Speaker 1: Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Hi.
Speaker 1: I'm Bob Roth, and I've been teaching people to meditate
Speaker 1: for fifty years, helping them to stay calm under pressure,
Speaker 1: reboot and re energize their lives, and basically be a happier,
Speaker 1: healthier version of themselves. And now I want to help
Speaker 1: you do the same. Welcome to Stay Calm, your daily
Speaker 1: dose of calmness. Every weekday morning, I'll share a meditation story,
Speaker 1: offer a simple practical tip about how you or loved
Speaker 1: going can stay a bit calmer in your life, and
Speaker 1: then we'll end each episode together with a moment of gratitude.
Speaker 1: My hope is that I can share what I know
Speaker 1: to anyone who needs it. Ready, sit comfortably, take a
Speaker 1: few deep breaths, and let's begin today's journey. I want
Speaker 1: to tell you the story about Luke Jensen because Luke's
Speaker 1: story is indicative of what's happening in our society today,
Speaker 1: as more adults and children are being exposed to such
Speaker 1: traumatic events that they suffered the nightmare of post traumatic
Speaker 1: stress disorder or PTSD. Luke grew up in a military family.
Speaker 1: One grandfather was Navy, the other grandfather was Marine. Corps.
Speaker 1: Luke knew at an early age he wanted to go
Speaker 1: into law enforce. Me wanted to get in the military.
Speaker 1: So the first thing he did was he joined the
Speaker 1: Army Reserves as military police. Then he got a job
Speaker 1: in a local police department, where he spent two years
Speaker 1: doing undercover narcotics work. Luke was a tough guy. In
Speaker 1: two thousand nine, he got deployed to Afghanistan, confident that
Speaker 1: he could really serve his country well. In about a week,
Speaker 1: everything turned south. He said. For the first week, there
Speaker 1: was so much artillery fire, so many sirens, rockets, attacks nearby.
Speaker 1: He never slept the first week, he was asked to
Speaker 1: investigate the death of a little girl. She was the
Speaker 1: same age as his daughter. He held his little girl's
Speaker 1: body in his arms, and he said, something inside of
Speaker 1: him snapped. He realized, I'm never going to make it
Speaker 1: home to my family alive. He sunk into a depression.
Speaker 1: The depression turned to thoughts of suicide. Within a few months,
Speaker 1: he found himself in a truck parked outside of the
Speaker 1: camp with a rifle pointed at his head and his
Speaker 1: fingers trembling on the trigger. He said, at that moment
Speaker 1: when he was prepared to pull the trigger. A truck
Speaker 1: pulled up right next to him with two army rangers.
Speaker 1: They never looked at Luke, they just looked straight ahead.
Speaker 1: Luke felt so embarrassed about what he was going to
Speaker 1: do that he put down the rifle and drove back
Speaker 1: to camp. He told his superior officer immediately had a
Speaker 1: meta fact. Back to the United States, Luke felt confident
Speaker 1: that when he got back to be with his wife
Speaker 1: and two children, it would all be okay. It's never okay,
Speaker 1: not when you have trauma. One afternoon, his wife and
Speaker 1: daughter came in and he screamed, I'm going to kill myself,
Speaker 1: But just seeing the eyes of his daughter and his wife,
Speaker 1: he dropped the gun, collapse in his bed, and slept
Speaker 1: through the night. The next morning, he realized, with more
Speaker 1: conviction than ever, he had a second chance. He was
Speaker 1: going to make the best of it. Our paths crossed
Speaker 1: when he learned to meditate. It's not the answer to
Speaker 1: to all problems, but it helped him a lot. My
Speaker 1: point here is Luke had a second chance. So many
Speaker 1: of our men and women and children who suffered from
Speaker 1: post traumatic stress never get that second chance. Today, the
Speaker 1: nurses and doctors and orderlies and custodial staff that are
Speaker 1: on the front lines living the hell of PTSD. And
Speaker 1: there's another term, it's called complex PTSD. That is, you
Speaker 1: been a home where your mother or father or brother
Speaker 1: or sister has PTSD and it's contagious. You begin to
Speaker 1: experience the same symptoms irrational thinking, depression, anxiety, impulsive, violent behavior.
Speaker 1: Trauma doesn't go away over time. Trauma doesn't go away
Speaker 1: by ignoring it. It's a disease. There's so many things
Speaker 1: that need to be done to help a person who
Speaker 1: has PTSD. They need to have the right therapist, they
Speaker 1: need to have a support system. What can you do?
Speaker 1: What is the tip I can give you in a
Speaker 1: long list of things that need to be done for
Speaker 1: the loved one that you're supporting. You need to be
Speaker 1: able to listen without judgment, not coming at them with
Speaker 1: you're going to fix everything for them, and not minding
Speaker 1: if they don't want to talk. You can save a
Speaker 1: life when you listen. The other thing I will tell
Speaker 1: you is find help. The National Association of Mental Health NAMI.
Speaker 1: Google it. They have a hotline. If we want to
Speaker 1: keep calm within ourself and people around us as the
Speaker 1: world gets more intense, Listen, communicate, support each other. All right,
Speaker 1: let's end this time together doing something that I think
Speaker 1: should be a feature of our everyday life, and that's
Speaker 1: appreciation and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet,
Speaker 1: thirty seconds to take a break, just take a moment.
Speaker 1: It turns out when we do that, it's good for
Speaker 1: our health as well. I'll be right back all right.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining. This is Bob Roth. Keep calm,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard something that inspires,
Speaker 1: that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your
Speaker 1: own life. Until next time, remember, meditate, be kind, and
Speaker 1: be true to yourself. Hey, all of you out there,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your stories, your questions, or anything else on your mind.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at
Speaker 1: Meditation Bob. You can also send me an email at
Speaker 1: meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. I look forward
Speaker 1: to hearing from you one