How to Train a Happy Mind

Pleasure is often viewed as a hindrance to the spiritual path, a hotbed of craving and attachment, but what if we told you that pleasure can actually be a positive part of the spiritual path, a portal to love and happiness?Episode 84: Pleasure and Buddhism: Food, Sex and Netflix on the Path to EnlightenmentSupport the show

In this imaginative and hopeful episode, Rob Hopkins—founder of the Transition movement and author of How to Fall in Love with the Future—guides listeners through a vivid meditation envisioning the year 2030. Drawing on years of community activism and storytelling, Rob invites us to step through a metaphorical door into a future shaped by collective action, resilience, and radical imagination. What might our cities, communities, and daily lives look like if we did everything we could to build a better world? This episode offers a powerful glimpse into that possibility.Episode 206: Meditation on Falling in Love with the Future—Rob HopkinsSupport the show

Rob Hopkins is one of the people doing the most to assure that humanity has a healthy, thriving, and happy future. I was blown away by his new book, How to Fall in Love With the Future, which describes a radical new type of climate activism he's invented. Instead of bemoaning the current state of the world, he invites us to imagine the world we want to live in—that's just around the corner—and then do everything we can to make it a reality.Join me now to find out how to fall in love with the future.Episode 205: How to Fall in Love with the Future—Rob HopkinsSupport the show

This episode turns to one of the most universal human struggles: anger. Scott Snibbe explores how Buddhist psychology defines anger as a delusion: an exaggeration of the negative that blinds us to the good and fuels the wish to harm. Drawing on timeless wisdom, this meditation offers parents (and anyone else who wrestles with anger) practical antidotes rooted in curiosity and compassion.Episode 204: Meditation for Angry ParentsThe How to Train A Happy Mind e-book has been selected for a Kindle deal all through October. That means it's 90% off the whole month, a dollar 99. If you ever wanted to get a copy or wanna give one to a friend, now's a great time. BUY AT AMAZON.COMSupport the show

Host Scott Snibbe offers touching personal stories and a meditation on how to best love our parents and our children using powerful Buddhist teachings and techniques on understanding, listening, and compassion.Episode 76: Loving Our Parents, Loving Our ChildrenThe How to Train A Happy Mind e-book has been selected for a Kindle deal all through October. That means it's 90% off the whole month, a dollar 99. If you ever wanted to get a copy or wanna give one to a friend, now's a great time. BUY AT AMAZON.COMSupport the show

Join Geshe Sherab for a deeply reflective guided meditation on the emptiness of self—one of the core insights of Buddhist wisdom. Gently explore how the sense of “I” arises, appears, and ultimately dissolves under careful examination. This session invites you to rest in the awareness that the self, as it seems, is empty of inherent existence—opening the door to deeper freedom, compassion, and clarity. This guided journey is perfect for both beginners and experienced practitioners looking to deepen their understanding of emptiness.Episode #203: Emptiness of Self Guided Meditation with Geshe SherabThe How to Train A Happy Mind e-book has been selected for a Kindle deal all through October. That means it's 90% off the whole month, a dollar 99. If you ever wanted to get a copy or wanna give one to a friend, now's a great time. BUY AT AMAZON.COMSupport the show

We’ve reached the last in our series of episodes this year on Buddhism’s six perfections. The final perfection is described as emptiness, wisdom, or insight. These are all ways of naming the indescribable experience of discovering ourselves to be utterly interconnected with all of life, the universe, and everything.My guest for this profound, but sometimes difficult-to-grasp subject is Geshe Sherab. For those unfamiliar with the title Geshe, it refers to those who have completed a 20-year course of study in Tibetan Buddhism, becoming highly qualified teachers and scholars. The Dalai Lama himself is a geshe.In my conversation with Geshe Sherab, he shares how emptiness is not just a philosophical idea, but a practical antidote to anguish, craving, loneliness, and many of life’s difficulties. He also shares personal stories—including the loneliness of leaving his culture to share Buddhism with contemporary Westerners like me, and many of you who listen to this podcast.I think you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as I did.Episode #202: What is Emptiness? with Geshe SherabThe How to Train A Happy Mind e-book has been selected for a Kindle deal all through October. That means it's 90% off the whole month, a dollar 99. If you ever wanted to get a copy or wanna give one to a friend, now's a great time. BUY AT AMAZON.COMSupport the show

This rebroadcast episode is in honor of the recent passing of Dr. Larry Ward. May his wisdom live on.***Dr. Larry Ward—student of Thich Nhat Hanh and author of America's Racial Karma—leads a short but powerful breath awareness meditation.Episode 191: 5-Minute Breath Awareness MeditationThe How to Train A Happy Mind e-book has been selected for a Kindle deal all through October. That means it's 90% off the whole month, a dollar 99. If you ever wanted to get a copy or wanna give one to a friend, now's a great time. BUY AT AMAZON.COMSupport the show

This rebroadcast episode is in honor of the recent passing of Dr. Larry Ward. May his wisdom live on.***Scott talks with Dr. Larry Ward, a student of Thich Nhat Hanh, and author of America's Racial Karma. His book is about how we heal from the trauma of racism, not just as a society, but in our own minds and bodies. In our conversation, Dr. Ward shares a profound truth: racism is a fiction, but one with very real consequences, and it lives not only in the structures of our society, but in our thoughts, our speech, and our nervous systems.Episode 190: Healing America's Racial Karma with Larry WardThe How to Train A Happy Mind e-book has been selected for a Kindle deal all through October. That means it's 90% off the whole month, a dollar 99. If you ever wanted to get a copy or wanna give one to a friend, now's a great time. BUY AT AMAZON.COMSupport the show

What happens when you die? No one knows for sure. But the Tibetan Buddhist system describes a precise series of steps that our consciousness may experience as we die, which we can explore in a meditation to probe the boundary of life and death with curiosity and wonder.Episode 58: What Happens When You Die?The How to Train A Happy Mind e-book has been selected for a Kindle deal all through October. That means it's 90% off the whole month, a dollar 99. If you ever wanted to get a copy or wanna give one to a friend, now's a great time. BUY AT AMAZON.COMSupport the show