Episode 8
America’s Racial Karma And A Tribute To Thich Nhat Hanh With Dr. Larry Ward
We lost a modern-day bodhisattva this past week. Thich Nhat Hanh taught about the simplicity of mindfulness in everyday life, but also was an activist and global messenger for peace. In this episode, Diana speaks with Dr. Larry Ward, who was ordained as a lay minister and Dharma teacher by Thich Nhat Hanh and is the author of the book America's Racial Karma. Dr. Ward shares his experience of racial trauma, how the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh healed his nervous system, and Dr. Ward’s understanding of racial trauma at the biological, psychological, and systemic levels.
Related Resources
Get enhanced show notes for this episode
Diana's Events
Connecting With Diana
- Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
- Leave a 5-star review on Apple so people like you can find the show.
- Sign up for the free Wise Effort Newsletter.
- Become a Wise Effort member to support the show.
- Follow Diana on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Diana’s website.
- Leave feedback for the show
Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.
We can put our energy where it matters most and savor the good along the way.
Transcript
What is America's Racial Karma and how can we take the teachings
Dr. Diana Hill:That's what I'm going to explore today with Dr.
Dr. Diana Hill:Larry Ward on Your Life in Process.
Dr. Diana Hill:We lost a modern day bodhisattva this past week.
Dr. Diana Hill:Thich Nhat Hanh passed in Vietnam, a place that he had been wanting to
Dr. Diana Hill:And for many of us, when we think about his teachings, we
Dr. Diana Hill:Things like when you're washing the dishes, just imagine it's like the baby
Dr. Diana Hill:Or pausing in your day to breathe in I am here and breathe out I am home.
Dr. Diana Hill:But Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings were also about Engaged Buddhism.
Dr. Diana Hill:It wasn't just about mindfulness to help out the individual.
Dr. Diana Hill:He was a true activist and messenger for peace.
Dr. Diana Hill:Thay was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in the 1960s by Martin Luther king Jr.
Dr. Diana Hill:after the two of them spent some time together, clearly listening
Dr. Diana Hill:And today on the podcast, we have the opportunity to speak with Dr.
Dr. Diana Hill:Larry Ward, who was ordained as a lay minister and Dharma teacher by
Dr. Diana Hill:throughout the world, accompanying him in peacemaking missions in China,
Dr. Diana Hill:Dr.
Dr. Diana Hill:Ward is the author of the book America's Racial Karma and brings
Dr. Diana Hill:As a Director of the Lotus Institute.
Dr. Diana Hill:Larry is also a family friend.
Dr. Diana Hill:He used to hold Sangha in my parents living room.
Dr. Diana Hill:And in this conversation, he talks about his experience of racial
Dr. Diana Hill:Understand how this trauma is a patterning of karma.
Dr. Diana Hill:And dedicate his life to changing our ecosystem of hate and using
Dr. Diana Hill:Listening to Larry Ward reminded me a lot of Thich Nhat Hanh's Dharma talks.
Dr. Diana Hill:This conversation is not going to give you six tips to heal your anxiety or
Dr. Diana Hill:Ward's teachings are much deeper and more nuanced than that.
Dr. Diana Hill:So I encourage you to take this on as if you're listening to a Dharma talk.
Dr. Diana Hill:Lie down, put your legs up the wall, close your eyes, go for a
Dr. Diana Hill:The day that Thich Nhat Hanh died, I asked my mom to bring over her journal where
Dr. Diana Hill:Thay's talks while she was on retreat with him in Plum Village and you can see one
Dr. Diana Hill:I've seen this journal before and I appreciated her artistry, but I
Dr. Diana Hill:This is one of Thay's Dharma talks on the Upper Hamlet on June
Dr. Diana Hill:And when I zoomed into read my mom's transcription, this is what it said.
Dr. Diana Hill:"Today we focus on right diligence or right effort, right?
Dr. Diana Hill:Diligence is the practice of choosing the right seeds,
Dr. Diana Hill:If you want those around you to be happy, choose the correct seeds and nourish them.
Dr. Diana Hill:Make this a habit.
Dr. Diana Hill:We are not only our bodies.
Dr. Diana Hill:We are also our environment."
Dr. Diana Hill:He goes on to say, "There are neural pathways that lead to suffering
Dr. Diana Hill:To practice means to "bring your wholesome seeds into existence.
Dr. Diana Hill:You have to choose the right seeds, plant the right seeds and water them every day.
Dr. Diana Hill:It is good to bring mindfulness to areas where there is wrong view.
