Ways to Grow in Hope, Compassion & Mindfulness Amid Seasons of Grief – Valerie Brown

We’re honored to learn from Valerie Brown about ways to cultivate hope, compassion, and mindfulness amid seasons of grief and loss. It’s the topic of her book “Hope Leans Forward: Braving Your Way Toward Simplicity, Awakening & Peace.”

In this episode, she shares:

• On writing "Hope Leans Forward" during a time of grief and loss
• Tending your grief
• Why we don't want to think about our pain
• Finding hope after dealing with trauma and pain
• There's power in naming our trauma and pain
• How Buddhism, meditation, and dharma rituals helped her hold pain
• How to dwell on our pain
• The practice of cultivating soul friendships
• How to find a soul friend (and taking inventory of your friends)
• Why it's easier to get angry rather than sit in our grief
• Tending our grief and finding wholeness
• How to explore our emotions
• How to create a habit of noticing

Valerie Brown is 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.