The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have
Mark Nepo, a poet and philosopher, wrote these 365 short daily entries after surviving a rare form of lymphoma. Each day opens with a story, a poem, or a personal reflection, and closes with a simple practice or meditation prompt. The tone is quiet and unhurried, and the material draws on Sufi, Buddhist, Christian, and secular traditions without belonging to any of them. Nepo's central invitation is to be present with your actual life instead of the one you imagined. Oprah Winfrey has repeatedly named it one of her favorite books, and it has quietly sold more than a million copies. It is designed to be read one page a day for a year.
What you might want to know about The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A daily reader of short reflections written after the author's recovery from cancer.
Robbins has cited The Book of Awakening on her podcast and in interviews as one of the daily reads that has stayed on her nightstand for years, and she recommends it to listeners going through hard seasons.
The entries are dated, but many readers just open to any page. Nepo's reflections work in almost any order.
The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have was written by Mark Nepo, published in 2000 by Conari Press.
The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have is 464 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