Dr. Diana Hill:No one should be excluded."
Dr. Diana Hill:Thich Nhat Hanh was an early neuroscientist, a behaviorist
Dr. Diana Hill:But that every time we change ourselves, every time we water those seeds, it
Dr. Diana Hill:So taking this conversation with Dr.
Dr. Diana Hill:Larry Ward as an opportunity to water some different seeds in your own mind.
Dr. Diana Hill:And bring some mindfulness to areas in your own mind where maybe there is wrong
Dr. Diana Hill:We have a little bit of connection through my parents who have I think my
Dr. Diana Hill:So a long history there So it's wonderful to have you here today
Dr. Lary Ward:Well thank you for the invitation and thank you for
Dr. Diana Hill:And I I actually was wondering if we could start by uh
Dr. Diana Hill:So you write that "healing and transforming the patterns of continuation
Dr. Diana Hill:To realize this understanding is beyond information gathering."
Dr. Diana Hill:So what do you mean by going beyond just the information gathering to actually be
Dr. Lary Ward:When you write a book and I was in Oaxaca finishing it
Dr. Lary Ward:It's like oh I wrote that.
Dr. Lary Ward:Yeah to to use a phrase attributed to Einstein that you can't solve a problem at
Dr. Lary Ward:And this is also beautifully referred to and my grandmother's hands but what
Dr. Lary Ward:is without context And without context traumatic experiences embedded in the
Dr. Lary Ward:If we don't understand our own biology and as it impacts psychology as that
Dr. Lary Ward:we've we've divided the world up in all these species that are not pieces
Dr. Lary Ward:Now I wrote a phrase to myself of meditation yesterday That actually
Dr. Lary Ward:us the greatest problem It is in fact our similarities and by similarities
Dr. Lary Ward:Which is our daily experience of life.
Dr. Lary Ward:And if we don't elevate our skills in learning how to
Dr. Lary Ward:our
Dr. Lary Ward:our nervous system patterns of reactivity, we can't
Dr. Lary Ward:Because it's rooted in trauma.
Dr. Lary Ward:Trauma of the victim, victims.
Dr. Lary Ward:Trauma of the witnesses.
Dr. Lary Ward:The observers and trauma of the perpetrators And this is all
Dr. Lary Ward:And once you start to understand that life is interconnected to life not as a
Dr. Lary Ward:your body, you realize how deep the work is we need to do with one another and
Dr. Diana Hill:When I interviewed Dr Helen Neville from Psychology of
Dr. Diana Hill:And I was thinking about that and reading and learning more about you and
Dr. Diana Hill:And I'm wondering if you could share a bit about your experience
Dr. Lary Ward:Oh sure.
Dr. Lary Ward:I don't say that so easily but uh I say it sincerely Am I sure well one
Dr. Lary Ward:a meditation for me Um is uh our house was firebombed um by a team of people
Dr. Lary Ward:And we had the good fortune to be able to go to Plum Village and spend time
Dr. Lary Ward:So we had time to to tend to our shock, I emotional pain.
Dr. Lary Ward:For a time every smell of any smoke reactivated our body sense of fear
Dr. Lary Ward:And so spending time in the monastery was the most helpful thing, in
Dr. Lary Ward:To recognize my trauma to honor it to use a phrase from Thich Nhat
Dr. Lary Ward:No escape but to understand that that phenomenon that experience does not define
Dr. Lary Ward:I don't mean abstract intellectual thought, I mean body centered healing
Dr. Lary Ward:And you know remembering that we're being rewired all the
Dr. Lary Ward:Not just by our biology not just by our psychology but the interaction
Dr. Lary Ward:No human being has ever found out so many things things that
Dr. Lary Ward:It's just this tsunami of and that's why information is not enough.
Dr. Lary Ward:We have to move from information into knowledge and from knowledge into wisdom.
