Finding Serenity: Reclaiming Your Inner Calm Amidst Life’s Chaos #208

Life can feel like a whirlwind, with endless to-dos, unexpected challenges, and emotional ups and downs. But there is a way to tap into a sense of calm, no matter how chaotic things seem. In this episode, we're diving into simple yet powerful ways to fill your "container of calm"—giving you space to breathe, reset, and regain your balance even on the busiest of days.

We'll talk about easy, everyday practices that help you find your center and create moments of peace for yourself. Whether it’s learning to pause and take a breath, or finding joy in small, mindful actions, you’ll walk away with tips that can make a big difference in your emotional well-being.  When you are grounded in your inner calm, life can shift in powerful ways. 

This episode is all about giving yourself permission to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with the calm that’s always within you. 

Christina Wooten helps you access the wisdom and support of the Spirit World to elevate your life.
She is a Certified Psychic Medium and Reiki Master Teacher.  Christina is the owner of Sedona Medium and co-host of Modern Life and Spirit podcast.

She offers Psychic Medium Readings, Soul Readings, Past Life Regressions, and teaches how you can start communicating and receiving messages from your Spirit Guides - through her program.
Learn more about her offerings here

Want to schedule a personal session with Spirit?  Have a reading with Christina - book now

Want to take more aligned action in your life?  Want to understand the energies at play each month, so you can flow with Divine Timing?  Join the Inner Circle to get access to Monthly Readings with Christina and the Energetic Calendar!


Robert Wooten is a Certified Reiki Master Teacher who loves to help others to increase their life force energy and heal mind/body/Spirit.
Sessions are performed remotely thru Zoom or by phone call, and energetic information received during your session can be recorded and shared,  to assist you on your healing journey.
Learn more about how Robert can help you at www.sedonamedium.com.

Contact www.SedonaMedium.com Today!

Transcript

Robert Wooten: 0:51

If you're feeling overwhelmed or overstressed these days, you are not alone. Understanding on a deep level why you feel this way, and learning the practice of filling yourself with calm and peaceful energy can be a powerful way to radically change the way you see, live in and experience the world around you. You Music.

Narrator: 1:11

Welcome to the Modern Life and Spirit Podcast where we explore spiritual topics relevant to today's world. Your hosts, certified psychic medium Christina Wooten and Reiki master teacher Robert Wooten, break down how to work with spirit to create more positive growth in your life. Consider this podcast your go to spiritual resource for navigating the modern world.

Robert Wooten: 1:35

Hey there, kindred spirits. Welcome to our sacred space here at Modern Life and Spirit podcast. I am Reiki master teacher Robert Wooten, here with Christina.

Christina Wooten: 1:43

Hey, it's me. Christina, certified psychic medium at SedonaMedium.com

Robert Wooten: 1:47

so as we move into the busyness of fall and the end of the year and all that we normally have going on in our lives, it seems like people are feeling a bit more anxious these days on a regular basis, more so than just like every once in a while, it just seems like you're seeing a lot of this stress, and the News and social media seem lit up with one story after another about how tense and stressed everyone seems to be feeling. However, having said that, I will say we do definitely have to remember that all the information and cute cat videos and conspiracy posts that you receive are completely based on an algorithm that is sending you things that are based on what it thinks you want to see more of. And as we spoke about in the very first episode of a modern life and spirit podcast, an episode we titled fixing your feed, you should first be aware that what you see the most of is what that algorithm thinks you want. And then you have to make intentional changes so that you can be more in control of the things that are shown to you on social media platforms. And if you want to know more about how you can do that, you can check out that podcast. It's episode number one, or listen to it again if you need a refresher.

Christina Wooten: 3:04

You know, I think part of the message is really just being intentional with ourselves. You know, not having to change circumstances or change this, being able to be in a state of well being and be in a state of peace and be in a state of centeredness, regardless of the things that are happening around you. I mean, there are times where I've seen people go through really tremendous and difficult things in their life and do it with a sense of grace and connection. My friend Ramana talks about, when he was studying in India, that his teacher would talk to him a lot about that a part of us is always in a state of deep meditation, this deep sense of oneness with God, that that is always ever present within us, and then that part of us that gets overwhelmed and stressed and really seemingly taken over by the events that are happening around us or happening in our lives in that moment is like one layer of us, right? But when we start to identify with that singular layer of existence and the control dramas and, you know, trying to control circumstances and situations. You know, we're not integrating fully all aspects of our being and our energy, which is really where our true power is in so many ways.

