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: one 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 about my friend Joey. I first met
Speaker 1: Joey when he was fifteen years old, had autism spectrum disorder,
Speaker 1: and his mother, who I had taught to meditate a
Speaker 1: few years before, called me up and said Joey was
Speaker 1: experiencing a lot of anxiety. He's a normal fifteen year
Speaker 1: old kid, and he wanted to have friends, and he
Speaker 1: wanted to have a girlfriend, and his physical on his
Speaker 1: social awkwardness and the fact that he was nonverbal was
Speaker 1: creating a huge amount of anxiety and was breaking his
Speaker 1: mom's heart. She thought maybe meditation could have an effect,
Speaker 1: so she brought Joey in to meet with me. And
Speaker 1: the first day with Joey was a bit of a
Speaker 1: challenge because he didn't want to close his eyes. It
Speaker 1: frightened him, so we took it very slowly. The first
Speaker 1: day he had his eyes closed for half a minute,
Speaker 1: and then the second day a little bit longer, in
Speaker 1: the third day a little bit longer. After about a
Speaker 1: week or so, he was meditating with his eyes closed
Speaker 1: for five or ten minutes, and by the end of
Speaker 1: the two months, he was meditating fifteen minutes twice a
Speaker 1: day by himself or with his mom, just sitting comfortably
Speaker 1: in a chair with his eyes closed. So about four
Speaker 1: weeks in I went over to visit Joey and his
Speaker 1: mom and we were having tea and I asked Joey
Speaker 1: how the meditation was going, and because he's nonverbal, he
Speaker 1: wrote out on a letter board, which is like an iPad.
Speaker 1: He typed, I like it, and I said, what do
Speaker 1: you like? About and he said it's very relaxing. And
Speaker 1: I said, well, how's the meditation helping your mom? And
Speaker 1: he smiled and he typed back in t M calms
Speaker 1: the mom. So he had a good laugh over that.
Speaker 1: I said, well, what is it do you like about
Speaker 1: the meditation and he said it's easy to do, and
Speaker 1: I said what do you mean? And he typed in
Speaker 1: and he looked up at me and it was very heartfelt,
Speaker 1: almost tears in his eyes. He said, Mr, Roth, I
Speaker 1: can do it. That simple phrase went very deep in me,
Speaker 1: because it's tough enough being a teenager these days anyway,
Speaker 1: there's so much insecurity, so much self doubt, and when
Speaker 1: you are a normal kid but you have these learning disabilities,
Speaker 1: it's magnified. He could do this meditation, he could find
Speaker 1: deep relaxation. His mom said that he was much more relaxed,
Speaker 1: he was easier around other people, and he was actually
Speaker 1: doing better with his school. It made me realize Number one,
Speaker 1: to appreciate his mom. That his mom valued him so
Speaker 1: much that she was willing to look beyond a medicinal
Speaker 1: or even a therapeutic approaches which he participated in both
Speaker 1: into something as simple and innovative as transcendental meditation. What
Speaker 1: I took away from this and what I carried with
Speaker 1: me all along, is that our kids have a tough time.
Speaker 1: We overschedule them and we push them, or if we
Speaker 1: don't push him, society pushes him, social media pushes him.
Speaker 1: It's a real issue and the notion the idea to
Speaker 1: show our kids that we value time taken out for
Speaker 1: something non task or end something that is about self care.
Speaker 1: It's a hugely important message and a hugely important tool
Speaker 1: to equip our kids with going forward. This idea of
Speaker 1: keep calm. It's not about some superficial thing take a
Speaker 1: few breaths and now you feel better, which you don't.
Speaker 1: It's about making those kind of foundational changes in our lives.
Speaker 1: They can ensure that we're in a position to express
Speaker 1: our creativity, our intelligence, give our body the time it
Speaker 1: needs to heal and to deal with the interior issues
Speaker 1: of our life. The tip I have that we can
Speaker 1: do to contribute towards a substantial calm, a transformative calm
Speaker 1: and inner peace is the value of rest our. Whole
Speaker 1: culture is just do it. Push, go go, go go go.
Speaker 1: It's highly competitive, highly pressured, but scheduled into the one
Speaker 1: thousand and forty minutes of our day needs to be
Speaker 1: time spent for transcendental meditation, other forms of meditation, creative enterprises, exercise.
Speaker 1: If you're a parent, give your kids the time to
Speaker 1: be off task for a while. Give your kids the
Speaker 1: tools to make enjoyable use of that off time, not
Speaker 1: just surfing online, but something as simple and valuable as meditation.
Speaker 1: All right, let's end this time together doing something that
Speaker 1: I think should be a feature of our everyday life,
Speaker 1: and that's appreciation and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds
Speaker 1: of quiet, thirty seconds to take a break, just take
Speaker 1: a moment. It turns out when we do that, it's
Speaker 1: good for our health as well. I'll be right back,
Speaker 1: all right. Thank you for joining. This is Bob Roth.
Speaker 1: Keep calm, Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard
Speaker 1: something that inspires, that uplifts you and that you can
Speaker 1: incorporate into your own life. Until next time, remember, meditate,
Speaker 1: be kind, and be true to yourself. Hey, all of
Speaker 1: you out there, I'd love to hear from you. You
Speaker 1: can send me your stories, your questions, or anything else
Speaker 1: on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: or Instagram at hashtag meditation Bob. You can also send
Speaker 1: me an email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: I look forward to hearing from you.