April 22, 2020 • 7 mins
Bob tells the story of Joseph, who became an alcoholic after suffering through the trauma of 9/11. In an inspiring turn, meditation ultimately saved Joseph. This story teaches us how to be more compassionate towards others. Take some time to reflect on that during the moment of silence.
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Episode Transcript
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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.
I want to tell you about a man named Joseph
who I met in New York City. Joseph was in
a facility that was really a one year vocational training
program for men who had been rescued from the streets,
and they were trained in a skill so when they
(01:09):
left they would have a job to return to their
families and their neighborhoods with. But the center also knew
that a job alone was not enough. They were going
to need tools to help them manage the stress and
the pressures and the temptations when they went back to
their neighborhoods, went back to their families that would help
prevent them from returning to their life of often substance
(01:32):
use disorder. We had been invited to come and teach
transcendentle meditation to the men in this program, and there
was one man there in particular that I remember, Joseph,
who when I heard his story, it had a very
transformational effect in my life and I think about him often.
So Joseph had a master's degree in philosophy from Yale,
(01:54):
and he did what any self respecting philosophy student would do.
He got a job on Wallt's for you in a
brokerage firm, and he had a very successful career, and
he had a wife and two children and a great
job working in the Twin Towers. So this is where
the story changes. On September two thousand and one, Joseph
(02:18):
left the Twin Towers his office to run an errand
fifteen minutes before a plane hit, all of Joseph's colleagues
were killed. The trauma from that, the guilt from that,
the anger from that absolutely devastated Joseph. And while he
was never a drinker in college, he started to abuse
(02:41):
alcohol to mask his pain, and he started drinking so
much that he got violent. And even though the parent
company for which he worked offered him a lot of support,
therapy and everything, Joseph didn't take advantage of it. He
continued down his downward spiral. His wife and children laught,
he lost his job, he lost his house, and within
(03:04):
eight months Joseph was homeless and he lived that way
for ten years and then he entered this shelter slash
vocational program. For Joseph when he was at Yale, one
reason why he became a philosophy major is he was
really interested in the deeper values of life and he
(03:24):
had a firm conviction that deep within every human being
there was a field of common good. And he got
his job and never found a way to have that experience.
Fast forward and I'm talking to Joseph and he's loving
his meditation and I asked him why, and he said,
he feels more relaxed, more focused, But he said there's
(03:47):
something more that connection that he was looking for his
whole life. He found in the meditation, in the transcending
and the transcendental meditation. And he said, isn't it interesting
that something I spent my whole life seeking that it
took me ending up in a homeless shelter where I
(04:09):
would learn a meditation technique that would give me the
experience of what I had been seeking for twenty five years.
And I thought to myself, powerful experience for Joseph, but
a powerful awakening experience for me. Before meeting Joseph, I
would have just walked by and not given a thought.
(04:30):
But I realized now that every homeless person has a backstory.
Every homeless person was once a six month old kid
crawling across the kitchen floor, and that traumas often brought
on at an early age, shaped and distorted joseph life
and others lives, so they end up homeless. All homeless
(04:52):
in New York City at one time, we're veterans with PTSD.
I thank Joseph for making me a more compassionate person.
And I realized that compassion isn't something you can artificially manufacture.
If I'm stressed, if I'm angry, if I'm agitated, if
(05:14):
I'm irritated I can't be compassionate, but I'd like to
live that way. So the first step in compassion, I realized,
is being compassionate towards oneself. And first and foremost for
that is meditation. A meditation that gives you access to
that field of common good, that field of silence, that
(05:36):
field of peace that lies within everyone. It's not a
religious thought, it's not a philosophical thought. It exists within everyone.
And from that basis we can live a compassionate life.
All right, let's end this time together doing something that
(05:58):
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,
(06:44):
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
(07:09):
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.
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.
I want to tell you about a man named Joseph
who I met in New York City. Joseph was in
a facility that was really a one year vocational training
program for men who had been rescued from the streets,
and they were trained in a skill so when they
(01:09):
left they would have a job to return to their
families and their neighborhoods with. But the center also knew
that a job alone was not enough. They were going
to need tools to help them manage the stress and
the pressures and the temptations when they went back to
their neighborhoods, went back to their families that would help
prevent them from returning to their life of often substance
(01:32):
use disorder. We had been invited to come and teach
transcendentle meditation to the men in this program, and there
was one man there in particular that I remember, Joseph,
who when I heard his story, it had a very
transformational effect in my life and I think about him often.
So Joseph had a master's degree in philosophy from Yale,
(01:54):
and he did what any self respecting philosophy student would do.
He got a job on Wallt's for you in a
brokerage firm, and he had a very successful career, and
he had a wife and two children and a great
job working in the Twin Towers. So this is where
the story changes. On September two thousand and one, Joseph
(02:18):
left the Twin Towers his office to run an errand
fifteen minutes before a plane hit, all of Joseph's colleagues
were killed. The trauma from that, the guilt from that,
the anger from that absolutely devastated Joseph. And while he
was never a drinker in college, he started to abuse
(02:41):
alcohol to mask his pain, and he started drinking so
much that he got violent. And even though the parent
company for which he worked offered him a lot of support,
therapy and everything, Joseph didn't take advantage of it. He
continued down his downward spiral. His wife and children laught,
he lost his job, he lost his house, and within
(03:04):
eight months Joseph was homeless and he lived that way
for ten years and then he entered this shelter slash
vocational program. For Joseph when he was at Yale, one
reason why he became a philosophy major is he was
really interested in the deeper values of life and he
(03:24):
had a firm conviction that deep within every human being
there was a field of common good. And he got
his job and never found a way to have that experience.
Fast forward and I'm talking to Joseph and he's loving
his meditation and I asked him why, and he said,
he feels more relaxed, more focused, But he said there's
(03:47):
something more that connection that he was looking for his
whole life. He found in the meditation, in the transcending
and the transcendental meditation. And he said, isn't it interesting
that something I spent my whole life seeking that it
took me ending up in a homeless shelter where I
(04:09):
would learn a meditation technique that would give me the
experience of what I had been seeking for twenty five years.
And I thought to myself, powerful experience for Joseph, but
a powerful awakening experience for me. Before meeting Joseph, I
would have just walked by and not given a thought.
(04:30):
But I realized now that every homeless person has a backstory.
Every homeless person was once a six month old kid
crawling across the kitchen floor, and that traumas often brought
on at an early age, shaped and distorted joseph life
and others lives, so they end up homeless. All homeless
(04:52):
in New York City at one time, we're veterans with PTSD.
I thank Joseph for making me a more compassionate person.
And I realized that compassion isn't something you can artificially manufacture.
If I'm stressed, if I'm angry, if I'm agitated, if
(05:14):
I'm irritated I can't be compassionate, but I'd like to
live that way. So the first step in compassion, I realized,
is being compassionate towards oneself. And first and foremost for
that is meditation. A meditation that gives you access to
that field of common good, that field of silence, that
(05:36):
field of peace that lies within everyone. It's not a
religious thought, it's not a philosophical thought. It exists within everyone.
And from that basis we can live a compassionate life.
All right, let's end this time together doing something that
(05:58):
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,
(06:44):
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
(07:09):
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.
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