Dr. Lary Ward:But that wisdom has to be body centered wisdom not simply
Dr. Diana Hill:Yeah When I had heard that you had gone to Plum Village after
Dr. Diana Hill:Hanh and he too had to leave his home and experienced so much trauma in his
Dr. Diana Hill:know practices that you were doing The and I think our listeners both that are
Dr. Lary Ward:We spent a lot of time in silence and parts of the Buddhist
Dr. Lary Ward:heals the silence that gives you time to come back to yourself to reconstitute
Dr. Lary Ward:was every day and every night times in the day but also from like 10 at night
Dr. Lary Ward:thing is mindful walking mindfulness of steps through the forest and um and
Dr. Diana Hill:I remember when I was in Plum Village seeing that the
Dr. Lary Ward:Yes The sacred in terms of movement of the body and mindfulness
Dr. Lary Ward:So once you learn how to move slowly and become conscious, just like
Dr. Lary Ward:doing things slow, so that you can start to build the patterns in your
Dr. Lary Ward:And or in jazz and playing the piano you have to learn the scale, you know
Dr. Lary Ward:And so it's a journey of mastery And then for me it was great great fortune to be
Dr. Lary Ward:was our dog and how sorry he was that this occurred after a couple of days
Dr. Lary Ward:know that was just horrible but don't put your energy there You have bigger
Dr. Lary Ward:part of the impact of an attack like that is to, at some at a
Dr. Lary Ward:To wrap you in trauma so that you live the rest of your life in reactivity to hatred.
Dr. Lary Ward:Which you then embody and advertently.
Dr. Lary Ward:Um just like you can embody the good.
Dr. Lary Ward:So the whole slowing down part of the practice overall helped us heal
Dr. Lary Ward:The question always is how to practice with these experiences so they while
Dr. Diana Hill:One of my memories of Plum Village was also lazy days.
Dr. Diana Hill:And uh Americans hate the word lazy.
Dr. Diana Hill:We had this reaction to lazy what you know but uh the lazy day was was
Dr. Diana Hill:And we enjoyed just being being with each other.
Dr. Diana Hill:And um and I I've been thinking about that in terms of all of us everyone
Dr. Diana Hill:And I'm wondering how um how you practice that in your own life in terms of you
Dr. Lary Ward:First I have to say I am I I discovered throughout my whole
Dr. Lary Ward:But as I've grown older, I resist the definition of what I'm doing as work.
Dr. Lary Ward:Because I see it in it only identifies within a commercial productivity, all
Dr. Lary Ward:That's our human creativity in motion.
Dr. Lary Ward:So I practice laziness every morning before I get out of bed.
Dr. Lary Ward:So what I've discovered in in a non monastic paradigm of daily living,
Dr. Lary Ward:So I start the morning lazy I do not rush out of bed.
Dr. Lary Ward:I do not use an alarm clock.
Dr. Lary Ward:I haven't for years because I don't want to be alarmed.
Dr. Lary Ward:I have enough alarm right.
Dr. Lary Ward:And another alarm to shock me into.
Dr. Lary Ward:And so I begin with a body centered meditation on the Five
Dr. Lary Ward:And only after I complete that process and remember my father's waking up words
Dr. Lary Ward:So that I have some sense of reality in some sense of joy
Dr. Lary Ward:And then in mindfulness practice everything can be coming object of
Dr. Lary Ward:So uh I shower and the water I remember being part of my life in
Dr. Lary Ward:water was so precious, hard to come by, walking to a river a dirty river
Dr. Lary Ward:Pick it out the worms.
Dr. Lary Ward:And so when I shower I just don't cut on the faucet and forget that.
Dr. Lary Ward:I am lucky in that sense to have that access to.
Dr. Lary Ward:I am grateful for my experience of water.
Dr. Lary Ward:So I'm thanking the water.
Dr. Lary Ward:So I practice gratitude for being alive.
Dr. Lary Ward:being able to experience life in this way.
Dr. Lary Ward:So and then I go outside to our little patios where we have lots of flowers and
Dr. Lary Ward:And I talk to them every morning and they talk back sometimes and um I
Dr. Lary Ward:just a walk through uh or like our dog Charlie who's stopped to smell all
Dr. Lary Ward:And that's part of what the slowing down and the lazy day allow.
Dr. Lary Ward:So I build laziness into my whole day every time and whenever I can cause
Dr. Lary Ward:But I always begin the day lazy.
Dr. Lary Ward:And end the day lazy I have an evening process I go through, sometimes with
Dr. Lary Ward:Uh and up and down my body and a meditation I use from my
Dr. Diana Hill:Bathing in moonlight before bed.
Dr. Diana Hill:That sounds like a lovely practice.
Dr. Diana Hill:So I'd love to talk about um America's Racial Karma and uh how we're all
Dr. Diana Hill:And then it also it's extends.
Dr. Diana Hill:You've written about how it extends beyond America It's not just about America.
Dr. Diana Hill:But um what w w maybe just start by defining karma and
Dr. Lary Ward:So what I mean by karma in this instance is a repeating pattern.
