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