Hope, Joy, and Are We Going To Be OK? Live in Costa Rica With Doug Abrams

Dr. Diana Hill welcomes author and Idea Architects founder Doug Abrams live from Blue Spirit Costa Rica to explore how to stay grounded, joyful, and hopeful in uncertain times. Abrams shares lessons from working with leaders like the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Jane Goodall, including Tutu’s guidance to “never surrender your joy,” taking the wider perspective, and resisting without “othering” opponents. He describes his in-progress book inspired by his daughter’s question, “Are we gonna be okay?” Abrams discusses living with ADHD, shame, and vulnerability in relationships, and highlights Goodall’s four reasons for hope—human intellect, nature’s resilience, young people, and the indomitable human spirit—emphasizing that hope is an action.Related ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.Mentioned in this episode:Business of Therapy and CoachingMake a big move in your therapy or coaching practice. Join the New Cohort Starting May 11Wise Effort: The Business of Therapy

Do little annoyances keep piling up until you feel overwhelmed and reactive? In this episode, Diana Hill explores why annoyance isn’t just about what’s happening—it’s shaped by your capacity (stress, heat, hunger, sleep) and the story you tell about the incident. Diana shares how noticing her own story with an airline agent, Wade, helped her soften, connect, and respond differently—ultimately increasing her ability to be with what is.Listen and learn:How stressors like heat, hunger, and poor sleep reduce your capacity and increase irritationWhy the “story” you tell can turn a small incident into a bigger threat.How separating from others fuels annoyance—and connection can shift itSuggested Next Episode:You can also enjoy Diana's related Bonus Meditation: AnnoyanceRelated ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.

Diana guides a meditation practice focused on increasing capacity to be with silence and open awareness. The practice emphasizes noticing the mind’s urge to comment or problem-solve, then letting go, leaning back, and relaxing into the silence and space around noise—like a “permanent layover” with nowhere to go and nothing to do—while adding warmth and kindness. Suggested Next Episode:You can also enjoy Diana's related talk--Episode 197 Secret Sangha: Annoyance.Related ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.

Enjoy this Secret Sangha talk where Dr. Diana Hill describes recovery as a non-linear, stop-and-start process. She emphasizes psychological flexibility as a key predictor of doing well after major life events: knowing what matters most in the moment, using your skills, and taking feedback about what isn’t working. She highlights additional supports like social connection, positive emotion amid difficulty, and meaning-making. Diana shares her own recovery story and offers core practices.Listen and learn:To decide what and who recovery is worth it forWays to leave your “imaginary box”The importance of focusing on small daily actions without waiting to feel differentSuggested Next Episode:You can also enjoy Diana's related Bonus Meditation: RecoveryRelated ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.Mentioned in this episode:Business of Therapy and CoachingMake a big move in your therapy or coaching practice. Join the New Cohort Starting May 11Wise Effort: The Business of Therapy

Diana guides walking meditation as a core recovery practice, comparing each step to a trusting fall and a snail’s glide. The practice invites letting go of self-focused stories, embodying chosen values through how one walks, and widening awareness to include others. Then you return to seated meditation to practice compassion by holding one difficult person, self-issue, or global concern with wishes for relief. Diana closes with a poem about recovery as lacing up worn running shoes and trusting the open road. Suggested Next Episode:You can also enjoy Diana's related talk--Episode 195 Secret Sangha: Recovery.Related ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.

