The Book of Awakening

The Book of Awakening, a daybook to accompany you, providing comfort, beauty and tankespjärn, in the words of Mark Nepo. It’s been my more-or-less daily companion. During 2020. In 2019. And now and again, in 2018, when I believe I first picked it up.

It’s a beautiful book.
A quote followed by a text for each day of the year. These are what I’ve read. Over and over. The marginalia becoming more and more prevalent, for each pass. Exclamation marks. Stars. Hearts. Squiggly lines or arrows marking specific sentences/passages. A note, referring to a friend, a thought, another concept or book, dots my mind connected with whatever I was reading. 

At the end of each text, there’s a suggested action.
Almost always (always?) these are about connecting with Being. Looking within, with closed eyes. Or stepping out in Nature, connecting to a leaf, a flower bud, a puddle. Some are to be done in solitude, others with a partner, a friend, a relative or family member. Some can be done immediately. Others ask you to step out of wherever you are upon reading.
These, I’ve yet to dive into.
Fully.
I skim them, sometimes, many times simply flick my eyes across them, picking up a word, connecting to whatever the daily awakening has opened within me. 

I’ve decided I will pick another daily companion for the upcoming year, and yet. I know (Know) I will come back to The Book of Awakenings. This is a life-companion, and I know (Know) I will dive ever deeper the next time I choose this book to accompany me for a full year. Know that I will then, step more fully into the suggested actions/meditations/reflections/asks. 

Closing my eyes, listening to the quiet yet insisting voice within saying this could be a lovely morning ritual to share with someone. To take turns, reading, reflecting, sharing what stirs within and then, to do those actions, together. 

”Like most gifts, it is the passing of something meaningful between people that awakens us to our potential.” – Mark Nepo