169. Fast Friday: Contemplating Surrender, Resilience & the Courage of a Seed by Mark Nepo

Jun 2, 2023

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What does it mean to surrender?

How can we trust the process and not give up, even when it feels impossible?

Welcome back to the Awakening Aphrodite Fast Friday, a snippet of inspiration for the end of your week! In today's discussion, I will be reading from Mark Nepo's work, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have⁠. Nepo is a philosopher-poet and cancer survivor whose writing offers an escape from the challenges of life in a way that is both profound and clarifying. This spiritual daybook is a summons to reclaim aliveness, liberate the self, take each day one at a time, and savor the beauty offered by life's unfolding. He speaks of spirit and friendship, urging readers to stay vital and in love with this life, no matter the hardships. Encompassing many traditions and voices, Nepo's words offer insight on pain, wonder, and love.

“In nature, we are quietly offered countless models of how to give ourselves over to what appears dark and hopeless, but which ultimately is an awakening beyond our imagining. All around us, everything small and buried surrenders to a process that none of the buried parts can see. We call this process seeding and this innate surrender allows everything edible and fragrant to break ground into a life of light that we call Spring. As a seed buried in earth can’t imagine itself as an orchid or hyacinth, neither can a heart packed with hurt or a mind filmed over with despair imagine itself loved or at peace. The courage of the seed is that, once cracking, it cracks all the way. To move through the dark into blossom is the work of soul.”

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