A Lifelong Tool

One person’s practice of Transcendental Meditation can create a chain reaction of discovery. When Teddy’s mother began studying with Bob, she realized that meditation might help her son with special needs. Meditation gave Teddy a lifelong tool to deal with his mental health, and by hearing his story it may inspire you to spread this practice to others who can benefit from it. A child like Teddy who is twice exceptional (2e) has exceptional strengths coupled with exceptional weaknesses. These children are considered exceptional both because of their intellectual giftedness and because of their exceptional weaknesses/deficits: (e.g., specific learning issue, neurodevelopmental disability, anxiety, depression, etc.).

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Hi.
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

(00:22):
you do the same. Welcome to Stay Calm, your daily
dose of calmness. Every weekday morning, I'll share a meditation story,
offer a simple practical tip about how you or a
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,

(00:47):
take a few deep breaths, and let's begin today's journey.
It's tough being an adult these days, but it's so
much tougher being a kid. Kids don't have the cognitive
capacity to deal with such intense levels of stress and anxiety.
If a child doesn't have a strong family or a

(01:07):
community support system, very tough for that kid to survive.
And even when they have that support system, there's a
lot of problems. Got me thinking about a young man
named Teddy. Teddy was twelve years old. I had taught
his mom to meditate because she had serious anxiety issues
and it helped her a lot, so she thought, well,
maybe it will help my son. Teddy was diagnosed with

(01:30):
something called twice exceptional. To e Teddy was exceptionally intelligent verbally.
When he was ten years old, published a book and
won a national poetry competition. But twice exceptional also means
exceptionally anxious, depressed. A week or so before Joanna brought

(01:53):
Teddy and for me to teach him to meditate, Teddy
had sent a letter to his parents saying he didn't
think there was any reason for him to live anymore,
that nobody would miss him. One of the problems with
twice exceptional kids is that there's an uneven brain development.
One part of the brain for cognitive capacity hugely developed,

(02:14):
and yet other areas of the brain slow development. And
that's what breeds that insecurity, that self doubt. I taught
Teddy to meditate, and he just took to it, and
right from the beginning he meditated fifteen minutes in the
morning and fifteen minutes in the afternoon regularly. Now, let's
fast forward to today. Teddy sent me an email quote.

(02:38):
Up until my first experience with transcendental meditation, the only
rest I knew was sleep. Then I learned to meditate,
and after a few minutes of closing my eyes and
repeating my mantra, something that I thought was too simple
to actually work, it hit me the sensation that has
been dubbed transcending. It wasn't like falling asleep, but rather

(03:02):
it was like waking up to a well of untapped
strength and energy, only it didn't require any effort. Although
the feeling is indescribable, the results I have experienced are
very real. I'm not nearly as tired as before. I
feel like I could tackle anything and emerge victorious. This
isn't some pill or drug that wears off. It's a

(03:25):
lifelong tool. The takeaway here is why did Teddy learn
to meditate? Because his mother learned to meditate, and Teddy
saw an example that his mother was taking time out
of her busy schedule and taking care of herself, and
Teddy saw her being calmer and happier. So my message

(03:45):
to parents and grandparents is we have to practice what
we preach if we want our children to be healthy, happy, successful,
to not overreact to small things. We have to be
a model of that. We have to be on a
good routine, go to bed on time, eat well, manage
our stress. We do all those things, is our child

(04:10):
going to notice? Doesn't matter because your child is taking
it in learning. And I can't tell you the number
of times that young people, young adults have told me
when they learned to meditate. You know, my mom or
my dad or my parents meditated, and I really wasn't
interested in it as a kid, but it put the
thought in the back of my mind, and I'm really

(04:30):
glad I learned. I'm going to leave you with a
wonderful quote from the great doctor, humanitarian and Nobel Peace
Prize winner Albert Schweitzer. At times are light goes out
and is rekindled by a spark from another person, each

(04:50):
of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of
those who have lighted the flame within us. All right,
let's end this time together doing something that I think
would 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

(05:10):
it turns out when we do that, it's good for
our health as well. I'll be right back all right.

(05:46):
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,

(06:06):
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.