Overview

What will you learn, if you revisit long-held assumptions about your past? When Dawn Downey examines essays she wrote ten years ago, she gains insights into the workings of her mind, then and now. Her old resentments shapeshift into empathy. She recognizes a relationship with the natural world that she'd kept hidden from herself. She transcends the artificial binaries of death vs life and you vs me. Downey invites us to linger over our own memories and marvel as they take on new meaning under our gentle attention. The 10th Anniversary Edition is updated with an Introduction, Author's Notes, Afterword, G;ossary, and Playlist. INTRODUCTION. Dawn Downey had no idea she was writing a book. She divorced her husband. She criticized her brother. She worked for a boss from hell. None of those circumstances became essays in Stumbling toward the Buddha, but they were pivotal to its creation. The book-to-be manipulated events so the author would gain necessary insights PART I INNOCENCE. What turns an innocent child into an adult whose relationships and career path are stymied by nameless fears? Downey connects the dots beginning with roaches, mice, and a razor strop. PART II TRANSCENDENCE. Downey eclipses time and space in the Ozark Forest, at Second Baptist Church, and at The Forest Way Monastery. PART III GRACE. The author finds acceptance with her relationships and with her place in the web of life. AUTHOR'S NOTES. The decade between 2014 and 2024 transformed the author's mindset and writing voice. AFTERWORD. Downey discovers the depth of her subconscious nod to the white gaze in her early writing.

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Reviews

""Her stories will make you laugh, cry, sometimes squirm, and feel wiser by book's end. For those on a spiritual path, or really just trying to be the best person you can be, Stumbling Toward the Buddha is a heartwarming, helpful, and most of all, entertaining account of being a spiritual person in this complicated modern world."" -Self-Publishing Review ""5 stars! I appreciated the humor. I am on a spiritual journey and was intrigued to read what was suggested in the pages of this book. I wasn't prepared for the humor and the fact that the book basically made fun of all of the aspects that make us human, aspects that so many spiritual books tell us to get rid of. Like the compulsion to shop. Or that we feel better if we own nice things. Our jealous tendencies. The fact that we really don't want nice things to happen to other people (because we want them to happen to us, instead). Reading all of this and having someone say it in a loud, honest, in your face kind of way was very refreshing and surprising, but in a very nice way. ""I also loved the personalized stories within this book. I think other readers will really relate to the stories the author shares about her own issues in giving up what so many self help books say we have to give up in order to achieve bliss, peace and long term happiness. The fact that she can so honestly admit that she was jealous, and wanted to shop and buy things, and not love her neighbor made me feel like I am not the only person struggling with some of these issues and I think readers will appreciate that.""-Readers' Favorite

Author Information

Dawn Downey writes essays about her everyday life-introspective stories to lift your spirits and challenge your assumptions. The dilemma she strives to resolve: how to be a sensitive elder woman of color in an insensitive, white-centered, male dominated, youth-oriented culture.With multiple WIPs vying for her attention, she's the author of essay collections Listicles, Blindsided, Searching for My Heart, From Dawn to Daylight, and Stumbling Toward the Buddha. Her publishing career began with a dance review in The Santa Barbara News Press. Since then, her essays have been featured in literary journals, magazines, and newspapers.Connecting with her readers, she blogs twice-weekly and also hosts Dawn's Monthly Author Reading on Zoom.When she's not at her laptop, she beats back the weeds encroaching on her echinacea. Downey lives with her husband in Kansas City.Learn more at DawnDowneyBlog.com.

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