Robert Wooten: 4:25

I remember my mom telling me one time when I was a kid, that you don't have to attend every fight that you're invited to, or that, I guess another way to look at that would be that you don't have to react to everything that seems to want to try to engage you. You can find yourself in this inner space, and that's kind of what we're talking about today, because much like how social media and all of these other platforms are geared towards showing us more of what it thinks we want, and it's based on the energy that we've put out right we've searched for something, or we've clicked on a video, or we have done something to engage our real life is kind of like that, also in that we move in certain directions, we connect with certain people, we read certain books or articles, or we listen to certain news channels, and that all directs our focus to see more of that type of information, right? And that starts to shift how we see the world and how we view how the world is. And when we take a step back and realized that this world, much like the online world, is the world that we create. It's created by our perceptions. It's created by our views, and the things that we put into it and receive back from it in a reciprocal manner, is what the world is. And so if we want to change that, we have to be intentional, just like with social media, it's. Change that algorithm, we change our receptivity to the things that are coming to us, right? And that starts to shift our way of seeing the world. Have you ever noticed that if you bought a type of car, and then suddenly you're starting to notice that type of car, maybe even exactly the same color as that car all around you? And you think like, wow, this car must be really popular. Suddenly, it's suddenly just showing up all around us. And what you're not aware of, perhaps, is that those cars like that have probably always been around you, but you just didn't notice it, because your perception was not tuned toward seeing that thing like it is. Once you start owning that car, do

Christina Wooten: 6:25

you remember when we were thinking about moving to Sedona. And suddenly, anywhere we went, we got behind the Sedona, the Sedona. Yeah, we would just be behind it constantly. It was almost like we were in The Truman Show. And someone was like, they're getting in the car. They're leaving Q The Sedona, the Kia, Sedona, in front of them. Every single time it was wild, but that sign, we started to really tune to it, and you could just see it everywhere. I mean, some of that was just the energy of the message trying to come through to us, but also our attention on that began to amplify. What was there?

Robert Wooten: 7:05

What's happening there, I think, is that you've opened up your awareness, and you start to notice more of that type of car, or like we saw Arizona tags occasionally, or we would see somebody with a sit on, a shirt on, or something like that. That was more of that same message, and I think that you just weren't dialed in to see them before. Once you've opened up your awareness, you become more focused in that direction. And it also has to do with our how our brains are wired to pick up familiar shapes, right? That's how you do face awareness. When you see somebody you know in a crowd of 1000s of people you know, you go to an airport and there's people everywhere, but you can look over there and see somebody that you know, or if you're looking for a particular person, your brain can just sort of ignore all of the unfamiliar faces and tune in to just the familiar faces, right? But on the larger scope, the point is that the more that you seek out the same types of things, the more that you seem to find those things everywhere you look just unfortunately, also seems to extend to stress inducing situations as well. Have you ever turned on a show or the news knowing full well that it was going to make you feel stressed after you watched it, but you did it anyway, because we're so drawn to the familiar and patterns and repetition and doing the same things in the same way, and we're so averse to change, it seems that we would rather do something that we know is going to be unpleasant, but at least it's a familiar unpleasantness to us, but it doesn't have to be that way, because the way that you can take steps to change this begins with things like regular meditation practice, a daily yoga practice, or, if you're so inclined, regular prayers for peace and longevity. Studies are starting to reveal that people who do meditation on a daily basis, are less likely to suffer from age related issues like dementia, premature aging, reduced inflammation and a general sense of well being. And it's that last one that I want to start with today, because if you can begin with adjusting how you see the world and start seeing it as a place where you noticed more good things than bad, that's a good place to start to make the changes to make your life feel better as well. In his book being peace. Thich Nhat Hanh talks about when the Vietnamese refugee boats would meet with some dangers when they were out in the ocean, like storms or pirates, and he says that they noticed that if everyone panicked, all would be lost, but if even one person remained calm and centered, it was enough. It showed the way for everyone to survive.

Christina Wooten: 9:40

I think all of this just really echoes the natural laws that we've talked about before. Is how important it is energetically. You know, our powers and our focus and our thoughts and the energy that we project outward, that you know as we're sending something out, that that, in turn, returns to us. So we have the power to change the experience of our world and change our circumstances through being very intentional about our own thoughts, our own energy, our own focal points, doesn't always mean that you're going to eliminate all of the stress around you by just saying, Okay, I'm going to be centered and calm. It's like having a boundary with yourself, but I am choosing to remain in this state, as much as I am able to do, I am choosing to exude this energy and bring that energy forward and bring that consciousness into my life, and then that gradually really changes. It makes big changes on deeper levels, just by these little decisions. That we're making along the way that says, Oh, I'm choosing this. One of the things I've been playing with a lot recently is noticing when my mind is trying to steal my joy so something will happen. And then, you know, I'm getting anxious about something, or stressed about something, and I'll go, Wait a minute. I see that my mind is trying to steal the joy from this situation, and I'm not gonna let that happen. That has been a really interesting like mindfulness engagement, of helping me become aware of the thoughts and then also going, Oh, I'm seeing that there's so much fun to be had in this experience, in this moment, and my mind is trying to create it into something else. And just that one thought of saying, Wow, this is trying to steal my joy. I'm not going to let that happen. Immediately shifts the energy. It's been really fun to watch and experience it. Yeah, absolutely.

