Are you feeling increasingly weary, especially as we are faced with a constant cycle of negative headlines? For those of us feeling drained, anxious, or in need of a break, these books are filled with hope and encouragement to help us restore our soul. Pause, breathe, and remember the goodness that can be found in ourselves, our communities, and the earth.
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Find Hope and Restoration
Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul
Social justice work, we often assume, is raised voices and raised fists. But what does social justice work look like for those of us who don't feel comfortable battling in the trenches? Alongside inspiring, real-life examples of highly sensitive world-changers, Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul expands the possibilities of how to have a positive social impact, affirming the particular gifts and talents that sensitive souls offer to a hurting world.
Many of us want to advocate for causes we care about—but which ones? We want to work for change—but will the emotional toll lead to burnout? In The Lightmaker's Manifesto, activist Karen Walrond shares strategies to help you define the actions that bring you joy, identify the values and causes about which you are passionate, and put them together to create change.
The pursuit of happiness, as defined by settlers and enshrined in the American Dream, has brought us to the brink: emotionally, spiritually, socially, and as a species. But Indigenous people carry forward the values that humans need to survive and thrive. Rooted in ten Indigenous values, Journey to Eloheh helps us learn lifeways that lead to true wholeness, well-being, justice, and harmony.
Also available from Randy Woodley is Becoming Rooted: One Hundred Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth.
Pray and meditate along with saints through this luminous collection of one hundred block prints by artist Kreg Yingst, curator of the Instagram account @psalmprayers. Mystics like Teresa of Ávila, Howard Thurman, Black Elk, and Fannie Lou Hamer come alive. Everything Could Be a Prayer is a rich resource for private prayer and communal reflection.
We are daily asked to move toward bravery and stretch in the direction of goodness, patience, and vulnerability. Filled with Quaker wisdom, mindfulness practices, and stories of people living out simple yet life-affirming bravery, Hope Leans Forward is a guidebook for all of us who are on journeys of transformation, self-discovery, and spiritual discernment.
No one asks for restless moments. But what if restlessness is normal and not a sign that we must move on or move out? The Gift of Restlessness turns over our innermost questions and holds them up to the light. Where do I belong? What am I here for? Is there enough? And in turning over these questions, Casey Tygrett finds a surprising alignment with the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. In this prayer, we find freedom to ask basic human questions and permission to befriend our longings.
Rest in Nature
When the Spirit speaks to him in his daily prayers, Choctaw elder and spiritual explorer Steven Charleston takes a pen and writes down the messages. This stunning collection of more than two hundred meditations introduces us to the Spirit Wheel and the four directions that ground Native spirituality: tradition, kinship, vision, and balance. We are all searching for belonging and a vision of the world that makes sense. Together we can turn toward the wisdom of our ancestors, kinship with all of Mother Earth's creatures, the vision of the Spirit, and mindful balance of life.
Also available from Steven Charleston is Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder's Meditations on Hope and Courage.
Winter is quieter than other seasons, sometimes lonelier, and it opens us to pay attention. Award-winning writer Marilyn McEntyre invites us into winter—when stars assume heightened significance and the ambient quiet of snowscapes (or fogscapes or rainscapes) stills us. In poems and life-affirming reflections on freedom, growth, quietude, and keenly felt hope, we learn to live in simple contentment. Without being saccharine, Midwinter Light guides us to seek and find what we need, right where we are.
Throughout millennia and across the monotheistic religions, the natural was often revered as a sacred text. As we grapple to make sense of today's tumultuous world, one where nature is at once a damaged and damaging source of disaster, as well as a place of refuge and retreat, we are called again to examine how generously it awaits our attention and devotion, standing ready to be read by all. Weaving together the astonishments of science; the profound wisdom and literary gems of thinkers, poets, and observers who have come before us; and her own spiritual practice and gentle observation, Barbara Mahany reintroduces us to The Book of Nature. We needn't look farther for the divine.
Research indicates that spending time in a natural setting provides a plethora of benefits, from lower blood pressure to increased immunity to an enhanced sense of well-being. But the pace of our lives often leaves little room for this connection. Collisions of Earth and Sky is a journey of self-inquiry for digging into our roots, figuring out what it means to live in community, and integrating those truths so we can add to the world's healing.
The moon is out, the air has cooled, and you are ready for bed. You know that scrolling on your phone does not draw you toward sleep but adds to your worries. Power down your phone, take a breath, and begin to dim the day. In these pages, author Jennifer Grant offers gentle meditations that help you direct your gaze away from screens and uncertainties and toward the natural world. Dimming the Day guides you to focus on the wonders of God's good earth, from the ordinary head of a dandelion to the exquisite beauty of a fractal.
Inspiration for Intentional Living
Once you begin looking for joy, you can find it pretty much anywhere. In Jennifer McGaha's fifty-fifth year, she began to take note of simple, everyday things that struck her as beautiful or humorous or intriguing and kept a list of all the accomplishments, large and small, that actually mattered to her. These observations became her Joy Document, a radical act of reclaiming joy and an exercise in paying attention. Full of wit, heart, and reflective questions to help readers create their own joy documents, The Joy Document is a welcome companion for midlife transformation.
For centuries the practice of breath prayer has helped center people from a variety of faith traditions on the sacred in everyday life. Through brief words of prayer or petition said silently to the rhythm of one's breath, this simple, meditative act combines praise for the divine with focused intention, creating a profound spiritual connection in the quiet, and even mundane, moments of the day. In Breath Prayer, Christine Valters Paintner introduces us to this spiritual practice and offers beautiful poem-prayers for walking, working, dressing, cleaning, sitting in silence, doing the dishes, living in community—breathing the divine into our daily lives.
Our joy has a geometry, a shape. We must learn to look outside ourselves to find it. Drawing from positive psychology, Richard Beck explores concepts like gratitude, mindfulness, ego volume, and the small self to provide readers with a road map toward a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling life.
Whether you're a dabbler, a career creative, or a self-proclaimed tortured artist, The Artist's Joy is for you. Professional oboist and creativity coach Dr. Merideth Hite Estevez guides artists in all levels and disciplines to build a creative life that resonates deeply with their core values. Complete with practical guides and companion playlist.
So many of us are leaving conservative faith traditions behind, rightly saying goodbye to toxic theology, bigotry, and harm. With wit and practical guidance, What Makes You Bloom helps us create a new spiritual practice after our faith has fallen apart. Spiritual coach Kevin Miguel Garcia shows us how we can connect with the Divine already inside us and cultivate meaningful spiritual practices that help us heal from the past, tap into the present, and imagine a delicious future.
In a culture that says bigger is better, it is subversive work to take tiny, lasting steps toward learning and growth. In 12 Tiny Things Ellie Roscher and Heidi Barr journey with us through twelve essential areas of life: space, work, spirituality, food, style, nature, communication, home, sensuality, creativity, learning, and community. In each of these areas, we are invited to take one tiny action that is sure to open up growth and renewal. By trying on one tiny thing at a time, you can slowly, deliberately, and playfully remember who you are.
Between the Listening and the Telling
Stories tether us to what matters most: our families, our friends, our hearts, our planet, the wondrous mystery of life itself. Yet the stories we've been telling ourselves as a civilization are killing us. With a foreword by Anne Lamott, Between the Listening and the Telling offers an alloy of story, commentary, and meditation. In an era of runaway loneliness, alienation, global crisis, and despair, sharing stories helps us make a home within ourselves and one another.
To view all of our books and resources, visit broadleafbooks.com.
