The Life After Tears

Mark Nepo
2 min readJun 20, 2022

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In the life before tears,

there are endless plans

and we avoid the difficult

feelings at all cost, as if grief,

pain, and loss are canyons

we’ll never climb out of.

But, then, one day, while

not looking, someone dear

dies, or a dream breaks like

a plate, and our world, as

we’ve known it, is blown

apart.

Then, we discover that

falling in the canyon is

our initiation, and

the river at the bottom

is the only water that

will keep us alive.

I wish it were different.

But the reward for being

hollowed out is that the

song then sings us.

JUNE 24–26: Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY, The Deeper Teachers: Fear, Pain, and Grief, Weekend Retreat, ( web link) — IN PERSON

AUG 26–28: Mercy By the Sea, 167 Neck Rd, Madison CT, weekend workshop, Reclaiming Our Humanity: Being Fierce and Tender in Our Call to Love, Fri 7–9:30PM EST Sat 9:30–5:30PM EST, Sun 9:30–1230PM,( web link) — IN PERSON

SEPT 16–18: Friday Night Reading and Weekend Retreat (Sat and Sun), Surviving Storms: Finding the Strength to Meet Adversity, The Sophia Institute, Charleston, SC, or call 843–720–8528, ( web link) — IN PERSON

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Mark Nepo
Mark Nepo

Written by Mark Nepo

New York Times #1 bestselling author of The Book of Awakening, poet, spiritual teacher and philosopher. Learn more @MarkNepo.com or live.marknepo.com

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