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 a
Speaker 1: loved one can stay a bit calmer in your life,
Speaker 1: and then we'll end each episode together with a moment
Speaker 1: of gratitude. My hope is that I can share what
Speaker 1: I know to anyone who needs it. Ready, sit comfortably,
Speaker 1: take a few deep breaths, and let's begin today's journey.
Speaker 1: I want to talk with you today about Jerry Seinfeld,
Speaker 1: not his humor, but about the brain and about creativity.
Speaker 1: I got a phone call that Jerry Seinfeld would like
Speaker 1: me to teach his wife and children transcendental meditation. So
Speaker 1: the way that you learned t M is taught over
Speaker 1: four consecutive days for about one hour a day each day,
Speaker 1: and on the second day I was back at their
Speaker 1: house and Jerry walked in and I was talking about
Speaker 1: the importance of meditating twice a day, once in the
Speaker 1: morning for fifteen or twenty minutes and once in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: And he interrupted. He said, twice a day. I've just
Speaker 1: been meditating once a day. Why would I do twice
Speaker 1: a day? And I said, well, actually, the research shows
Speaker 1: meditation in the morning wakes up the brain, and then
Speaker 1: you do again in the afternoon when you're tired, and
Speaker 1: it washes off the stress and then you sleep better
Speaker 1: at night. And he was doubtful, but I said, we'll
Speaker 1: just try it for two weeks. So he called me
Speaker 1: in two weeks and he said, it's a game changer.
Speaker 1: What he loved about transcendental meditations the rest was deeper
Speaker 1: than sleep, so he had much more energy and far
Speaker 1: more creativity. That's what I want to talk about right now.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the creative process. How does
Speaker 1: meditation allow Jerry Seinfeld to be more creative? The creative
Speaker 1: process we employ every moment of our day when we're
Speaker 1: solving minute problems, little squabbles with the kids who are
Speaker 1: trying to figure out finances, and there's a problem at work,
Speaker 1: and for the longest time, there was this thought the
Speaker 1: creativity was lodged in the right hemisphere of your brain,
Speaker 1: and if you are analytical and a numbers crunchure and mathematician,
Speaker 1: then you are a left hemisphere person. Well, it turns
Speaker 1: out as widespread as that understanding was, it's not true.
Speaker 1: Creativity is a product of networks within the brain. One
Speaker 1: of the key networks and the creative process is the
Speaker 1: ability to focus, to concentrate to get the job done,
Speaker 1: and that is lodged in the front of the brain,
Speaker 1: in an area called the attention network or the executive
Speaker 1: control network. Scientists were wondering what happens when you're not
Speaker 1: focused and productive, when you're not working hard. They found
Speaker 1: out that there is in fact a complex series of
Speaker 1: networks in the back of the brain, the middle of
Speaker 1: the brain, in the front of the brain, which they
Speaker 1: called the default mode network. And they were kind of
Speaker 1: dismissive about that part of the brain. They said, that
Speaker 1: was this sort of the wandering brain, the daydreaming brain,
Speaker 1: the unproductive brain. But now they have a new name
Speaker 1: for it. That part of your brain is now called
Speaker 1: the imagination network, or better yet, the genius lounge. And
Speaker 1: that's where innovative, nonlinear, very creative ideas bubble up. The
Speaker 1: default mode network is activated. Sometimes when you're taking a
Speaker 1: hot shower, or you go for a long walk where
Speaker 1: you're listening to music and you've been trying to solve
Speaker 1: a problem and do answer comes some change in venue,
Speaker 1: some change in the activity where the mind can just rest.
Speaker 1: We are not stuck with the level of creativity or
Speaker 1: problem solving that we have. Now we can do some
Speaker 1: very foundational things that can awaken the imagination network that
Speaker 1: can actually strengthen the communication between all the different parts
Speaker 1: of the brain. It starts first and foremost with some
Speaker 1: meditation techniques, exercise, giving yourself downtime to not work hard.
Speaker 1: One of the most significant tools for waking up creativity
Speaker 1: and the imagination network. Sleep. Every day, I'm going to
Speaker 1: offer a tip that we can do to contribute towards
Speaker 1: a substantial calm, a transformative calm, an inner peace that
Speaker 1: can help us navigate our lives. We know getting enough
Speaker 1: sleep can wake up our creativity. So my tip to
Speaker 1: you is get a good night's sleep by breaking your
Speaker 1: habit to something called blue light. Blue light emanates from
Speaker 1: your computer screen, your television screen, your smartphone. Blue light
Speaker 1: suppresses melatonin, which is the sleep hormone which allows us
Speaker 1: to get a good night's sleep. So I would suggest,
Speaker 1: as impossible as this may sound, if you want to
Speaker 1: get a good night's sleep, then turn off your television,
Speaker 1: particularly if it's in your bedroom, close your laptop, put
Speaker 1: your cell phone on mute an hour before bed. Don't
Speaker 1: just do it once, do it for several days and
Speaker 1: see if it helps. It'll sure help over time. 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
Speaker 1: inspires that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into
Speaker 1: your own life. Until next time, remember, meditate, be kind,
Speaker 1: and be true to yourself. Pay 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