Are you growing? Growth is becoming more comfortable in your own skin and prioritizing what is most essential.Growth is also letting go of needing to be the center of attention things.In this week's, Secret Sangha we explore growth and a personal level to a transpersonal one.Join me. It's a good one.Listen and learn:When to follow structure versus improvise, and recognizing when not to be the “star.”How growth moves you towards self-transformation and deeper interconnectionThat real growth often emerges when life cracks you openSuggested Next Episode:You can also enjoy Diana's related Bonus Meditation: GrowthRelated ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.Mentioned in this episode:Business of Therapy and CoachingMake a big move in your therapy or coaching practice. Join the New Cohort Starting May 11Wise Effort: The Business of Therapy

Dr. Diana Hill guides a non-dual, open-awareness meditation beginning with listening to a bell, landing in the body through sound, contact with the ground, and breath (“Breathing in, I’m alive; breathing out, I’m here”). Participants visualize their life as a timeline stretching left into the past—through birth, ancestors, and even a star’s “cracking open”—and right into the future through their continuing influence. They are invited to meet a younger self from a moment of growth, bring that self to sit on the left, and then welcome an older, more authentic, flexible, focused, and harmonious self to sit on the right, offering stability while feeling “lost” in the unknown. The practice emphasizes presence, radical acceptance, and saying “I don’t know,” followed by a Shel Silverstein reading on “growing down,” and closes with the three refuges: being, becoming, and belonging.Suggested Next Episode:You can also enjoy Diana's related talk--Episode 193 Secret Sangha: Growth.Related ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.

Do you keep trying to make big changes, only to burn out or get stuck at the choice point? In this episode of The Wise Effort Show, Dr. Diana Hill talks with Eric Zimmer, host of The One You Feed and author of How a Little Becomes a Lot, about why lasting transformation happens through small, consistent actions—shaped by clear values, a “middle way” mindset, supportive structure, and compassionate self-talk. Drawing from Eric’s recovery from heroin addiction, Diana’s pushup challenge, and everyday examples like food choices and pain language, they explore how to navigate motivation, self-doubt, autopilot, and other traps, and why meaningful change requires both inner skills and connection with others.Listen and learn:How “little by little” creates real change over timeHow to decide what is worth wanting and work with values conflictsHow the middle way and self-compassion help you move through setbacksShare this episode with someone who needs a steadier, more sustainable approach to change.Related ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.

Do you shut down, look away, or push yourself harder when you’re faced with suffering—your own or someone else’s? In this Secret Sangha episode of The Wise Effort Show, Dr. Diana Hill continues the month-long series on the “four immeasurables” by exploring compassion as both sensitivity to suffering and a commitment to alleviate it. Using examples from neuroscience, the Milgram experiments, and personal stories, she unpacks common blocks to compassionate action—like overwhelm, avoidance of difficult feelings, the “just world” bias, deferring to outer authority, and diffusion of responsibility. Diana offers a grounding-based compassion practice to help you stay present, connect with your values and inner authority, take responsibility with care, and build wise action from small moments to bigger conversations, including civil discourse with people you don’t understand.Listen and learn:How compassion includes both sensitivity to suffering and committed actionWhat the Milgram experiments reveal about authority, responsibility, and harmHow grounding helps you stay present and act from values and inner authorityShare this episode with someone who wants to meet suffering with steadiness and courage.Listen to the Meditation: Compassion.Related ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.

Dr. Diana Hill guides a Compassion Practice beginning with soothing rhythm breathing, slowing the breath to match one’s nervous system while breathing in clarity and breathing out tension. She then leads a grounding visualization, rooting the body into the earth and calling to mind compassionate teachers, people, or animals, distilling their wise, loving essence into light that illuminates the body and evokes a warm face, strong back, and open heart. From this “Bodhisattva” compassionate self, the listener offers care to their own current struggle, then brings in a person they find difficult and holds both perspectives with understanding. The practice expands to include the suffering of the wider community and world, offering intentions for unity, freedom from suffering, and peace, followed by silent sitting.Listen to the Diana's Secret Sangha talk on CompassionRelated ResourcesGet enhanced show notes for this episodeOrder my book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, and receive special bonus gifts.Want to become more psychologically flexible? Take Diana's "Foundations of ACT" course.Diana's EventsReserve your spot in Diana's Costa Rica retreat in 2026!See Diana at an upcoming eventConnecting With DianaSubscribe 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.Thanks to the team, Craig and Ashley Hiatt, and Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.