Stillness in the Storms

How can two people both be right? If you've never left your clearing at the bottom of the mountain, there's no river a mile away. You're not lying. You just can't see it from there.
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We each sit in our own little clearing, trees all the way around, and what we can see from there feels like the whole truth. Climb a little and there are more clearings, more rivers, more truths, and your own starts to go shaky and blurred. The higher you go, the wiser you get, because you see there isn't just one truth. Being at the top of your game doesn't get you out of your clearing either. I use Trump as the example. From where he sits America is doing great, and I'd say that's ignorance more than lying, because lying is the intention to deceive. I'm a Lib Dem because I agree with all parties a little bit, and I like what Ken Wilber said, that nobody is 100% wrong. "I might be wrong" is actually liberating. I still find it hardest with family.
One thing to try: Next time someone tells you they're absolutely right, try saying, "You might be right. From where I'm sat I see it slightly different, but I might not be right either." It's easier with a stranger than with family, so start there.
In this episode
(0:39) Is there a river a mile away?
(2:09) We each sit in our own little clearing
(3:34) Two empires that each thought they were the only one
(6:49) Nobody presumed the Earth was flat
(8:59) It's not always about height: Trump's clearing
(11:45) Is he lying, or ignorant?
(15:12) Why "I might be wrong" is liberating
(17:13) Back to the river

With gratitude to
Nancy, Barb, Daniel, Coby, Dave, Lundin, Hartley, Cathy, Andrae, Mitch, Richie, Iiris, Dee, Diana, Ellen, Sergio, Tara, Bob, Kurstie, Gigi and Sue
Support the podcast and join the Weekly Calm: stevenwebb.uk
Thank you for listening.
Steven
Links to Steven Webb's podcast and how you can support his work.
Free book: 5 Simple Practices for Inner Peace. Yours when you join my Weekly Calm.

Why can't I stick to meditation when I know it helps? You're probably not lazy or broken. Your hands are already full, and practice shouldn't be one more box rammed into them.
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If someone walked up with their arms full of boxes, you'd never hand them another one. But when somebody is full on the inside, we tell them to meditate for 20 minutes a day, start journalling, exercise more, think positively. I've said them all. On the council I learned that capacity isn't only time. It's money, staff, expertise and deadlines too. A small study of four teenage girls with PTSD found people's ability to use a helpful app rose and fell with fatigue, school pressure and family strain. One caregiver said, "My willingness wasn't the problem, my life situation was." When my bank account lived in the overdraft, working out what I could pay ate up so much of my head. Money can't buy inner peace, but security makes room for it. Meditation can help create space, but sometimes you need a little space before you can meditate. Maybe today you need sleep, or something to eat, or to cancel something and ask for help.
One thing to try: Before you add another practice, gently ask: what's filling my hands right now? What can be delayed, delegated or put down? Do I need a practice, or practical help? Some days, three breaths is the practice.
In this episode
(0:01) Before you hand someone one more box
(1:37) What the council taught me about capacity
(3:06) Four teenagers, and "my willingness wasn't the problem"
(6:22) When my bank account lived in the overdraft
(11:00) When spiritual practice becomes another demand
(15:50) The overloaded circuit
(17:53) Sleep, and defragging the hard drive
(21:07) A compassionate capacity check

With gratitude to
Yuva, Sarah, Dave, Angela, Daniel, Paul, Margaret, Cheryl, Kisha, Lis and Edona
The companion meditation: Mind Full, Hands Full: A Meditation for Overwhelm
Support the podcast and join the Weekly Calm: stevenwebb.uk
Thank you for listening.
Steven
Links to Steven Webb's podcast and how you can support his work.
Free book: 5 Simple Practices for Inner Peace. Yours when you join my Weekly Calm.

Why is everyone so tired right now? Not sleepy, world tired. Too much is changing too fast, our minds never come with an off switch, and we stay busy so we don't have to feel it.
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Ask almost anyone how they are this week and listen to the first word. Tired. More than seven in ten American adults feel very tired or exhausted at least some days, and nine in ten adults in Britain felt high stress or pressure in the past year. Alvin Toffler saw it coming in 1970, before phones in our pockets and news all day long. Your body can be on the sofa while your mind is still on its feet, keeping watch. Busy works like a painkiller, so the moment we stop, it all arrives at once. We can't slow the world down, so I talk about a word I don't think I've ever used on this podcast. Awe. When we feel small in a good way, our worries get smaller too. Months after I broke my neck, they pushed me outside for fifteen minutes. All I could see was a car park, but the cold air on my lungs, wow. I went back to bed and slept for 24 hours.
One thing to try: This week, spend one minute with something bigger than you. The sky, the sea, an old tree, or the dust dancing in a patch of sunlight. Don't name it, don't fix it. Just look, and let it be big.
In this episode
(0:00) Ask anyone how they are, and the first word is tired
(2:23) Alvin Toffler's Future Shock, written in 1970
(3:58) Your body's on the sofa, your mind's still on its feet
(4:56) Being busy works like a painkiller
(7:03) The word I've never used on this podcast: awe
(9:06) Months on a ward, then fifteen minutes in a car park
(12:24) The one minute practice
(14:08) Marcus Aurelius: is this necessary?

