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'd like to tell you about Tanya Malcolm, who's an
Speaker 1: emergency room registered nurse at one of the large hospitals
Speaker 1: outside of Washington, d C. On the front lines of
Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen epidemic. Tanya is also a member of
Speaker 1: the National Advisory Board of the Heal the Healers Now Initiative,
Speaker 1: which is bringing evidence based meditation to doctors nurses, orderlies,
Speaker 1: custodial staff to help them overcome the ravages of post
Speaker 1: traumatic stress disorder that they're experiencing right now, much like
Speaker 1: what veterans report when they come back from combat. I
Speaker 1: want to tell you the story about Tanya and some
Speaker 1: of the lessons that she's learned. Her experiences as an
Speaker 1: emergency room nurse are to the extreme, perhaps, but all
Speaker 1: of us now or in the future are going to
Speaker 1: be caregivers. All of us are going to have an
Speaker 1: elderly parent to take care of who may be suffering
Speaker 1: from Alzheimer's, a child who has some learning difficulties, spouse,
Speaker 1: a partner who suffers from deep depression, all of whom
Speaker 1: need our time and attention. So Tanya's experience in the
Speaker 1: emergency room is one of sheer hell. Tanya is a
Speaker 1: triage nurse, which means that all the patients who come
Speaker 1: into the hospital, she screens them first. She said. The
Speaker 1: fear and the anxiety that all the staff are feeling
Speaker 1: is palpable. She said. One of the biggest things is
Speaker 1: she has to isolate the patients from their families. Wife
Speaker 1: drives her husband of forty years to the hospital because
Speaker 1: he has symptoms of coronavirus and she has to leave
Speaker 1: the hospital. She may never see him again. She also said,
Speaker 1: is such a stress when she goes home, and she's
Speaker 1: so afraid that she's going to bring the virus to
Speaker 1: her two children. So she has not hugged her children
Speaker 1: or her husband in over a month. All this pressure
Speaker 1: builds up against the desire to be a nurse. She
Speaker 1: loves nursing, she loves caregiving, so this is great battle
Speaker 1: going on inside for Tanya. The practice of meditation has
Speaker 1: been an absolute life saver because she can take a
Speaker 1: break in the middle of the day, go into the
Speaker 1: women's bathroom or the chapel, the quiet room somewhere in
Speaker 1: the hospital, and take twenty minutes and do her TM
Speaker 1: transcendental meditation. It eliminates the build up of stress, wakes
Speaker 1: up her mind. It's like a rebooting so that she
Speaker 1: can face these people who come with such fear, and
Speaker 1: she can do it with love and with a smile
Speaker 1: on her face. Again. Tanya's situation, while to the extreme,
Speaker 1: is a situation that either many of you are facing
Speaker 1: now or will face in the future. If there was
Speaker 1: one piece of advice that Tanya would have for all
Speaker 1: of us in a caregiver role is do not take
Speaker 1: it on yourself. It's so important to have people you
Speaker 1: can talk to, people you can share your experiences, people
Speaker 1: you could cry with if you need to, people you
Speaker 1: could vent your anger and your frustration. Yes, you should
Speaker 1: definitely look into meditation, exercise, take time for yourself. Avoid
Speaker 1: the kind of thinking that only I can handle this problem.
Speaker 1: Why should I get any time off my husband, wife?
Speaker 1: You fill in the blanket suffering. Those are self defeating
Speaker 1: and destructive thoughts. My message don't let the pressure bottle
Speaker 1: up inside of you. Find people you can talk to,
Speaker 1: share your experiences, and at the same time take care
Speaker 1: of yourself. All right, let's end this time together doing
Speaker 1: something that I think should be a feature of our
Speaker 1: everyday life, and that's appreciation and gratitude. So let's take
Speaker 1: thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to take a break,
Speaker 1: just take a moment. It turns out when we do
Speaker 1: that it's good for our health as well. I'll be
Speaker 1: right back, all right. Thank you for joining. This is
Speaker 1: Bob Roth. Keep calm, Thanks for listening today. I hope
Speaker 1: you heard something that inspires that uplifts you and that
Speaker 1: you can incorporate into your own life. Until next time,
Speaker 1: remember meditate, be kind, and be true to yourself. Hey,
Speaker 1: all of you out there, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your stories, your question or anything
Speaker 1: else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook or Instagram at 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.