Transforming Powerlessness in Times of Crises

What would you do if you were not afraid?

How are feelings of powerlessness hindering you?

What helps you feel your power to make a difference?

How can our mindfulness practice help?

Dharma Teacher John Bell responds to these questions and empowers us to explore our feelings of powerlessness, its root causes, and how to heal and transform these feelings to even better fulfill our aspiration to make a difference to help a suffering world. 

This workshop is a part of Deer Park Monastary's new Monthly Engaged Buddhism Series featuring Lay Dharma Teachers in the Plum Village Tradition. This series is for mindfulness practitioners around the world who want to learn more about engaged practice and how to build service-based mindfulness communities.

About the Facilitator

John Bell met Thich Nhat Hanh in 1982, ordained in his Order of Interbeing in 2001, and is a Dharma Teacher in the Plum Village tradition. He has been facilitating the Mountain Bell Sangha in the Boston area since 1997, offers retreats around the country, writes and publishes, and currently serves on the Beloved Community Circles CTC, and formerly served on the Earth Holders Community CTC, the ARISE core group, and the CTC of the North American Plum Village Dharma Teachers Sangha. In his wide world work, he is a founding staff and former vice president of YouthBuild USA, an international non-profit that provides learning, earning, and leadership opportunities to young people from low-income backgrounds. He has done training for the Peace Corps in Africa and South America. He is an author, lifelong social justice activist, international trainer facilitator, partner, father and grandfather. 

His blog is www.beginwithin.info. His forthcoming book from Parallax Press is entitled Unbroken Wholeness: Six Pathways to the Beloved Community

This workshop took place on 3rd May 2024, hosted by Br Phap Luu.