Maintaining hope is difficult in a world falling apart. Intrinsic Hope offers a powerful antidote to despair, showing how to free ourselves from the false hope that the world will conform to our expectations and how to cultivate "intrinsic hope," a positive approach based on trusting life. Presents 6 mindful habits for hopeful living.

Foreword by Vicki RobbinIntroduction: Where On Earth Are We Going?The Global Eco-social Crisis and Its ImpactsPsychological ImpactsThe Psychological ContextWhere On Earth Are We Going?Uncovering and Nurturing HopePart I: Uncovering Intrinsic Hope1. Naming Our Feelings about the Global Eco-social CrisisFearDisappointmentSelf-Righteous Anger and FrustrationShame and GuiltSadness and DespairGriefDenial and ApathyConcluding Thoughts2. Reasons for HopeLife Is Inherently HopefulWe Know More Than Ever BeforeThe Future Is UncertainWe May Be Able to Resolve This Crisis Because We Caused ItHumankind Is Beginning to Think GloballyHistory Tells Us Positive Social Change Is PossibleThe Growing Global Citizens' MovementHope Can Be LearnedIt Is Our Responsibility To Be HopefulJust Because. . .What Else Would We Do?3. Intrinsic and Extrinsic HopeExtrinsic HopeIntrinsic HopeExtrinsic and Intrinsic Hope ComparedThe Relationship Between Intrinsic and Extrinsic HopePart II: Habits of Hope4. Being PresentMindfulnessDistractionSelective AttentionMeditationUsing Our SensesWonderBearing WitnessBeing Present to the Universe5. Expressing GratitudeChoosing to Feel GratefulThings To Be Grateful ForExpressing GratitudeAppreciation and ProblemsJoyGratitude and Consumerism6. Loving the WorldLove and CompassionCommunityLoving PlacesLoving the EarthLoving Future Generations7. Accepting What IsOpening Up to Painful EmotionsForgivenessReframingExpressing Feelings8. Taking ActionScientific InformationResults, Responsibility, and VirtuePurpose and CommitmentDo No HarmSmall Steps9. Persevering for the Long HaulSelf-DisciplineResilienceLong-Term ThinkingCuriosityLooking After OurselvesCelebrating Good NewsConclusion: Pandora's GiftInvitationAcknowledgmentsEndnotesAbout the AuthorAbout New Society Publishers

This deeply wise book…evolves our consciousness and frees our heart to act on behalf of this world we love. — Tara Brach, author, Radical Acceptance and True Refuge Weaves together the practical with the political, the social with the spiritual, and the economical with the ecological. It is a remarkable achievement! — Satish Kumar, Editor Emeritus, Resurgence & Ecologist magazine If you feel despair for our endangered world, read this remarkable book and then act. — Bill Plotkin, Ph.D., author, Soulcraft and Wild MindClimate disruption. Growing social inequality. Pollution. We are living in an era of unprecedented crises, resulting in widespread feelings of fear, despair, and grief. Intrinsic Hope offers a powerful antidote to these feelings. It shows how conventional ideas of hope are rooted in the belief that life will conform to our wishes and how this leads to disappointment, despair, and a dismal view of the future. As an alternative, it offers "intrinsic hope," a powerful, liberating, and positive approach to life based on having a deep trust in whatever happens. The author, a hopeful survivor, shows how to cultivate intrinsic hope through practical tips and six mindful habits for living a positive, courageous life in these troubled times. For everyone concerned about the future and looking for a deeper source of hope for a better world. I'm someone to whom hope does not come naturally every day. That makes the insights in these pages all the more valuable to me, and I suspect to others. — Bill McKibben, author, Radio Free Vermont, co-founder and senior advisor, 350.org Kate Davies, MA, DPhil, is emeritus faculty at Antioch University, senior fellow at the Whidbey Institute, and clinical associate professor in the University of Washington's School of Public Health. She is the author of The Rise of the U.S. Environmental Health Movement and lives in Langley, WA.

"After many decades of working on the climate crisis, I'm someone who hope does not come naturally to every day. That makes the insights in these pages all the more valuable to me, and I suspect to others." — Bill McKibben, author of Radio Free Vermont, co-founder and Senior Advisor of 350.org"There is no healing or transformation without hope, yet we are in times of global crisis that breed denial, hopelessness and despair. This deeply wise book guides us in nurturing the "intrinsic hope" that evolves our consciousness and frees our heart to act on behalf of this world we love." — Tara Brach, Author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge"If you feel despair for our endangered world, read this remarkable book and then act. Saving ourselves and much of life on Earth requires us to take brave and visionary action, but doing that requires hope - the kind that arises from the depths of our own human psyches, from our souls, and from Earth herself. Assisting us to tap this crucial resource is what Kate Davies accomplishes with her love-offering of Intrinsic Hope. This wise, adeptly crafted, inspiring, and practical book deepens and amplifies our capacities as agents of cultural renaissance and executors of ecological regeneration." — Bill Plotkin, Ph.D., author of Soulcraft and Wild Mind"Kate Davies' book Intrinsic Hope: Living Courageously in Troubled Times is a fresh and inspirational guide for practicing deep ecology. Her ideas about hope and the tools she offers to nurture it ground us in the Earth's inherent goodness and provide a path forwards when everything seems to be falling apart. That inherent goodness – intrinsic hope - lives within each one of us, as well as in all life. In this book, Kate shows us how to access it and how to take action based on it. I cannot recommend Intrinsic Hope highly enough." — John Seed, founder and director of the Rainforest Information Centre and co-author of Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings."We are becoming aware that the eco-social crisis is not only an external reality, but also an internal psychological, spiritual and moral crisis. In order to survive the increasing devastation, hope is essential. Kate Davies explores the psychological and spiritual dimensions of "intrinsic hope" and how it can be a light to guide us in these darkening times. Her book contains valuable insights into our inner landscapes and describes the qualities we need if we are to survive and live together on this Earth, full of wonder, beauty and love." — Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D., Sufi teacher and author: Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth."Kate Davies' whole working life and career has led to this distillation of 'intrinsic hope.' Her experience as scientist, as Quaker, as mother and activist forged a commitment to reject despair and forge a new, more resilient type of hope. This is a prescription in a book we all need." — Elizabeth May, OC, Leader of the Green Party of Canada and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands."To be an activist you have to be an optimist. Intrinsic Hope: Living Courageously in Troubled Times confirms this conviction. In her inspiring book, Kate Davies explores the state of our planet and the way we can transform our present predicament into positive possibilities. This beautifully written book weaves together the practical with the political, the social with the spiritual and economical with the ecological. It is a remarkable achievement." — Satish Kumar, Editor Emeritus, Resurgence - Ecologist Magazine."Have you ever read a book that is so wise and so important that you immediately recommend it to your friends? Have you ever read a book so full of transformative insights and brilliant aphorisms that you underline and dog-ear and exclaim YES in ink all over the margins? Intrinsic Hope: Living Courageously in Troubled Times is such a book. In a time of terrible peril, and so a time of deep and debilitating despair, Kate Davies powerfully, convincingly re-invents hope, just when we need it the most." — Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Great Tide Rising and Piano Tide, winner of the 2017 Willa Cather Award for contemporary fiction."Being mindful of hope may be our most urgent challenge in the face of growing eco-social problems. Kate Davies points toward multiple ways to activate hope. May her book be read by many who are seeking a path forward into the arena of transformative change." — Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology