How to Train a Happy Mind

What does compassion look like when we’re facing intense stress, trauma, or pressure? In this episode, we talk with Stephen Butler, Executive Director of the Compassion Institute, about how we can strengthen our innate capacity for compassion and use it to meet difficult situations with greater courage and resilience. 

Episode 229: How Compassion Helps Us Through High-Stress Situations

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A guided meditation on love, or loving-kindness, the expansive form of love, wishing happiness not only to friends and family but to all beings everywhere, including our enemies. In the language of Buddhism, it is metta or maitri.

Episode 26. Guided Meditation on Love

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Love is complex in our culture, tied up with finding a single person to satisfy our huge list of needs and dreams, whom we then grant the exclusive gift of our affection. But love—loving-kindness from the Buddhist perspective—is simpler, free from attachment. It's wishing others to be happy.

Episode 25: What Is Love?

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A guided meditation led by Scott Snibbe on healthy masculinity, exploring sexuality, strength, compassion, self-acceptance, and emotional connection to help men feel more whole, grounded, and deeply connected with themselves and others.

Episode 228: Healthy Masculinity: A Meditation on Sex, Strength, and Love

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One of the greatest challenges I've faced as a man hasn't been sitting on a meditation cushion—it's been understanding the woman I love most. Karen Brody has a unique perspective on modern masculinity, intimacy, and sexuality. Her insights help us understand why men and women so often misunderstand each other, how sexual confidence differs from neediness, what keeps love alive over decades together, and the surprising parallels between her work and Buddhist practice in transforming desire rather than suppressing it.

Episode 227. Sex, Strength, and Love: Karen Brody on Modern Masculinity

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One of the greatest challenges I've faced hasn't been sitting on a meditation cushion—it's been understanding the person I love most. Karen Brody has a unique perspective on modern masculinity, intimacy, and sexuality. Her insights help us understand why men and women so often misunderstand each other, how sexual confidence differs from neediness, what keeps love alive over decades together, and the surprising parallels between her work and Buddhist practice in transforming desire rather than suppressing it.

If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation comm...

Karen Brody has a unique perspective on modern masculinity, intimacy, and sexuality. She explores why men and women can misunderstand each other, how sexual confidence differs from neediness, what keeps love alive over decades together, and the surprising parallels between her work and Buddhist practice in transforming desire rather than suppressing it.

Episode 227. Sex, Strength, and Love: Karen Brody on Modern Masculinity

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The Buddhist meditation on equanimity teaches a technique to eliminate bias and expand our love and concern from family and friends to strangers and even enemies. It tames our fierce attachment to loved ones and our anger toward enemies for a stabler, happier mind and a more just and equitable world.

Episode 23: Guided Meditation: Transforming Bias with Equanimity

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In everyday life, we’re torn between fierce attachment to our loved ones and anger at those that give us trouble. But Buddhism, democracy, and social justice tell us that all people deserve the same rights and freedoms: we’re all equal, and we all deserve happiness. 

The Buddhist meditation on equanimity, applied to our everyday relationships and the painful daily news, teaches us a technique of “spiritual democracy” for developing healthy feelings of connection to others—even those we most despise.

Episode 22. Spiritual Democracy

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When uncertainty and bad news pull the mind toward pessimism, how can we cultivate genuine hope without ignoring reality?

In this guided meditation, Geshe Legtsok leads a reflection on gratitude, good fortune, impermanence, and intentional action. By recognizing the blessings in our own lives, appreciating the positive contributions of others, and remembering that change is always possible, we develop a more balanced and hopeful outlook.

Episode 226: Meditation to Cultivate Hope for the Future | Geshe Legtsok

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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

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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

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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

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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...

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...

This is a clear-eyed meditation on suffering: both what suffering is, and the mental source of suffering in our delusions of attachment, anger, and self-centered ignorance. 

We practice the antidotes to these delusions, giving us tools for a more balanced, less self-centered view of our experience that offers sustained stability and happiness through life’s challenges and desires.

16. Guided Meditation: Letting Go of Suffering

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Do we each secretly believe we matter just a little more than everyone else? That my happiness, my ambitions, my relationships carry greater weight? 

From a Buddhist perspective, this deeply ingrained belief is the root of our suffering: a delusion known as ignorance, considered the true source of everything from heartbreak and disappointment to the quiet dissatisfaction that lingers even when we get exactly what we want. 

This is a modern retelling of the Buddha’s first teaching, The Four Noble Truths, exploring the nature of suffering, its causes, and the path beyond it through a co...

In this guided meditation, Lodro Rinzler leads you through a gentle practice of mindfulness, emotional awareness, and reconnecting with your basic goodness. Beginning with simple breath awareness, this meditation helps you return to the present moment with kindness and without judgment.

