Aug162026
Words of WonderBreaking Surface - Mark Nepo

Let no one keep you from your journey,
no rabbi or priest, no mother
who wants you to dig for treasures
she misplaced, no father
who won’t let one life be enough,
no lover who measures their worth
by what you might give up,
no voice that tells you in the night
it can’t be done.

Let nothing dissuade you
from seeing what you see
or feeling the winds that make you
want to dance alone
or go where no one
has yet to go.

You are the only explorer.
Your heart, the unreadable compass.
Your soul, the shore of a promise
too great to be ignored.

by Mark Nepo

 

There is an uncompromising and fierce loyalty in this poem. Not a loyalty to another person, but a loyalty to our true selves.

Sometimes we feel utterly divorced from ourselves, sometimes life demands so much that we forget who our authentic self is or even that authenticity is possible. This is a great tragedy and a deep grief for many of us. In my work with people, I notice how adept we are at surviving this tragedy. We are extraordinarily resourceful here. Adaptive parts of us valiantly take the helm and get us through tough times for days, weeks, years, decades and even a lifetime. I am often in awe of these parts for their absolute dedication and inexhaustible effort. Witnessing the moment when I or others feel deeply the sadness of having abandoned ourselvers, is incredibly moving. This moment is also good news because the sadness heralds the reconnection, which comes with a grief for the time spent surviving at a distance from ourselves, rather than living who we really are in the world.

So Mark Nepo’s poem is a rallying cry for us to stay true to ourselves despite the strong prevailing winds that blow against us. Can we remember the mystery of our heart – the ‘unreadable compass’ against the odds? Can we trust in the unbreakable energy within that we each have, that wants to be authentically ourselves? I take the sadness that comes when we recognise how we have been cut off, to be the most beautiful evidence of this energy. Having the privilege of seeing this potential come forth in real ways over and over through my mindfulness and coaching work, gives me an unshakable belief in it.

Can we feel the longing for the ‘shore’ of our inner ‘promise’, even when we are far away from it? The poem is called Breaking Surface. Perhaps remembering who we are is a bit like rising up out of the dark ocean of our conditioning, to break the surface into the expansive brightness air of ourselves. Perhaps we can at least become intimate with the longing to break surface, the longing for the light, if not the light itself.

I believe this promise IS too great to be ignored. Each one of us is unique and important. What big or small thing could you do today to summon your fierce loyalty to your unique and important self?

Fay Adams

 

Ps. If you’d like to explore how poetry can connect you with your true nature, come along to our next Mindfulness Meets Mystical Poetry course beginning in early November

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Author: Fay Adams

Fay Adams trained to teach mindfulness under the guidance of well-known teacher Rob Nairn, whilst living on the Holy Isle retreat island off the west coast of Scotland. She now teaches courses and retreats in mindfulness, compassion, insight, and mindfulness and poetry with the Mindfulness Association and she is a tutor on the University of Aberdeen’s Studies in Mindfulness MSc. Fay has been a dedicated meditation practitioner since 2006. She is a mindfulness supervisor and a teacher trainer. She is also a coach who brings unconditional mindful acceptance to her clients and helps people to nurture a mindfulness, compassion or self-development practice that is meaningful, sustainable, enjoyable and transformative. Fay was originally drawn to mindfulness in her twenties because of her chronic pain. Throughout her 6 years of living on Holy Isle in a small meditation hut, she immersed herself in discovering what the pain was all about. In the process she began to find a new way to inhabit mind, body and community. Ultimately, mindfulness has, as well as freeing her from the pain, become a deeply rich basis for living life fully. Fay now lives in Herefordshire with her partner and son.