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. So, how's
Speaker 1: day umpteen of shelter and place kids? Getting on your nerves?
Speaker 1: Home schooling, working from home, never getting outside can be
Speaker 1: pretty stressful, can be pretty frustrating, counting the days. I
Speaker 1: want to take a moment, though, and talk about some
Speaker 1: people who are in similar situations. But it's not just frustrating,
Speaker 1: it's dangerous. These are people who are survivors and living
Speaker 1: with the threat and the reality of domestic violence. For
Speaker 1: these people, the ability to stay calm is not just
Speaker 1: a nice option. It can be the matter between life
Speaker 1: and death. I entered this world several years ago when
Speaker 1: the David Lynch Foundation began working with the Family Justice
Speaker 1: Centers of New York. This is an organization that serves
Speaker 1: as a portal for women and children and some men,
Speaker 1: most of whom are homeless, who visit the Family Justice
Speaker 1: Centers to get advice on healthcare, on education, guidance on jobs,
Speaker 1: get legal assistance, and now to learn t sinental meditation
Speaker 1: for free. And I met Andrea and her ten year
Speaker 1: old son, Abraheim through the Family Justice Centers, and I
Speaker 1: heard their story and took notes. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: summarize her experience. I'm going to read these notes to you,
Speaker 1: and I want you to just take a moment to
Speaker 1: listen to them. They're not notes for a television script.
Speaker 1: They're not made up, exaggerated. This is the reality of
Speaker 1: four million women in America every year who are victims
Speaker 1: of domestic violence. I'm trying to keep my family together.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to convince myself with a million different reasons
Speaker 1: why I should stay, and one of the main reasons
Speaker 1: is I want my child to live with his father.
Speaker 1: But his father is a very, very violent man. It's
Speaker 1: hard to defend myself from him. When I look back
Speaker 1: to all that I went through, it's truly a miracle
Speaker 1: that I'm alive. But my child, Ibraheim, developed severe symptoms
Speaker 1: of post traumatic stress disorder. He had a lot of
Speaker 1: hospitalizations that prevented me from working, so I became homeless. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: I was invited to the Family Justice Center, where I
Speaker 1: was offered help. They have been wonderful. While I was there.
Speaker 1: I learned transcendental meditation and it has been a completely
Speaker 1: life changing experience. I now have a tool to give
Speaker 1: myself deep rest, even deeper than sleep. It creates a
Speaker 1: calm after meditation that it's hard for me to overreact
Speaker 1: now or get into confrontations. I asked Ibrahim how he
Speaker 1: liked his meditation. He said, anger and stress is something
Speaker 1: that I feel has been corrupting my life because it
Speaker 1: makes my temper extremely short and it makes me feel
Speaker 1: unhappy all the time. But with my meditation, it takes
Speaker 1: away so much of the anger and stress, and I
Speaker 1: just feel happy. Andrea told me after his first meditation,
Speaker 1: Abraheim said those were the best ten minutes of my life.
Speaker 1: Andrew concluded by saying, I now feel hopeful life that
Speaker 1: has been gray for so long has been back to colors.
Speaker 1: I wish everybody had the opportunity to learn this. It
Speaker 1: will have such an impact in their lives. What kind
Speaker 1: of a tip could I possibly give after reading that?
Speaker 1: If you know someone who is a victim of such assault,
Speaker 1: you must get them help. They're going to be afraid
Speaker 1: to leave. Just get them to make a call in
Speaker 1: your community. You can google domestic violence and there's hotlines.
Speaker 1: Please do that. What can you do for your friend
Speaker 1: who you suspect is a victim of assault? You're not
Speaker 1: a therapist, don't even venture there, but spend time with
Speaker 1: your friend. Take them out, take them to a yoga class, kickboxing,
Speaker 1: spend time with them. And if it's you in this situation,
Speaker 1: you make that call, You'll google you find out where
Speaker 1: to go. The situation doesn't go away by itself. Trauma
Speaker 1: doesn't go away by itself. Now, I like to share
Speaker 1: a quote that I think it's particularly relevant to this conversation,
Speaker 1: and the quote is anonymous, but so beautiful. Stop trying
Speaker 1: to calm the storm. Calm yourself and the storm will pass.
Speaker 1: I'm going to read that again, stop trying to calm
Speaker 1: the storm. Calm yourself and the storm will pass. All right,
Speaker 1: Let's end this time together doing something that I think
Speaker 1: should be a few each of our everyday life, and
Speaker 1: that's 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.