The Simplicity of Meditation

dose of calmness. Every weekday morning, I'll share a meditation story, offer a simple practical tip about how you or loved one can stay a bit calmer in your life, and then we'll end each episode together with a moment of gratitude. My hope is that I can share what I know to anyone who needs it. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths, and let's begin today's journey. I want

to tell you about my friend Joey. I first met Joey when he was fifteen years old, had autism spectrum disorder, and his mother, who I had taught to meditate a few years before, called me up and said Joey was experiencing a lot of anxiety. He's a normal fifteen year old kid, and he wanted to have friends, and he wanted to have a girlfriend, and his physical on his social awkwardness and the fact that he was nonverbal was creating a huge amount of anxiety and was breaking his

mom's heart. She thought maybe meditation could have an effect, so she brought Joey in to meet with me. And the first day with Joey was a bit of a challenge because he didn't want to close his eyes. It frightened him, so we took it very slowly. The first day he had his eyes closed for half a minute, and then the second day a little bit longer, in

the third day a little bit longer. After about a week or so, he was meditating with his eyes closed for five or ten minutes, and by the end of the two months, he was meditating fifteen minutes twice a day by himself or with his mom, just sitting comfortably

in a chair with his eyes closed. So about four weeks in I went over to visit Joey and his mom and we were having tea and I asked Joey how the meditation was going, and because he's nonverbal, he wrote out on a letter board, which is like an iPad. He typed, I like it, and I said, what do you like? About and he said it's very relaxing. And I said, well, how's the meditation helping your mom? And he smiled and he typed back in t M calms the mom. So he had a good laugh over that.

I said, well, what is it do you like about the meditation and he said it's easy to do, and I said what do you mean? And he typed in and he looked up at me and it was very heartfelt, almost tears in his eyes. He said, Mr, Roth, I can do it. That simple phrase went very deep in me, because it's tough enough being a teenager these days anyway, there's so much insecurity, so much self doubt, and when you are a normal kid but you have these learning disabilities,

it's magnified. He could do this meditation, he could find deep relaxation. His mom said that he was much more relaxed, he was easier around other people, and he was actually doing better with his school. It made me realize Number one, to appreciate his mom. That his mom valued him so much that she was willing to look beyond a medicinal or even a therapeutic approaches which he participated in both

into something as simple and innovative as transcendental meditation. What I took away from this and what I carried with me all along, is that our kids have a tough time. We overschedule them and we push them, or if we don't push him, society pushes him, social media pushes him. It's a real issue and the notion the idea to show our kids that we value time taken out for something non task or end something that is about self care. It's a hugely important message and a hugely important tool

to equip our kids with going forward. This idea of keep calm. It's not about some superficial thing take a few breaths and now you feel better, which you don't. It's about making those kind of foundational changes in our lives. They can ensure that we're in a position to express our creativity, our intelligence, give our body the time it needs to heal and to deal with the interior issues of our life. The tip I have that we can do to contribute towards a substantial calm, a transformative calm

and inner peace is the value of rest our. Whole culture is just do it. Push, go go, go go go. It's highly competitive, highly pressured, but scheduled into the one thousand and forty minutes of our day needs to be time spent for transcendental meditation, other forms of meditation, creative enterprises, exercise. If you're a parent, give your kids the time to

be off task for a while. Give your kids the tools to make enjoyable use of that off time, not just surfing online, but something as simple and valuable as meditation. 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. This is Bob Roth. Keep calm, Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard something that inspires, that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your own life. Until next time, remember, meditate, be kind, and be true to yourself. 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 hashtag meditation Bob. You can also send me an email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. I look forward to hearing from you.