Tune in to "Super Soul Sunday," January 22 from 8-11 a.m. ET/PT and an encore at noon ET/PT on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network to see Mark Nepo and Oprah's inspiring conversation.

In the interviews I've been blessed to have with Oprah, we seem to enter what I would...

I See You!
I Am Here!

For centuries, African Bushmen have greeted each other in this way. When the one becomes aware of his brother or sister coming out of the brush, he exclaims, "I See You!" and then the one approaching rejoices, "I Am Here!"

This timeless bearing...

Burning your way to center
is the loneliest fire of all.
You'll know you have arrived
when nothing else will burn.

At first this sounds rather somber but, from Moses to Buddha to Jesus, the deepest among us have all shown that living is a process of...

The coming to consciousness is not a discovery of some new thing; it is a long and painful return to that which has always been.
-- Helen M. Luke

Each person is born with an unencumbered spot, free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarrassment, free of...

Before fixing what you're looking at,
check what you're looking through.

It was a beautiful sun-filled day. I had driven 300 miles to see her. She was 94 and had been in one room for close to 8 months. I was her first-born grandson, and she was so happy...

The more spacious and larger our fundamental nature,
the more bearable the pains in living.
-- Wayne Muller

An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man...

One key to knowing joy
is being easily pleased.

So many of us have been trained to think that being particular about what we want is indicative of good taste, and that not being satisfied unless our preferences are met is a sign of worldliness and sophistication. I remember...

Now there's nothing left
but to keep dancing.

I don't know if it is human nature or the way of life on earth, but we seldom become all of who we are until forced to it. Some say that something in us rises to the occasion, that there is,...

It is only by risking ourselves
from one hour to another
that we live at all.
-- William James

Living through enough, we all come to this understanding, though it is difficult to accept: No matter what path we choose to honor, there will always be conflict...

It is said a great Zen teacher asked an initiate to sit by a stream until he heard all the water had to teach. After days of bending his mind around the scene, a small monkey happened by and, in one seeming bound of joy, splashed about in the stream....

Lead us from the unreal to the real. -- a Hindu invocation

It was a snowy night and Robert was recalling the time two springs ago when he was determined to paint the family room. Up early, he was out the door, to the hardware store gathering the gallons of...

The selections for the next 10 days are from my spiritual daybook, "The Book of Awakening." They, along with their guided meditations, are invitations to personalize the common and unrepeatable journey we all encounter in being human. Essentially, the book speaks about spirit and friendship, about our ongoing need to...