In the United States, we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday this week. It’s a time that brings up a variety of challenges for many people: family conflicts, political disagreements, concerns about overeating, and the painful historical roots of the holiday in colonial exploitation of Indigenous people.
In this episode, we share a private talk and meditation Scott gave to the Train a Happy Mind community last Thanksgiving. In it, he grapples openly with these issues, while exploring how we can still make the holiday meaningful.
How can we use the deeper spirit of Thanksgiving—generosity and gratitude—to expand compassion and awareness to include all beings across the planet?
In this episode you'll learn:
How to Celebrate Thanksgiving In a New Way
How to Do the Buddhist Practice of Universalizing
What Are the Five Delusions in Buddhism
What Are the Antidotes to Buddhist Delusions
How To Stay Open Through Both Pleasure and Pain
Overview:
01:55 The Problematic Side of Thanksgiving
03:45 A Broader Kind of Gathering
08:02 Universalizing: How to Create a Mind of Sharing and Generosity
11:21 Starting the Meditation: Settling In
12:25 The Five Delusions
16:12 Stabilize the Mind
17:50 Love and Compassion
23:52 Universalizing Thanksgiving
This Earth Day, I’ll be sitting down with one of the most inspiring voices on climate and the future—author Kim Stanley Robinson—for a live online conversation hosted by UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism.
We’ll explore how his work offers real hope in the face of the climate crisis—a chance to imagine not just what could go wrong—but what could go right.
It’s free, April 22nd at 5:30pm Pacific. Sign up here to watch on Zoom.
If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.