In the second half of the practice, you’ll explore your emotional landscape using a powerful “yes, and” approach: acknowledging difficult feelings while also noticing the goodness that exists alongside them. This practice is a reminder that you are more than your emotions, and that peace, beauty, and connection can still be present even in hard moment...

What if that voice telling you you’re broken or fundamentally flawed is wrong? That’s the radical message of today’s guest, Buddhist teacher and best-selling author Lodro Rinzler.

His new book is called Your Good, You Are Enough. Lodro teaches a powerful idea from Tibetan Buddhism called basic goodness, that beneath all our self-doubt, anger, and anxiety, there’s something awake and whole already present in us. It sounds like a self-help slogan, but in fact, it’s something we can directly experience ourselves in meditation and in everyday life.

In this conversation, Lodro talk...

The essence of meditation is getting to know yourself alone, without social stimulus, entertainment, or reputation—what we truly are deep inside ourselves. There, we can find in our mind a place of satisfaction that’s equally at ease when we’re alone or when we’re with others.

Episode 13: Guided Meditation — Alone Together

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What do you do when you’re alone? When you’re scared, anxious, lonely, or afraid, when you feel strong craving? What do you turn to? 

In this episode, we look at where our mind runs when we feel pain, when we don’t feel balanced or whole. We’ll examine the Buddhist view on this subject that reveals a deep source of strength and support within our own minds accessible to each of us any time we need it.

Episode 14:  What do You do When You're Alone? [re-record]

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This guided meditation by Tibetan teacher Dr. Robert Thurman invites you to explore one of the most profound ideas in contemplative practice: the rarity and potential of being human.

Through breath, visualization, and focused awareness, you’ll gently shift your attention inward to the center of your being, connecting with a deeper level of consciousness often overlooked in daily life. From this still point, the meditation expands your perspective, helping you reflect on the nature of awareness, your connection to other living beings, and the unique capacity you have for insight, empathy, and growth.

Episode 220: Pr...

Can an AI really teach us how to have a happy life? Robert Thurman, one of the most respected Buddhist scholars, thinks it's possible—and he's testing out the idea with an AI avatar of himself called Dharma Bob that was just released.

Scott got a chance to sit down with both of them last week to have a chat about enlightenment, the benefits of AI, compassion, and Buddhism.

Episode 219: Can AI Teach Happiness? Meet Dharma Bob: Robert Thurman’s AI Avatar 

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This is a guided meditation for self-reflection, so you can take control of the mental cause and effect that's normally unconscious: the habits and activities conditioned by evolution, our upbringing, society, and the media. 

You can do this at the end of each day: reviewing your day, rejoicing in the positive, and finding ways to sincerely forgive yourself for anything that you regret. This way, you can sleep better and be your best self the next day.

Episode 12: Guided Meditation—Mental Cause And Effect

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Evolution, habits, and society all affect our behavior. How do we gain conscious control of our behavior, much less our thoughts? 

One method is a daily practice of self-appreciation and self-forgiveness that lets us release regret and pain to face each day with renewed presence and joy.

Episode 11: Mental Cause and Effect

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In this guided meditation, mindfulness teacher Margaret Cullen leads us into the practice of equanimity: the steady, balanced heart that can remain open in the midst of life’s constant change. 

Through gentle breath awareness and reflective phrases, this practice explores how we can care deeply for others while also recognizing the limits of our control over their happiness and suffering.

Episode 218: Equanimity Meditation for Balance and Rest

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Meditation teacher and licensed psychotherapist Margaret Cullen recently published her book, Quiet Strength: Find Peace, Feel Alive, and Love Boundlessly Through the Power of Equanimity.

In this book she reveals scientific breakthroughs and spiritual intersections that demonstrate how the power of equanimity allows us to live more fully, with balance and wisdom.

In her interview with Scott, they discuss how equanimity can help in personal relationships, taking refuge, healthy activism, struggles with mental health, personal integrity, suffering, and how to develop equanimity.

Episode 217: Feel More, React Less with Margaret Cullen

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A guided meditation on impermanence that invites you to soften fear and ease anxiety by opening to the natural flow of change in every part of life. Together we explore change at every scale of reality, from particles and possessions to homes and the natural world, and from thoughts and emotions to perceptions and relationships. 

As you learn to welcome impermanence rather than resist it, you build steadiness in the face of uncertainty, feel more present with the people around you, and discover a deeper appreciation for life’s fleeting, beautiful moments.

Episode 10. Guided Meditation - E...

We cling to things as if they won’t change, but change is the nature of reality. When we embrace impermanence, we prepare ourselves for changes (big or small). 

