Speaker 1: Stay Calm is 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. Today we're going to dive
Speaker 1: into the blessings of solitude, the benefits of living moments
Speaker 1: of solitude. Wait, you're thinking, I've been stuck at home
Speaker 1: for weeks by myself, feeling lost and afraid, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna tell me about the wonders of being alone. I'd
Speaker 1: give anything to hang out with some friends. Or I'm
Speaker 1: gonna quarantine with three teenagers and we're on each other's
Speaker 1: nerves from the minute the sun comes up. I love
Speaker 1: even five minutes of solitude, but that's not happening. Yes,
Speaker 1: I do understand. I've been living in the middle of
Speaker 1: New York City and I haven't really gone out for
Speaker 1: weeks either, But that doesn't mean we can't take a
Speaker 1: few minutes and consider the beauty and the possibility of
Speaker 1: enjoying solitude in our own life, even amidst the chaos
Speaker 1: and confusion of the pandemic. First, let's be clear about
Speaker 1: the difference between being alone and feeling lonely and being
Speaker 1: alone and enjoying solitude. The American Heritage Dictionary defines loneliness
Speaker 1: as quote sadness because one has no friends or company,
Speaker 1: feelings of depression. Solitude, on the other hand, is defined
Speaker 1: as the state or situation of just being alone, as
Speaker 1: in quote she savored her freedom and solitude. The state
Speaker 1: where you can be alone and comfortable in your own
Speaker 1: skin is certainly attainable, but it doesn't come just because
Speaker 1: you summon it and you want it now. It comes
Speaker 1: from wanting to make the comfort of solitude a permanent
Speaker 1: part of your life, and by developing it and culturing
Speaker 1: it over time. There are many little things you can
Speaker 1: do for that, but really the best thing you can
Speaker 1: do is he the advice of the wise throughout the ages,
Speaker 1: and that is to meditate. Like an notion, that mind
Speaker 1: is active, noisy, turbulent on the surface, but silent and
Speaker 1: unbounded at its depth. Meditation gives us access to that
Speaker 1: inner field of silence and freedom. I want to tell
Speaker 1: you a story about a single mom, Jesse, who I
Speaker 1: taught to meditate just before the pandemic hit. She took
Speaker 1: to the meditation right away. We connected by phone a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago. How are you doing? I asked. Jesse
Speaker 1: paused for a moment, and then told me about a
Speaker 1: friend who asked her the same question. The friend was
Speaker 1: concerned Jesse is normally a very dynamic person, and now
Speaker 1: she was essentially locked away with her eight year old
Speaker 1: daughter and a cat. How are you doing, the friend asked,
Speaker 1: sounding worried. Jesse thought for a moment and said, I'm
Speaker 1: doing well. I'm actually happy. The woman seemed surprised and
Speaker 1: asked why, looking for a specific reason that might account
Speaker 1: for Jesse's inexplicable good feelings, like did she get a
Speaker 1: job promotion or did her daughter do well on an exam.
Speaker 1: Jesse thought again, shrugged her shoulders, and said, I don't
Speaker 1: know why I feel good. I just do. It's probably
Speaker 1: the best I felt in a long time. When Jesse
Speaker 1: recounted the story to me, she laughed, It's got to
Speaker 1: be the meditation, nothing else. Good has happened in my
Speaker 1: life since the shutdown. Jesse's experience of feeling good is
Speaker 1: not merely a passing mood. During her meditation, there's a
Speaker 1: marked decrease in the stress hormone cortisol, and increases in
Speaker 1: the happiness neurotransmitter serotonin and the well being hormone prolactin.
Speaker 1: But really, ultimately, Jesse felt good because she experienced a
Speaker 1: very real inner peace, silence, happiness, and freedom during her meditation.
Speaker 1: It's such an extraordinary experience because it's both unique and familiar,
Speaker 1: and fortunately it's accessible to everyone, rich or poor, educated
Speaker 1: or not, skeptic or believer. My takeaway and health tip
Speaker 1: is this, learn to meditate, learn to transcend as soon
Speaker 1: as you can. Then you can begin to enjoy the
Speaker 1: bliss of solitude any day every day. In fact, you
Speaker 1: can enjoy it sitting up in your bed, meditating in
Speaker 1: your pajamas, before you get ready to start work or
Speaker 1: before your kids wake up. To conclude, I want to
Speaker 1: share with you the words of two poets who describe
Speaker 1: the blessings of solitude so well. The first is from
Speaker 1: Emily Dickinson. In her poem here, Emily describes the ordinary
Speaker 1: solitude she feels when she's alone in the world, and
Speaker 1: compares it to the more profound solitude she feels when
Speaker 1: her soul regains its truth self. There is a solitude
Speaker 1: of space, a solitude of sea, a solitude of death,
Speaker 1: But these society shall be compared with that profounder site,
Speaker 1: that polar privacy, a soul admitted to itself, finite infinity.
Speaker 1: And second the poem Daffodils by William Wordsworth, where he
Speaker 1: describes the bliss of solitude for oft, when on my
Speaker 1: couch I lie in vacant or in pensive mood, they
Speaker 1: flash upon that inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude.
Speaker 1: And then my heart with pleasure, fills and dances with
Speaker 1: the daffodils. All right, thank you for joining me today.
Speaker 1: I hope you heard something that inspires, that uplifts you
Speaker 1: and that you can incorporate into your own life. This
Speaker 1: is Bob Roth. Stay calm m hey, all of you
Speaker 1: out there. I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 1: send me your stories, your questions, or anything else on
Speaker 1: your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook or
Speaker 1: Instagram at Meditation Bob. You can also send me an
Speaker 1: email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. I
Speaker 1: look forward to hearing from you