Speaker 1: Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Stay Calm, your daily dose of calmness. I'm Bob Roth,
Speaker 1: and I've been teaching people to meditate for fifty years,
Speaker 1: helping them to stay calm under pressure, reboot and re
Speaker 1: energize their lives, and basically be a happier, healthier version
Speaker 1: of themselves. And now I want to help you do
Speaker 1: the same. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths,
Speaker 1: and let's begin today's journey. I want you to stop
Speaker 1: and think for a moment. Have you ever had something
Speaker 1: traumatic happened to you, an unexpected loss of a family
Speaker 1: member or friend, messy breakup of a relationship, a shattering
Speaker 1: job loss. But instead of destroying you, you grew from
Speaker 1: that experience, learn something valuable about yourself, made you appreciate
Speaker 1: life a little or a lot more. This is what
Speaker 1: psychologists call post traumatic growth. This is what happens when
Speaker 1: we use the pain from a loss for something bigger,
Speaker 1: to make a healthy change in our life, to grow,
Speaker 1: and when we look back, as painful as it was,
Speaker 1: we might even be grateful it happened because the new
Speaker 1: US is stronger inside. I tell you all this because
Speaker 1: we met a perfect example of someone on the journey
Speaker 1: of post traumatic growth. As you recall, Dusty was a
Speaker 1: twenty year Army veteran and was diagnosed with all the
Speaker 1: symptoms of PTSD post traumatic stress disorder. Fortunately, time and
Speaker 1: great good fortune led Dusty to meet his now current wife, Charlene,
Speaker 1: who introduced him to transcendental meditation, which helped him get sober, healthy,
Speaker 1: reconnect with friends, find a purpose to his life. That story,
Speaker 1: the very real healing power of meditation in and of itself,
Speaker 1: would have been enough to merit a segment on this
Speaker 1: PODT cast, But I learned a lot more about Dusty
Speaker 1: that I wanted to share with you. Because Dusty didn't
Speaker 1: just get better and leave it at that. Dusty made
Speaker 1: it his life's work to do something great. He resolved
Speaker 1: to save the lives of his fellow veterans, so he
Speaker 1: trained as a TM meditation teacher, brought the technique to
Speaker 1: veteran suffering from traumatic brain injury at the Eisenhower v
Speaker 1: A Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, and then he became
Speaker 1: executive director of the Boulder Crest Veterans Retreat Centers. His
Speaker 1: responsibility to bring meditation and other evidence based healing modalities
Speaker 1: to thousands and thousands of veterans and their families to
Speaker 1: help them not just cope with trauma, but start and
Speaker 1: sustain a journey towards post traumatic growth, to turn, as
Speaker 1: Dusty would say, their struggle into strength. I tell you
Speaker 1: all this because dusty story is particularly relevant for so
Speaker 1: many of us right now. While we are not soldiers
Speaker 1: on the front lines of a battle, nonetheless, many of
Speaker 1: us are traumatized by isolation, uncertainty, and extreme fear. During
Speaker 1: the coronavirus crisis, there is a complete upheaval in what
Speaker 1: was once reassuringly called normal life. What can Dusty tell
Speaker 1: us about his veterans program for post traumatic growth that
Speaker 1: we might incorporate into our own lives so we can
Speaker 1: move towards healing and growth during these tumultuous days. I
Speaker 1: asked Dusty about the difference between what he provides veterans
Speaker 1: at Boulder Crest and the conventional treatments offered to veterans
Speaker 1: by many VA hospitals and other treatment centers. Dusty said,
Speaker 1: at many VA hospitals, veterans get treatments for their problems,
Speaker 1: whereas at Boulder Crest, veterans get training for growth. At
Speaker 1: a v A, there's a focus on the disorder created
Speaker 1: by the trauma, talking about the trauma, reliving the trauma,
Speaker 1: taking medications for the trauma, leaving the veteran to feel,
Speaker 1: in Dusty's word, diminished. Whereas a bouldercrest, the veterans focus
Speaker 1: on positive life affirming experiences such as meditation, but also hiking, fishing, cooking,
Speaker 1: along with journaling and support groups. There's a focus on upliftment,
Speaker 1: on transforming the inner struggle for survival to the power
Speaker 1: of inner strength to make life more meaningful. While under lockdown,
Speaker 1: we can meditate, and we can journal, and we can
Speaker 1: focus on our strength and our life ahead rather than
Speaker 1: dwell on the past. And we can find a support group.
Speaker 1: And that is my final takeaway from Dusty. It's hard
Speaker 1: to do it alone. It's hard to make it by yourself.
Speaker 1: You need support. We all do. We all need family,
Speaker 1: and if we don't have family, then we need our friends.
Speaker 1: As Dusty says quote, we know that life is full
Speaker 1: of ups and downs, and we also know that dealing
Speaker 1: with struggle requires mentors and a strong own network of support.
Speaker 1: So here's my health tip for the day. Meditate and
Speaker 1: find your mentor find your support group. All right, let's
Speaker 1: end this time together doing something that I think should
Speaker 1: be a feature of our everyday life, and that's appreciation
Speaker 1: and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty
Speaker 1: seconds to take a break, just take a moment. It
Speaker 1: turns out when we do that, it's good for our
Speaker 1: health as well. I'll be right back all right. Thank
Speaker 1: you for joining. This is Bob Broth. Keep calm, Thanks
Speaker 1: 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.