In this episode, we explore how to embrace impermanence in order to let go of fear and anxiety. This way we can become fully present to those around us and more appreciative of life’s fleeting pleasures.

Episode 9: Embracing Impermanence

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Scott Snibbe explores an unexpected intersection of AI, music, and love. After discovering the generative music platform Suno, he created deeply personalized songs for members of his family—turning their life stories, struggles, and triumphs into hyper-specific “love songs” in the Buddhist sense of wishing others happiness. As he shares the music and the emotional reactions it evokes, Scott reflects on how AI art, used skillfully, can transform even painful memories into meaning, lift low moods, and open the heart.

Episode 216: Generative Love: Using AI to Turn Lives Into Song

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Scott Snibbe sits down with Chris Ballew—frontman of The Presidents of the United States of America and beloved children’s artist Caspar Babypants—for a wide-ranging and deeply personal conversation about music, meditation, creativity, and walking away from conventional success. 

From Grammy nominations and rockstar fame to lullabies and “sonic totems,” Chris reflects on the inner signals that guided him toward a more sustainable, service-oriented life. 

Along the way, they dive into beginner’s mind, silliness as a byproduct of enlightenment, the emotional power of music, and the spiritual undercurrents in his music. Equal parts playful...

This guided meditation takes us through different ways of observing the mind, first examining its ever-present parts: perception, feeling, will, and awareness. 

Then we explore the nature of subjective reality itself by asking what is the mind without thoughts? 

Where is the space of our consciousness? 

And, how finely can we slice moments of consciousness? 

Do we ever arrive at a quantum of consciousness?

Episode 7. Guided Meditation: What Is the Mind?

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If the mind is our thoughts, then what is it that observes those thoughts? 

What are we without thoughts? 

Do we ever truly see an object, or only its mental reconstruction? 

Though we are all convinced that we have one, science has no agreed definition for consciousness or mind. Even subjectively, the mind is elusive, difficult to pin to any specific mental experience.

Episode 6. What Is the Mind?

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What would you do if someone pulled a gun on you? I don't think any of us really know until we're actually put into that situation. Many years ago, someone pulled a gun on me and I was surprised by how I responded. In this episode of How to Train a Happy Mind, I share that terrifying experience and reflect on how an attitude of love and compassion, at least in this one very specific instance, may have saved my life.

This episode is a recording of a talk and guided meditation I gave just a few...

Tsherin Sherpa is a remarkable Himalayan artist who draws on Buddhist iconography to explore sexuality, gender, consumerism, and identity. I first met him 25 years ago, when he was teaching thangka painting in the San Francisco Bay Area and I was a young Buddhist hoping to learn how to paint devotional images. Since then, Tsherin has become one of the most respected contemporary artists in the world, representing Nepal at the Venice Biennale.

For the full 90-minute dialogue, visit trainahappymind.org and join our Train a Happy Mind community. 

To watch the 30-minute edited version, featuring i...

A guided meditation on the preciousness of our next 24 hours alive and our unique place in the universe as science understands it: intelligent, self-aware beings at the end of 14 billion years’ cosmic and biological evolution.

Episode 5: Guided Meditation on The Preciousness of Life

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“It is not more surprising to be born twice than once,” Voltaire once said. 

In this episode we contemplate the miracle of existing at all, from our place at the end of our universe’s 14 billion years’ evolution to the simple joy of another 24 hours alive that Thich Nhat Hanh describes.

Episode 4: The Preciousness of Life from Cosmos to the Kardashians

In this talk Scott explores:

Laurie Anderson leads a meditation on death and rebirth, guiding you through the Buddhist understanding of death, the bardo, and a joyous rebirth. These tracks come from Songs from the Bardo, an album inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Meditating on death is a powerful Buddhist practice that enhances gratitude, helps you embrace impermanence, and increases mindfulness.

Laurie Anderson is one of our greatest living artists. Her work includes spoken word and performance, top-charting albums and music videos, digital art, film, virtual reality, and the invention of ingenious instruments like the tape bow violin and...

One of our most popular episodes of all time is our interview with artist and musician Laurie Anderson. Today, we're sharing a new, unedited version with almost a half hour of additional material.

For anyone unfamiliar with Laurie’s work, many people consider her one of our planet’s greatest living artists. Her work spans spoken word and performance, top-charting albums and music videos, digital art, film, virtual reality, and the invention of ingenious instruments like the tape bow violin and the talking stick.

Laurie’s won a Grammy Award and many other honors, and she co...

A complete guided meditation session expanding your compassion, stabilizing concentration on the breath, and observing your thoughts.

Episode 3: Guided Meditation: Stabilizing the Mind and Watching Thoughts

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