Peak Performance

and her sister April is four. They're the daughters of my nephew Michael and his wife Rachel. When I see Hazel in April over zoom or and photos, looking so happy and excited and young, it makes me feel very happy. But afterwards I find myself thinking, what's their world going to be like in twenty years? What about next year? Before the coronavirus hit, I had lunch with the deans

of two top East Coast universities. They were obviously very concerned about the future, but their focus wasn't so much on children at this time, but more on the eighteen year old kid who's entering college with the prospect of a very cloudy future at best. Now, I'm not here to recount the grim statistics of what may lie ahead for that student. Rather, I want to share with you the good news of what these educators believe is a solution. And I tell you this because I think their ideas

are profoundly relevant to each of us today. One dean said that for too long, colleges and universities have marginalized mental health issues among students. If kids were having difficulties with alcohol or anxiety, well, then in between classes or whenever they could find the time, they could make an

appointment and meet with a counselor or a therapist. Where Else they could take a yoga class or sit in on a mindfulness session, and then when they were done and theoretically feeling better, they would head back into the fray of classes and studying and papers and exams. Well, the deans admitted that approach has not worked at all. Their new approach is to develop a new core course on peak performance that students would start the first day

they set foot on campus. The course would be fully accredited and would provide them with a menu of tools to help them navigate the inevitable changes in stresses, both academic and social, as well as help them to develop their optimum health and harness their maximum creative potential. The course would provide opportunities to learn evidence based meditation, yoga, and exercise, as well as tips on how to sleep better and eat well and other things. But here's the point.

This course would not be an elective. It would be central to all the other courses offered by the college, and it wouldn't just be for that first year, but throughout their entire college life. The conversation got me thinking that all of us could use a core course for peak performance in life. The courses would be different, but they would be for everyone, from children like Hazel in April all the way up to our most senior of citizens.

Because life is full of changes and stresses, constant, inevitable, unstoppable changes, changes in our health and how we look in our career, in our relationships, partnerships dissolve, and kids grow up and leave home. To navigate this change requires a steadfast inner stability, a ton of energy, really infinite patience and resilience, deep inner happiness, and yes, calm. That means we all need a core course for peak performance. I so appreciate the time we have spent together during

this first season of Stay Calm. I hope you feel empowered to develop your own core course for life, and if you do, then please use whatever tips you may have learned here, but also discover and test out additional new tips on your own. And if there's any way I can help you along your journey, please email me at Meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. Now let's take a minute, a full sixty seconds, to be grateful for whomever we love and appreciate the most. 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 Meditate Acient Bob Roth at gmail dot com. I look forward to hearing from you.