Dr. Lary Ward:So if you're if you're a scientist or a sociologist or a psychologist you
Dr. Lary Ward:habits at the collective level of our consciousness It's nice at the level
Dr. Lary Ward:status based on skin tone uh is a human invention not a divine code And and so
Dr. Lary Ward:others both at the individual level but also at the level of consciousness itself
Dr. Lary Ward:how our thinking has been conditioned by our trauma by our motivations by our
Dr. Lary Ward:There's plenty of examples of humanity throughout all of history that learn
Dr. Lary Ward:But in our state here in the U.S.
Dr. Lary Ward:today makes everybody wonder if we are actually, we don't have the
Dr. Lary Ward:And so this the wheel and the patterning is continuing
Dr. Lary Ward:That's karma and in the only way to break the cycle is to create a new
Dr. Lary Ward:book just a little bit is in order to create a new pattern you must come deeply
Dr. Lary Ward:If you cannot recognize your own humanity and you cannot
Dr. Diana Hill:Hi folks.
Dr. Diana Hill:I want to tell you about a few live events that I'm offering
Dr. Diana Hill:I'm going to be at Insight LA on February 11th, online
Dr. Diana Hill:And second, if you are a mental health practitioner, join me at PESI
Dr. Diana Hill:And then finally in March, if you're a clinician, I'm offering a workshop
Dr. Diana Hill:So you can join me there.
Dr. Diana Hill:You can check these all out on my event page at Drdianahill.com.
Dr. Diana Hill:You've written about avoidance.
Dr. Diana Hill:The type of um therapy that I that I practice, Acceptance and Commitment
Dr. Diana Hill:and the suffering that comes from avoidance and that also links to Buddhism
Dr. Diana Hill:But specifically you write about how we have these three types of avoidance
Dr. Diana Hill:So how do you work with people that are engaging in avoidance whether it's
Dr. Diana Hill:We'll do anything we can to get around those feelings that show up.
Dr. Lary Ward:Well my experience is Um spiritual practice in particular,
Dr. Lary Ward:We have the modern world has convinced us that cognition is the whole meaning
Dr. Lary Ward:Meaning when I am thinking and you can just try this out Anytime when I am
Dr. Lary Ward:And therefore the pancakes might be burning.
Dr. Lary Ward:Therefore therefore I realized I left my keys in the car and therefore
Dr. Lary Ward:And so our cognition gift is wonderful It's the newest part of our
Dr. Lary Ward:And until we both train our bodies at another level of evolutionary resilience.
Dr. Lary Ward:It's not enough resilience just to get by now because we're inundated
Dr. Lary Ward:And so learning how to journey through our grief with respect and honor and
Dr. Lary Ward:I do meditations every day to help me recognize my sense of safety and
Dr. Lary Ward:So that I can recognize and cultivate safety with you
Dr. Lary Ward:But we have such a long way to go because our traumas stands
Dr. Diana Hill:even in this moment you being a black man and me being
Dr. Lary Ward:And then bridge And for me that bridge is there to be crossed
Dr. Lary Ward:bringing around the world historically and geographically But one of the
Dr. Lary Ward:black people and Jews were the first people to experience laws actually
Dr. Lary Ward:And so to be to get away with George Floyd's murder don't
Dr. Lary Ward:We see this attack mentality and if I live long enough I read a book about the
Dr. Lary Ward:The conditioning of our our male language and archetypes and even
Dr. Lary Ward:Because if you're on the battlefield you don't have time to embrace your
Dr. Lary Ward:And that survival sense that we are at war all the time since is not sustainable
Dr. Diana Hill:So I have a I have a question about that and I really want to
Dr. Diana Hill:Because I interviewed Kristin Neff and she's written a new book come
Dr. Diana Hill:And so it and a lot of it is about anger and and the balance of and
Dr. Diana Hill:of like these these mother goddesses that are both like hold the the energy
Dr. Diana Hill:And so then I picked up Thich Nhat Hahn's book to read about anger.
Dr. Diana Hill:Because I'm like what does what does he have to say about anger.
Dr. Diana Hill:Because in some ways anger is what burns stuff down anger is is stuff
Dr. Diana Hill:right and also anger can be the thing that can protect can be that
Dr. Diana Hill:How do you work with anger?
Dr. Lary Ward:Well th the first way I work with it is
Dr. Lary Ward:First anger is a biological response irregardless of what you're thinking.
Dr. Lary Ward:It's your body's information, talking to you screaming to
Dr. Lary Ward:And then what you do with that anger then moves into ethics.
