What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World AND Loving Corrections

By Prentis Hemphill. Random House, 2024. 256 pages. $29/hardcover; $14.99/eBook.

Loving Corrections

By adrienne maree brown. AK Press, 2024. 200 pages. $18/paperback; $17.99/eBook.

In early 2024, I was thrilled to learn that two of my favorite wise people whose words had supported me through COVID and the 2020 racial reckoning had books coming out with reflections on ways to most effectively learn and grow in this social and political moment. Prentis Hemphill, author of What It Takes to Heal, and adrienne maree brown, author of Loving Corrections, are both healers who have worked within the movement for racial justice. They each offer, in the words of Hemphill, “Skills of connection and collaboration. Skills of authenticity, boundaries, and trust.” They each echo Grace Lee Boggs’s call to “transform ourselves to transform the world,” cited by brown as being influential to her own work. These books share invaluable guidance on how to plant seeds of love in ourselves, in our communities, and in our world.

In What It Takes to Heal, Hemphill, a therapist and facilitator, connects the work of personal transformation with the impact it can have on social transformation. Each chapter focuses on a lesson from Hemphill’s journey of healing and social change that they believe is important to hold in these challenging times, such as visioning, feeling our emotions in our bodies, dealing with conflict, finding courage, and centering love in all we do. Hemphill offers guidance on ways to create cultures that cultivate healing and belonging. Friends will recognize the sentiment of answering that of God in everyone in Hemphill’s words that “each person possesses as much potential magic as the ones we already love.” Even when we are challenged by each other, there is light to be found. Every conflict holds a usable message or lesson, especially if we can create safety in ourselves and our communities in order to hold multiple truths and sit “with that stewing of complexity until the next right action shows itself to us.” The book shares many methods for practicing these skills.

In Loving Corrections, brown offers reflections on engaging in loving accountability with ourselves and those around us through a range of lenses, including gender, race, ability, finances, and family. brown encourages readers to see themselves as lifelong learners, committed to practices of acting on their values, asking questions, and listening deeply to those around them in order to grow. In a section on solidarity, she writes, “I recognize that my liberation is tied up with the liberation of all oppressed peoples. I invite you to join me here and learn as we go.” She shares concise tips and invitations for various people and contexts, such as for philanthropists wanting to fund good work (“Trust the people. Move at the speed of trust.”); for those wanting to practice accountability with their words (“Speak what is kind, necessary, and true.”); and for anyone in the midst of a difficult transition or change (“Slow down and embrace awe.”). In the conclusion, titled “From Fragility to Fortitude,” she speaks to the importance of meditation, mediation, boundaries, and truth telling as ways to build and practice loving accountability. brown shares both a vision for the world that many Friends will appreciate and practical steps we can take to build the beloved community we seek.

Both Hemphill and brown’s books are filled with timely wisdom that reflects Quaker principles and practices. I discovered in their writing consistent dedication to peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship, and I appreciated their clarity on the ways we each have agency in manifesting these values. Hemphill’s chapter on engaging mindfully with the world especially resonated with me and my work at Friends Committee on National Legislation. When considering where to put our energy, Hemphill reminds us that “we can start by taking a moment to listen in to ourselves. What is within your purview to do, and who can you join with to extend your reach and build your power?”

Quakers so often want to be on the right side of history that it can hurt our self-image when we learn we have done harm. Hemphill challenges binary thinking of “innocent and guilty,” and instead asks, “What if . . . we could see ourselves as both harmed and harming?” A similar sentiment of brown’s also stood out as being meaningful to Friends: “I take feedback in as something currently true to someone who loves me. I let it simmer, distill, and keep what is useful to me, what I can work with and grow in.” These books invite us to stay open to continuing revelation. There are many thoughtful queries throughout both that may help ground Friends in discovering their own truth.

As we enter the second term of a presidential administration that previously did harm to the most vulnerable in our communities, we are called to be agents for change in alignment with our values. Both What It Takes to Heal and Loving Corrections provide tools, grounded in love, to empower us in this moment. Hemphill writes: “The love this book speaks to, the love that it takes to heal, is a verb to be practiced out loud. . . . It is the love of showing up for one another.” Hemphill speaks to the impact “empathy, mutuality, and connection” can have on injustice, and invites readers to “begin where we are.” brown reflects that each person is “an individual practice ground for what the whole can or cannot do, will or will not do,” and she believes that “[t]his is a time to be brave in our learning, and in our interventions.” I am always eager to show up with love in service of justice, and these books make me feel all the more equipped to do so.

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Lauren Brownlee is a member of Bethesda (Md.) Meeting, where she serves on the Peace and Social Justice Committee. She also serves as deputy general secretary for Friends Committee on National Legislation.