Ep. 155 – Mark Nepo

Metta Hour with Sharon Salzberg

For episode 155 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with Mark Nepo. Mark is an author, poet, and spiritual teacher with over 40 years of teaching experience.

Mark Nepo has published twenty-two books, including the New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening, and his most recent release from 2020, The Book of Soul.

In this episode, Mark shared his personal journey that brought him to the spiritual path and writing. They discuss the coronavirus through stages of grief, and how the different stages of denial, anger, bartering, depression, and acceptance are reflective of different aspects of the collective. They talk about loss and grief as a process of destruction and reconstruction and how to honor each aspect of that process. They also discuss of the importance of meaning in mental health and in life in general. Mark offers some ideas for how to recover meaning for ourselves when we have lost it. He shares how we can individually and collectively determine what needs repair, what needs reimagining, and what needs to be left dismantled now that it’s been broken. Sharon asks Mark how he counsels people who are grappling with feelings of failure and brokenness, and how we can embrace the entirety of our experience. The episode closes with Mark reading a poem and offering a short reflective journaling prompt.

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