How to Train a Happy Mind

What if we've been looking at the modern world all wrong?
Despite the headlines, extreme poverty has plummeted, knowledge is more accessible than ever, and ancient meditation practices are spreading across the globe. In this conversation, Geshe Tenzin Legtsok suggests that humanity may not be living in the worst of times, but on the edge of an unprecedented opportunity for wisdom, compassion, and human flourishing.
Episode 225: Is This Actually the Best Time to Be Alive? — Geshe Legtsok
Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE
If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.
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Dostoevsky is often credited with saying, “The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison.” The practice of renunciation begins by recognizing the ways we're already trapped—by anger, craving, impatience, and the endless search for satisfaction outside ourselves. 
This meditation helps us see these patterns clearly and turn toward a deeper source of freedom, discovering a refuge within our own mind that no external circumstance can provide.

Episode 18. Guided Meditation - Renunciation
Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE
If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.
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What do The Matrix and Jerry Seinfeld have in common with Buddhist wisdom? In this episode, Scott explores the practice of renunciation—not giving up life's pleasures, but letting go of the mistaken belief that lasting happiness comes from external circumstances. 
Through insights from The Matrix, comedy, and Buddhist psychology, discover how true freedom begins when we stop blaming the world for our suffering and start transforming our own minds.
Episode 17: The Red Pill of Renunciation: Embracing Reality As It Is
Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE
If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.
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Following the passing of Robert Thurman, we wanted to revisit one of our favorite conversations with the beloved scholar, teacher, and pioneer who helped bring Tibetan Buddhist wisdom to the modern world.
A former monk ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Columbia University professor, bestselling author, and co-founder of Tibet House US, Thurman devoted his life to sharing profound insights on compassion, interconnectedness, and human flourishing. His books, teachings, and joyful spirit inspired generations of students and seekers around the world.
In this memorable conversation, we explore the illusion of separateness, the nature of reality, and the possibility that our deepest nature is joy itself. Thurman once said this was one of his favorite interviews, and we’re grateful to share it again in celebration of his extraordinary life and enduring legacy.
Episode 224: Remembering Robert Thurman: Psychonaut, Scholar, and Friend 
Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE
If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.
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So many of us get lost in terror about humanity’s future, but how often do we ask, “What’s our best possible future?” Bestselling author and climate activist Kim Stanley Robinson joined Scott on Earth Day this year for an urgent and hopeful conversation at UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism.

This is the third time we've been fortunate enough to have Stan on the podcast, and this time we traced a through line across humanity’s past, present, and future through three of Scott's favorite books of Stan's: The Ministry for the Future, High Sierra: A Love Story, and Shaman.

Where do we find hope in the face of the climate crisis? How can we reconnect with the extraordinary nature that, for many of us, is right outside our door? And what can our ancestors from 30,000 years ago teach us about living in balance with the planet and one another today? Find out in today's episode.
Episode 223: Our Best Possible Future—Kim Stanley Robinson

Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE
If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.
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