In a 1988 interview with “Mandala” magazine, barrier-breaking Buddhist teacher Tenzin Palmo urged people to exercise patience and persistence when it comes to self-growth. Palmo, an English native who became one of the first Western women to be ordained as a bhikṣuṇī (or Buddhist nun) in 1973, offered advice to Westerners who are beginning to practice Buddhism. "The important thing is whether or not the mind is really changing," she said, "whether our negative emotions are really coming under control, whether we are really beginning to understand ourselves… and whether in our hearts there is genuine love and caring for other people.”