Tibetan Buddhist teacher Glen Svensson discusses effective methods for establishing a home meditation practice without attending in-person retreats.
Insight
Svensson: Maintaining daily meditation alone requires support from a community
“What we need to do, I think if we really want to change our life and to meditate regularly, we need help. We need to find other like-minded people who are trying to do something similar and to get connected with them. And to help each other, support each other…”
Insight
Svensson: People stay constantly busy to distract themselves from unsettled minds
“One reason is that often in the modern world, it's felt like if you're not doing something, you're not being productive. So therefore just do something. And then the other reason that we often fill up our day is that with things is if we're not really doing an…”
Insight
Svensson: Reflecting on impermanence frees up your time for meditation
“So if we really reflect on the fact that we've got a life of opportunity, and it's not going to last forever, then what you're going to find is a lot of these things that we fill up our day with, that don't really bring us much, we're going to lose interest in…”
Opinion
Svensson: Leaving a corporate IT career meant abandoning a dysfunctional lifestyle
“All that that career was really giving me was some money and then some little sensory pleasures, and very quickly that really doesn't satisfy anymore. So I didn't feel like I was giving up something. In fact, I felt like I was giving up, ah, a dysfunctional wa…”
Insight
Svensson: Choosing between a career and spiritual practice is a false dichotomy
“You know, in terms of career, you know, often people talk about, you know, should I do the career thing or the spiritual thing? I think this is a wrong way of thinking. Because, you know, for most of us, a career is what we require to have financial stability.…”
Insight
Svensson: High-earning Fortune 500 CEOs are often miserable without internal happiness
“You know, if we have this idea or this world view that the source of my happiness is coming from out there in the world, then I think no matter what career we have, even if we're really a CEO of a Fortune 500 company and earning millions of dollars a year, I t…”