With gratitude to
Kasia, Jane, Christine, Danielle, Lindsey, Katherine, Vicki, Fiona, Rebecca and Lorna. A warm welcome to Raquel and Jane, my newest monthly supporters, and thank you to Jenna and Mia for raising theirs.
The companion meditation: Wisdom Within the Storm: A Meditation for Chaotic Times
Support the podcast and join the Weekly Calm: stevenwebb.uk
Thank you for listening.
Steven
Links to Steven Webb's podcast and how you can support his work.
Free book: 5 Simple Practices for Inner Peace. Yours when you join my Weekly Calm.

How do you care about what's happening in the world without it dragging you under? Practice first, news second. Then do one small thing and put it down.
Support me with a coffee and join my Weekly Calm every Sunday: stevenwebb.uk
The night I broke my neck, I only had to get through the next breath. My family were stood in the corridor with nothing to do, not knowing if I'd see the morning. That's the harder seat, and now we're all sat in it, every day, on a phone. Our hearts were built for a village, not 24 hour news. After the Boston bombing, people who watched six hours of coverage a day were more stressed than some of the people who were actually there. I'm a terrible news junkie myself, so I talk about the feed I keep deleting and putting back, Sid Owen from EastEnders, and why the brain can't tell the telly from a war zone. Underneath the anger there's usually a deep caring. The way through isn't caring less.
One thing to try: Before you scroll in the morning, sit quietly for ten minutes and write a small gratitude list. Then read the news, let yourself feel it, do the one small thing if there is one, and put it down.
In this episode
(0:03) The night I broke my neck, and my family in the corridor
(1:31) Our hearts were built for a village
(2:07) The Boston bombing study: six hours of news a day
(4:50) The brain can't tell the telly from a war zone
(6:14) Caring without drowning: what you can do at arm's length
(7:32) Under the anger there's a deep caring
(9:51) Rabbi Tarfon: you can't finish the work, but you can't walk away
(10:55) Thomas Merton and the frenzy of the activist

With gratitude to
Tamsyne, Bridie, Orsolya, Paul, Ciaran, Cynthia, Sarpa, Jens, Linda and Genevieve
The companion meditation: When the News Is Too Much: A Meditation to Care and Still Rest
Support the podcast and join the Weekly Calm: stevenwebb.uk
Thank you for listening.
Steven
Links to Steven Webb's podcast and how you can support his work.
Free book: 5 Simple Practices for Inner Peace. Yours when you join my Weekly Calm.

Are you bad at meditating? So is everyone. The mind wanders because that is its job. Meditation is not quieting it, it is noticing you have gone and coming back.
Support me with a coffee and join my Weekly Calm every Sunday: stevenwebb.uk
When I started, I thought meditation was sit down, be quiet, no thoughts, pure bliss. It lasted about 30 seconds. Then a teacher gave me the only instruction that ever worked: just sit and do nothing. His version had four letters. Your body knows how to breathe and your mind knows how to go quiet. The job is getting out of their way. Think of a snow globe. To settle the snow you do nothing, you just watch, and life will shake it up again anyway. Every time the mind wanders it is a happy accident, as Bob Ross would say. Smile, say thank you mind, and come back.
One thing to try: Get somewhere five minutes early and just sit in the car. Each time you catch the mind off in a story, smile, say thank you mind, and come back to what you can hear and feel. Five minutes, twice a day.
In this episode
(0:03) Winnie the Pooh, and why meditation is doing nothing on purpose
(1:19) The only instruction that ever worked: just sit and do nothing (his had four letters)
(2:22) The snow globe. To settle the snow, you do nothing
(3:45) You're being thought. What's your next thought going to be?
(4:23) We're all terrible meditators, and why that is fine
(5:47) Bob Ross and the happy accident
(9:24) 178 podcasts and I've yet to find the one little thing that fixes everything
(13:15) Calvin and Hobbes, do a bit more nothing, and five minutes in the car

With gratitude to
Jess, David, Angi, Jeroen, Jose and Jill, Helen, Tracey, Carol, Hayden, Sarafena, Cheryl and Strength from Within Yoga, and new monthly supporter Rowan
The companion meditation: Nothing to Get Right: A Peace Meditation With Little Instruction
Support the podcast and join the Weekly Calm: stevenwebb.uk
Thank you for listening.
Steven
Links to Steven Webb's podcast and how you can support his work.
Free book: 5 Simple Practices for Inner Peace. Yours when you join my Weekly Calm.