Dr. Lary Ward:But anger itself is a legitimate and genuine and precious source of
Dr. Lary Ward:it's it's it's an otherwise we wouldn't be gifted with this through our
Dr. Lary Ward:Now learning how to process our anger just the energy biological energy.
Dr. Lary Ward:To to learn how that recognize when the anger is rising.
Dr. Lary Ward:Thanks to many years of practice I can actually feel my anger with Donald
Dr. Diana Hill:Yeah That's often what's under the anger right It's deep grief.
Dr. Lary Ward:Yeah In the process of learning how to hold it.
Dr. Lary Ward:Respected recognize.
Dr. Lary Ward:It honor.
Dr. Lary Ward:It is the same.
Dr. Lary Ward:So that I arrive at a kind of equanimity with my anger where I
Dr. Diana Hill:Nice.
Dr. Diana Hill:Anger is the information And then what you do with it the
Dr. Diana Hill:Yes
Dr. Lary Ward:So if you look at anger as both um as energy, then you can transmute
Dr. Lary Ward:Um and yes that's that's kinda how I work with it in myself.
Dr. Lary Ward:I don't suppress I know shut down.
Dr. Lary Ward:While I was working on America's Racial Karma Every day, I said to my wife
Dr. Lary Ward:And that was that's a literal that's a real statement.
Dr. Lary Ward:To me a nation created in trauma that doesn't deal with this
Dr. Lary Ward:This is what we're seeing now.
Dr. Lary Ward:In the pandemic oh what a teacher, if we understood it as a teacher not simply
Dr. Lary Ward:And we're here together.
Dr. Diana Hill:Yeah And and that exists in your own household.
Dr. Diana Hill:You you mentioned at the beginning how your house was firebombed because
Dr. Diana Hill:And I was telling you that whenever my parents talk about you they talk
Dr. Diana Hill:Peggy and Larry, Peggy and Larry.
Dr. Diana Hill:You and your wife have founded the Lotus foundation.
Dr. Diana Hill:And uh in your your description of the Lotus Institute, you write that "This
Dr. Diana Hill:collapse while focusing on building better ways of loving and caring for each other
Dr. Diana Hill:If we don't there won't be a world for us to do anything in."
Dr. Diana Hill:What is your hope for the work that you're doing with Peggy and moving forward.
Dr. Lary Ward:Well my my attention now is around understanding trauma
Dr. Lary Ward:I've lived in enough places to know.
Dr. Lary Ward:Rarely have I gone to the grocery store and other parts of the world
Dr. Lary Ward:That is culture cannot be separated from individual behavior And
Dr. Lary Ward:Our technology produces it and if it's misused.
Dr. Lary Ward:We have to really massively reeducate that enough of us fast enough so
Dr. Lary Ward:Either openly or on purpose.
Dr. Lary Ward:Suicide rates are up I know you know this across every ethnicity in the United
Dr. Lary Ward:How is our society creating the emotional psychological biological
Dr. Lary Ward:Not mentioning the weapons they got to do it but anyway and so this denial
Dr. Diana Hill:For me as a white woman, my awareness of whiteness kind
Dr. Diana Hill:Right Yeah And I live in a in a um in a community where you know I I can choose
Dr. Diana Hill:And so I think that's that for me the work is is the thickness of that denial.
Dr. Diana Hill:Like um there's some effort.
Dr. Lary Ward:Yeah And I like your language of effort because it would be
Dr. Lary Ward:This is not simply a white people's problem.
Dr. Lary Ward:It is a shared problem.
Dr. Lary Ward:This is again because we don't see ourselves as a whole cloth.
Dr. Lary Ward:We see ourselves as pieces and we are pieces but we are pieces of a whole cloth.
Dr. Lary Ward:And so trauma in San Francisco is also trauma in New York.
Dr. Lary Ward:We have to really re understand the nature of reality because it all interpenetrates.
Dr. Lary Ward:Our childhood interpenetrates with our adulthood.
Dr. Lary Ward:Our genetic dispositions interpenetrate with lived moments of life.
Dr. Lary Ward:And so we our society is interpenetrating, and again this is a
Dr. Lary Ward:Interpenetrating nature reality, Where we're a culture oriented around
Dr. Lary Ward:Which is fine.
Dr. Lary Ward:But we are not very skillful a very wise and recognizing what led to the event.
Dr. Lary Ward:This is about introspection skills.
Dr. Lary Ward:This is about lazy days We used to walk to one of the very old French
Dr. Diana Hill:Through the sunflowers.
