted only the wantok or one-talk under all their dialects and inflections. Isn’t this what we all want? Isn’t this what we hope each day will bring?
I have chosen these words in an effort to illuminate as many foundational expressions as I could find across time and many cultures. And each of these 228 words, phrases, and mythic notions — gathered from thirty-one languages and traditions — affirms our journey of being a Spirit in a body in time on Earth. I hope one or more of these deep expressions will bring you into the timeless field of knowing where we can learn together. I hope one or more of these words will serve as a comfort and source of strength, and offer you a sense of home in the days ahead.
The Language of the Soul is available tomorrow! You can find it by clicking here.
Upcoming Events with Mark in 2026-2027
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
“When we can open our heart to the truth that we each have a gift, no one better than another, then we don’t have to force our uniqueness, but can simply drink from the sacred well of all gifts. Then, we don’t have to chase validation, but can devote ourselves to becoming intimate with the truth of our being.” Thank you, Mark, for these words that I needed to hear today.
The lineage of gifts you're tracing here resonates so much. My own work grew from a single moment in a small office in Phoenix with Milton Erickson. Something shifted in me that I spent the next 40 years trying to understand. The methods I eventually built were my attempt to pass that forward. I see that's exactly the impulse you're describing. The gift wants to keep moving.