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. Sometimes when we feel particularly overwhelmed, told in a million different directions, unsure about our uncertain future, and our type a logical problem solving mind seems to be more than a bit foggy. Well, sometimes the best thing we can do to fix things is to do nothing,
even just for a few minutes. And as you know, I regularly talk about the research that backs up the very real benefits to our brain, our mind, and our body from taking a break from the constant pushing, pushing, pushing of life. Today, I want to set aside the science and instead I want to ask you if you can to stop what you're doing for just a few minutes and sit back and listen to some really beautiful thoughts from some really wise poets and other thinkers, both
modern and ancient. Their words give voice to the need to get away from it all and just be still. These next five minutes will be our upside for taking this downtime. The great author and essayist Pico Iyer, in his book The Art of Stillness, says it best. In an age of speed, I began to think nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention, And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than
sitting still. Loud Sue, the great ancient Chinese philosopher and writer, said, to the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart said, the music is not in the notes, but in the silence between. And if we needed any additional convincing, Isaiah commands be still and know that I am God. But what do we do? What kind of break can we take when nothing seems to be going right for us, when the winds do not seem to be in our favor, when we seem to be fighting
an uphill battle. Listen to the advice of John O'Donohue, Catholic priest, poet and visionary. This is the time to be slow, lie low to the wall until the bitter weather passes. Try as best you can not to let the wire brush of doubt scrape from your heart all sense of yourself and your hesitant light. If you remain generous, time will come good, and you will find your feet again on fresh pastures of promise, where the air will
be kind and blushed. With beginning, Wendell Berry and his famous poem The Peace of Wild Things writes, when despair for the world grows in me, and I wakened the night at the least sound and fear of what my life and my children's lives, maybe I go and I lie down with the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the press sense of still water, and I feel above me
the day blind stars waiting with their light. For a time, I rest in the grace of the world and am free. And this from the great German philosopher, playwright and author Gerta who seeks transcendence, how yearns the solitary soul to melt into the boundless hole and find itself again in peace. The blind desire, the impatient will, the restless thoughts and plans are still we yield ourselves and waken bliss. And Finally, no matter how challenging these times may be for us,
or how dark the night, nothing lasts forever. As Khalil Gabron writes in the Prophet, at the heart of every winter there is a quivering spring, and behind the veil of each night there is a smiling dawn. All right, let's end this time together doing something that I think should be a feature of our everyday life, and that's appreciation and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to take a break, just take a moment. It turns out when we do that, it's good for
our health as well. I'll be right back, 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, 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