Dr. Diana Hill:You have to walk through sunflower fields to get there
Dr. Lary Ward:And you know for me part of our challenge Is fine finding
Dr. Lary Ward:Yeah It took me years to really understand what Thich Nhat Hanh meant by mindfulness.
Dr. Lary Ward:But what he meant was, if you're not a monk, you have to create a
Dr. Diana Hill:You know I um in my office I have two artifacts that I
Dr. Diana Hill:And one is this little piece of wood and it says on it "We Inter
Dr. Diana Hill:And I like got it down it's like I got to bring this out and have this.
Dr. Diana Hill:And then the other the other one which is I mean this is
Dr. Diana Hill:It is the "Peace Is Every Step."
Dr. Diana Hill:And I think about when I was chatting with my mom about interviewing you I said he's
Dr. Diana Hill:Kendi had a baby
Dr. Diana Hill:We can imagine what that would be.
Dr. Diana Hill:And it might be Larry Ward.
Dr. Diana Hill:Because you haven't you've had the the peacefulness and the the inter being
Dr. Diana Hill:And then you also have the the committed action clarity the
Dr. Diana Hill:Kendi.
Dr. Diana Hill:Right And so I just appreciate you and your teachings.
Dr. Diana Hill:And uh I would recommend folks that want to learn more about you
Dr. Diana Hill:And I'm also curious if you have some recommendations of folks
Dr. Lary Ward:Sure Um anyone who's interested can go to
Dr. Lary Ward:And I'm trying to create, to help create, is a narrative beyond wound.
Dr. Lary Ward:We need to step into our sacred imagination about the
Dr. Lary Ward:And we want our children to live in.
Dr. Lary Ward:That we want uh our plants and animals to live in.
Dr. Lary Ward:And then clarify for ourselves what that feels like in our body, and
Dr. Lary Ward:And that to me is the the practice of eco spirituality,
Dr. Diana Hill:Well thank you Dr Larry Ward it's been an honor and delight
Dr. Diana Hill:And to have you in my parents' lives.
Dr. Diana Hill:They've transmitted you to me I guess over time through through that.
Dr. Diana Hill:And um and I really appreciate the work that you're doing on this in
Dr. Diana Hill:And what was it creative uh what's the word that you said there at the end.
Dr. Lary Ward:Sacred imagination
Dr. Diana Hill:For eco spirituality and sacred imagination.
Dr. Diana Hill:Those two words those two terms.
Dr. Lary Ward:Thank you very much
Dr. Diana Hill:Okay Take care
Dr. Lary Ward:You too Be safe Be well
Dr. Diana Hill:I love the sound of Dr.
Dr. Diana Hill:Larry Ward's voice.
Dr. Diana Hill:And I love his teachings, there's simplicity, and the ways in which he
Dr. Diana Hill:of his day, like not waking up with an alarm clock, practicing gratitude
Dr. Diana Hill:If you look at some of the recommendations in psychology, they really are
Dr. Diana Hill:So you get a better night's sleep.
Dr. Diana Hill:And gratitude is one of the things that can help change your happiness levels.
Dr. Diana Hill:Dr.
Dr. Diana Hill:Ward also talked about the benefits of noble silence
Dr. Diana Hill:Movement in nature and recognizing that your trauma does not define
Dr. Diana Hill:Here's the practice I'd like for you to do this week in honor of Thich
Dr. Diana Hill:It's very simple.
Dr. Diana Hill:Let's go for a walk in silence.
Dr. Diana Hill:When I first met Thich Nhat Hanh, it was on the Bluffs of UCSB where
Dr. Diana Hill:The monks and the nuns were in their brown robes, walking behind him.
Dr. Diana Hill:And the slowness of his gentle walk on the earth was a teaching in itself.
Dr. Diana Hill:It taught us to feel where our feet are stepping and look at what's
Dr. Diana Hill:So take a break, leave your phone at home.
Dr. Diana Hill:Go for a silent meditative walk.
Dr. Diana Hill:Carry on Thay's teachings by walking gently on the earth
Dr. Diana Hill:Come back home to the nourishment that exists right here and right now, with
Dr. Diana Hill:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of your life in process.
Dr. Diana Hill:when you enter your life in process, when you become psychologically
Dr. Diana Hill:If you like this episode or think it would be helpful to somebody, please leave
Dr. Diana Hill:for me by phone at (805) 457-2776 or by email at podcast@yourlifeinprocess.Com
Dr. Diana Hill:And it's not meant to be a substitute for mental health treatment.
