The Wise Effort Show

Dr. Diana Hill
  • 5.0 (4)
  • MENTAL HEALTH
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The Wise Effort Show with Dr. Diana Hill is a show about how to live wisely. You’ll learn how to put your energy into places that matter most to you while making a difference in the world. This show is for you if: ...you’re a high achiever feeling burned out from tasks that don’t matter. ...you want to invest your energy in fulfilling and sustainable ways. ...you seek holistic living without the pressure of a rigid wellness checklist. ...you care about your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. ...you appreciate science but are open to exploring spirituality and contemplative practices. ...you have an open, beginner’s mind. ...you believe there’s a better way to live and are ready to apply your wisdom. We don’t have to burn ourselves out or engage in things that are not worth it. We can put our energy where it matters most and savor the good along the way. Join us at the Wise Effort Show!

  1. Secret Sangha: Growth

    20 HR AGO

    Secret Sangha: Growth

    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 open Suggested Next Episode:You can also enjoy Diana's related Bonus Meditation: 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 event Connecting 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.

    15 min
  2. Bonus Meditation: Growth

    20 HR AGO · BONUS

    Bonus Meditation: Growth

    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 event Connecting 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.

    27 min
  3. How A Little By Little Becomes A Lot with Eric Zimmer

    16 MAR

    How A Little By Little Becomes A Lot with Eric Zimmer

    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 setbacks Share 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 event Connecting 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.

    46 min
  4. Secret Sangha: Compassion

    14 MAR

    Secret Sangha: Compassion

    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 authority Share 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 event Connecting 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.

    16 min
  5. Bonus Meditation: Compassion

    14 MAR · BONUS

    Bonus Meditation: Compassion

    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 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 event Connecting 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.

    24 min
  6. Secret Sangha: Equanimity

    2 MAR

    Secret Sangha: Equanimity

    Do you feel thrown off balance by praise, blame, fear, or stressful news when life hits hard? In this Secret Sangha episode of The Wise Effort Show, Dr. Diana Hill continues the four-week “four immeasurables” series by focusing on equanimity—steady love—as the prior condition of balance from which pleasant and unpleasant experiences arise. She explores how the “eight worldly winds” can destabilize us, how the near enemies of equanimity show up as indifference, control, adding on stories, or acting out, and shares personal examples from her own life. Diana offers practical ways to return to steadiness through essential self-care, stillness and silence, flexible attention to what stabilizes you, remembering “enoughness,” and being the calm you seek. Listen and learn:How the “eight worldly winds” can knock you off balanceThe near enemies of equanimity: indifference, control, adding on, and acting outHow stillness, silence, and essential self-care support steady lovePractices like flexible attention, remembering enoughness, and “being the calm” you seek Share this episode with someone who could use steadier love this week. Suggested Next Episode:You can also enjoy Diana's related Bonus Meditation: Equanimity 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 event Connecting 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: Wise Effort Retreat in Costa Rica Join me for a real transformative experience on retreat at Blue Spirit in Costa Rica. Only a few spaces are left. Reserve your spot today! Diana's Retreat in Costa Rica

    13 min
  7. Bonus Meditation: Equanimity

    2 MAR · BONUS

    Bonus Meditation: Equanimity

    This breathwork and guided meditation session, led by Dr. Diana Hill, is part of the Diana's weekly Sangha community. This meditation guides a mindfulness practice beginning with “butterfly breath" and then invites listeners to rest attention on calming sounds arising from silence, adopt a stable and open posture of equanimity, and notice the natural steadiness of breathing. Listeners are asked to inquire inwardly what part of themselves needs tending to, meet sensations or emotions with steady love, and ask what that part wants them to know, responding with “I hear you, I see you.” The practice emphasizes being the spacious “prior condition” that holds sounds, feelings, worries, and others’ pain with presence, and offers three anchors to return to when off balance: breath, body/posture, and heart. Suggested Next Episode:You can also enjoy Diana's related talk--Episode 188 Secret Sangha: Equanimity. 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 event Connecting 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.

    20 min
  8. The Science of Happiness and Finding Joy with Laurie Santos

    23 FEB

    The Science of Happiness and Finding Joy with Laurie Santos

    Are you doing “all the right things” and still feeling like happiness keeps slipping through your fingers? In this episode, Dr. Diana Hill talks with Yale psychology professor and The Happiness Lab host Dr. Laurie Santos about the biggest mind traps that block joy—and the small, research-backed shifts that help you feel better in real life. Together, Diana and Laurie unpack why mind-wandering, hedonic adaptation (getting used to the good), and comparison quietly drain wellbeing—and how practices like mindfulness/savoring, treating negative emotions as helpful signals, radical acceptance, and “time affluence” can bring you back to what matters most. Key takeaways you’ll learn in this episode: The three biggest “happiness traps” (mind-wandering, adaptation, and comparison) and how to work with them.Why chasing “good vibes only” can backfire—and how to redefine happiness as flourishing.How to use negative emotions as signals (like a dashboard light) instead of problems to eliminate.Why more money and achievement often don’t move happiness much—and what tends to help more (sleep, friends, free time, and presence). Press play, then share this episode with a high-achiever friend (or anyone feeling stuck in the comparison spiral) who could use a science-backed reset on what actually creates joy. 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 event Connecting 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: Wise Effort Retreat in Costa Rica Join me for a real transformative experience on retreat at Blue Spirit in Costa Rica. Only a few spaces are left. Reserve your spot today! Diana's Retreat in Costa Rica

    53 min
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Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

The Wise Effort Show with Dr. Diana Hill is a show about how to live wisely. You’ll learn how to put your energy into places that matter most to you while making a difference in the world. This show is for you if: ...you’re a high achiever feeling burned out from tasks that don’t matter. ...you want to invest your energy in fulfilling and sustainable ways. ...you seek holistic living without the pressure of a rigid wellness checklist. ...you care about your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. ...you appreciate science but are open to exploring spirituality and contemplative practices. ...you have an open, beginner’s mind. ...you believe there’s a better way to live and are ready to apply your wisdom. We don’t have to burn ourselves out or engage in things that are not worth it. We can put our energy where it matters most and savor the good along the way. Join us at the Wise Effort Show!

Information

  • Creator
    Dr. Diana Hill
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    203
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Dr. Diana Hill
  • Show Website
    The Wise Effort Show

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