‘India dismantled my Western worldview’: Harvard-trained psychologist shares 8 life-changing lessons after a trip to India

A journey abroad can often become a catalyst for deep personal change. For one American woman, a visit to India proved to be a transformative experience that fundamentally reshaped how she viewed life and the world around her.

A Harvard-trained psychologist, Lorwen C Nagle, recently reflected on the lasting impact of her time in India in a post shared on X.



Sharing her reflection, she wrote, “I'm American. After my PhD, I went to India. What I experienced dismantled my Western worldview. Here are 8 lessons that permanently rewired how I see life.”

1. Control is an illusion
Arriving in India, she recalled being pushed onto a crowded bus bound for Haridwar and the banks of the Ganges, where her sense of personal space and control vanished almost instantly. Her backpack disappeared beneath a herd of goats and a pile of dead fish, and in that moment, she realised that nothing truly belonged to her anymore. The experience, though chaotic, taught her a lasting lesson about surrender and acceptance — let go, or suffer.


2. Time Isn't Money
According to Lorwen C Nagle, her time in India reshaped how she understood the concept of time itself. She explained that while Western culture treats time as something to be managed and optimised, her experiences in India revealed a more fluid and relational approach. Reflecting on this shift, she wrote, “In India, 24-hour train rides felt eternal. My lesson: When time stops being a resource, it becomes a relationship.”


3. Happiness Isn't Circumstantial
What stayed with me for 30+ years is the radiant smile from a young man with no arms or legs.
My lesson: Joy comes from inside, not outcomes.

4. Pain can be sacred
A cow sits at the entrance of Vishwanath Gali -- a famous market in Varanasi.
But, this is no ordinary cow.
He's utterly helpless, with two front legs bent in a manner that makes it impossible for him to walk.
Yet, he's fed, bathed, and adorned with flowers daily.
My lesson: We are divinely held, whether we know it or not.

5. Sacred spaces change you
In Rishikesh, I crossed Lakshman Jhula and stepped into the Ganges.
Sand between my toes. Cold water washing over my body.
You don’t think about meaning there.
You feel it.
In America, most spaces are built for speed, convenience, and consumption.
Very few are built to slow the soul.
My lesson: Environments shape our consciousness.

6. Boundaries dissolve
On one visit, I was invited to a Palkhi festival in the jungles of Maharashtra.
I was 1 of 3 Westerners in a crowd of 50K+ Indians.
The wild monkeys and the jungle created a powerful image of dissolved boundaries between the human and natural worlds, the individual and the collective...
My lesson: We are not separate.

7. “Normal” is relative
At the Palkhi festival, I had two small cans of tuna from America.
I ate one and casually set the empty can behind a cement wall.
The next day, a crowd gathered around it.
“Look what we found! What is this?”
In the U.S., it was trash.
In India, it was a mystery.
My lesson:
Your reality isn’t universal.

8. Death isn’t hidden
My boyfriend and I sat every evening for over a month at Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi.
Night after night, we watched skulls being broken and limbs fall from the fire.
Nothing was concealed.
Nothing was softened.
Death wasn’t something to avoid.
It was something to witness.
My lesson: When impermanence is visible, life becomes sacred.