Hope Leans Forward: Braving Your Way toward Simplicity, Awakening, and Peace

by Valerie Brown

Overview

Find spiritual insight for developing courage and meeting life's broken-open, pulled-apart times for anyone seeking hope.

Daily we are asked to move toward bravery, to stretch in the direction of goodness, kindness, forgiveness, patience, and vulnerability. Yet life's tender fragility, fear, anxiety, and our own practiced self-sabotage can derail us from growing and thriving, leaving us fractured and afraid.

Ordained Buddhist teacher and Quaker Valerie Brown invites us into the heart of compassion, insight, and courage. Filled with Quaker wisdom, mindfulness meditation practices, and portraits of real people living out simple yet life-affirming bravery, Hope Leans Forward is a guidebook for all of us who are on journeys of self-transformation, self-discovery, and spiritual discernment. Centering small, everyday acts of bravery with diverse stories from marginalized communities, Brown's unique perspective as a Black Buddhist Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition and her extensive leadership experience shepherd us in navigating life's essential questions to discover true aliveness and meaning. When we focus on cultivating clarity and discernment in our purpose, we begin to understand that we are truly connected to—and that we contribute to—a larger whole.

Written through a period of profound personal loss and in the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement, Brown's spiritual insight and life- and spirit-tested wisdom offers a new source for anyone seeking hope, and seeking to alleviate suffering within ourselves and our communities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506478371
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Pages:	275
Sales rank:	175,229
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Valerie Brown a Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher, facilitator, and executive coach. A former lawyer and lobbyist, she is co-director of Georgetown's Institute for Transformational Leadership as well as founder and chief mindfulness officer of Lead Smart Coaching. She is an ordained Buddhist Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, and is a certified Kundalini yoga teacher. In her leadership development and mindfulness practice, she focuses on diversity, social equity, and inclusion. Brown is an award-winning author whose books include The Road That Teaches and The Mindful School Leader with Kirsten Olsen. She holds a juris doctor from Howard University School of Law, a master of arts from Miami University (Ohio), and a bachelor of arts from City University of New York. Brown tends a lively perennial home garden in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Calling the Soul, the True Self, and the Deepest Longing 29

Seven Factors of Awakening: The First Factor, Mindfulness 51

Real Voices, Real Courage: eli tizcareño 52

Mindfulness Practice: Mindful Breathing 58

Queries 62

Chapter 2 Daring to Listen to the Inner Voice, the Small Holy 63

Seven Factors of Awakening: The Second Factor, Investigation 84

Real Voices, Real Courage: LoAn Nguyen 85

Mindfulness Practice: Deep Listening 92

Queries 95

Chapter 3 When Life Breaks You Open: Practice and Growth 97

Seven Factors of Awakening: The Third Factor, Energy 104

Real Voices, Real Courage: George Lakey 105

Mindfulness Practice: Handling Strong Emotions 112

Queries 114

Chapter 4 Trusting True Self: Taking the Risk to Blossom 115

Seven Factors of Awakening: The Fourth Factor, Joy 128

Real Voices, Real Courage: Susan Cross 130

Mindfulness Practice: Cultivating Joy 136

Queries 137

Chapter 5 Cultivating Wholeness: The Body as Grounded Wisdom 139

Seven Factors of Awakening: The Fifth Factor, Tranquility 153

Real Voices, Real Courage: Brian Braganza 153

Mindfulness Practice: The Body Scan 162

Queries 165

Chapter 6 Deepening Connections: Journeying with Community, Mentors, and Friends 167

Seven Factors of Awakening: The Sixth Factor, Concentration 184

Real Voices, Real Courage: Francisco Burgos 186

Mindfulness Practice: Beginning Anew 194

Queries 196

Chapter 7 Living Your Genuine: Truth Telling to Embrace the True Self 197

Seven Factors of Awakening: The Seventh Factor, Equanimity 219

Real Voices, Real Courage: Fanny Brewster 220

Mindfulness Practice: Touching the Earth 228

Queries 229

Chapter 8 Bravely Home: Boundless Joy (Well, Maybe Basic Okayness) on the Way Back to You 231

