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.

• (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

Yuva, Sarah, Dave, Angela, Daniel, Paul, Margaret, Cheryl, Kisha, Lis and Edona

The companion meditation: Mind Full, Hands Full: A Meditation for Overwhelm

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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.

• (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?

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

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Thank you for listening.

Steven

Links to Steven Webb's podcast and how you can support his work.

• Donate paypal.me/stevenwebb or Coffee stevenwebb.uk
• Steven's courses, podcasts and links: stevenwebb.uk

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.

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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.

• (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

Tamsyne, Bridie, Orsolya, Paul, Ciaran, Cynthia, Sarpa, Jens, Linda and Genevieve

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.

• Donate paypal.me/stevenwebb or Coffee stevenwebb.uk
• Steven's courses, podcasts and links: stevenwebb.uk