Real Voices, Real Courage: liana Kaufman 247

Mindfulness Practice: Mindful Walking 256

Queries 258

Afterword 261

Acknowledgments 263

Notes 267

About the Author 273

Editorial Reviews

"With a mix of wisdom, mindfulness meditation practices and inspiring stories of everyday people, Brown hopes to provide a source of hope for anyone who needs it." —The Root

"Brown writes that she hopes readers will 'let [Hope Leans Forward] surprise, inspire, and warm your heart.' It set mine on fire." —Friends Journal

"Perfect for those who want to progress on their spiritual journey." —Library Journal

"This extraordinary book is like a great river that delivers nutrients to all those on her shores. I have sat with the wisdom that Valerie Brown has shared in this remarkable volume and been uplifted and also grounded as she opens the heart of her reader through the courage and hope that she shares." —Roshi Joan Halifax, abbot, Upaya Zen Center

"Hope Leans Forward is a deeply personal and rich book that does not hide the mud from which lotuses grow, but at the same time shows the lotuses in all their splendor.... As the author shows, our hope lies not so much in the future but in the present, for there we can listen to the voice of our soul in order to live in the service of a more compassionate life." —sister true virtue, Plum Village, France

"To read this book is to feel more grounded and alive; to practice the wisdom within it is to open yourself to the possibilities of your own life." —Barry Crossno, general secretary, Friends General Conference

"In this moment, when our interconnectedness and mutual vulnerability are more evident than ever, Valerie Brown's Hope Leans Forward offers a path luminescent in its pragmatism, crystal in its invitation to shared responsibility, gentle in its guiding steps and full of grace for each of us." —Sarah Willie-LeBreton, provost and dean of the faculty, professor of sociology and Black studies, Swathmore

"Each chapter of Hope Leans Forward by Valerie Brown is an exploration of one of seven factors of awakening of Buddhist teaching and practice—mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity—in dialogue with Quaker tradition. In particular, Brown writes as a Buddhist-Quaker grounded in her practice of Kundalini Yoga. The end result is an excellent example of how the practice of interreligious dialogue more often than not expands one's faith journey in unexpected and creative ways." —Paul Ingram, The Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies

"This wonderful book invites you in with its mix of warmth and empathy skillfully blended with a sense of adventure, discovery, and fun. It is rich, yet meant to be carried lightly. Practical, but in the service of the journey toward unknowing. Filled with helpful practices and powerful insights, it will help anyone chart the course toward spiritual maturity." —Rev. Seifu Anil Singh-Molares, executive director, Spiritual Directors International

"Hope Leans Forward is equal parts inspirational and practical offering an abundance of wisdom and guidance at the intersection of multiple religious and spiritual traditions." —Lynn Screen, managing director, Institute for Transformational Leadership, Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies

"In Hope Leans Forward Valerie Brown intimately weaves her own story and those of others to explore in a very deep way the seven factors of awakening in Buddhism and the inquiry and reflection of Quaker spirituality to provide a reader's guidebook to explore life's deepest questions, navigate life's inevitable rocky waters and hurt places, and cultivate clarity on the way to their true self." —Bill Pullen, MSOD, MCC, academic director, Institute for Transformational Leadership, Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies

From the Publisher

11/01/2022

One of the most arresting moments in this book comes in the introduction, where Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher Brown (The Mindful School Leader) gives the reader a glimpse into her journey over the past few years. This is a work of spiritual guidance, written in the thick of the heavy blows of life: death, divorce, a natural disaster, and the pandemic. There is no gap between those events and this book, no before-and-after where the spiritual guru finds the key to fixing everything and putting all those problems in the past. Instead, Brown gently gives direction by being open about the challenges she has encountered and wandering along the path of her wide-ranging search for wisdom in many faith traditions, especially the Buddhist and Quaker understandings that root her experience. This recent and lived quality gives a realism to her insights that keeps them from becoming a string of platitudes or spirituality clichés. VERDICT Each beautiful chapter develops a topic drawn from Buddhist thought, followed by a section born from interviews with contemporary practitioners and activists, a mindfulness exercise, and a concluding set of reflective queries in the Quaker style. Perfect for those who want to progress on their spiritual journey.—Zachariah Motts

Library Journal