Robert Wooten: 11:41

And I think that what you're speaking of is exactly what we're saying about taking responsibility for the world that you're creating, that you're living in being responsible for creating that perception in which perception becomes reality. So if you can think of your body as a container and it's filled with the things that you put into it, physical, things like food and water and Big Macs and tacos, drugs, for some people, alcohol, nicotine, vitamins, all of the things that you put physically into your body, but also energetic things. I think a lot of people don't think about these like thoughts or perceptions or judgments or information in the music you listen to and so on, becoming aware of what you're putting into your body container, being mindful of whether what you're putting into your body is something that's helpful or harmful to the container. I have a friend of mine that likes to say, is the food I'm eating, is this good for my brain or bad for my brain? She's gotten older, she's really thinking more about like, her brain health, and so she will just say, is this good for my brain or bad for my brain? It's a very narrow, focused concept of how the things you're either consuming physically or consuming with your brain is how it's affecting it, but it also creates concentric circles of how everything that you affect your brain with also affect your body with right? So if it's not healthy for your brain, it's probably also not good for your body. If it is good for your brain, it probably also is good for your body. So that allowed for that one singular focus to help out, have reverberating effects outwards. So you ask questions like how the thing you're thinking about or you're consuming, how it's going to help or hinder the functioning of the container, how it's going to affect the environment around the container. This can be a form of body mindfulness, and if you pay attention to the things that you're subjecting yourself to, and how it makes you both feel physically and emotionally, and then how it makes you think, right? Is it really good for you? And does it have long term effects on you? Is it for the good or the bad? And regular meditation practice is something that has no bad long term side effects. What it puts into your energetic field is a sense of peace and calm. I look at it like it's filling your container with good energy. You can see this as light energy, or more abstractly, you can see it as calmness or peacefulness. And the more you do it, day after day, the more your container is filling up with this type of energy. So if you can visualize your body as this container, and then when you meditate, you can visualize that your body is filling with this good energy coming from the meditation, you're becoming full of calm. You're becoming full of peace. So for example, if a glass of water is sitting on a table and you bump the glass, some water will splash around at the top of the glass, and some may spill out. Not all of it, though, kind of like how the waves at the shallow part of the beach seem to be the most active, splashing and spraying around the most but the deeper part of the glass, much like the ocean barely moves. So the deeper you can fill your container, the less these small things will affect you. So once you start your meditation practice, and you're you're moving towards filling yourself with this energy, you still have to go out to the daily world, right? And that's where people get tripped up, is that meditation practice is the place where you're calm and peaceful. Maybe the office is not so much so. So you have to find ways that maybe you can take this feeling of peace and calm, and you can take this container filled with this light energy of peace and calm into your daily life. And there are some ways that you can help keep your calm and peaceful energy prominent and help make you less reactive to the things that normally upset you or offset your balance of peaceful energy to be more stressful or reactive. I

Christina Wooten: 15:40

100% think that you see the results of the practices that you do not in the moment that you're doing the practice. This is, but you see it as it trickles into your daily life, that you know you're doing a regular practice, and suddenly you're going to Costco, there's people everywhere, and it's, you know, really intense, and people are rushing around, and you feel fine with that, you know, whereas, if you're not doing a regular practice, it might, you know, just feel like you're you're splashing around, you're feeling that intensity of things happen, or someone yells at you, and you're just like, oh, I don't, I'm not going to respond to that. Like, okay, that's, that's your stuff. It's just this, you don't see sometimes the change that's happening, or it's hard to deconstruct exactly what's going on, but as that happens, your consciousness begins to shift. Your consciousness begins to change, because your spirit can hold more of that soul quality and more of that soul energy, and as a result, you maintain more of the peace of the soul energy. But the only way to do that is to plug into it on a regular basis, to allow space for that to happen. But you're gonna see the change, not necessarily what's happening on the mat or what's happening on your meditation room or pillow. You're gonna notice it out in daily life, and it sort of creeps up on you. I think, you know, you're just surprised and excited when it's like, oh, this happened, and I didn't have any reaction to it, awesome, right? This must be working

Robert Wooten: 17:18

exactly. And so with that in mind, I have four things that I'd like to share with you that can help you keep your calm and peaceful energy out in the real world. And so number one is to be mindful of what is upsetting you. Why do you feel this way? When someone says something to you, ask yourself, why do I feel upset about that? Why am I reacting in this way? And then go deeper, what is the real issue as to why you feel this way? Is this a trigger related to something else? Do you need some healing in a certain area to help deal with this trigger? So next time you're in your meditation space, reflect on that one issue and see if you can find your way to finding peace with it, or maybe you need to speak to a counselor who can help walk you through that healing. But once you get to the deeper level of what's causing you to react that way, then you can let that go. You can learn to be at peace with that aspect of that trigger and move on from that so it doesn't affect you. In the same way, finding your peace out in the real world is not reacting to everything because other people don't know that that's going to affect you that way. When someone says something to you and it triggers you, they're not doing it because they're trying to trigger you, necessarily. Maybe some people are, but I think the vast majority of people probably are not that that is just a trigger for you. Again, it's your perception. Usually

Christina Wooten: 18:38

it's a defense, like, I've need to protect myself for some reason. So asking them, you know, multiple layered why? Can clarify if you're just not sure, like, Why? Why is this driving me nuts? Or what is it about this person? Or what is it about this experience? Then you can get to the heart of it, because it's not that person, it's not that experience. It is something unhealed within you that is saying, I need to be healed, and I'm ready deal with it. Come deal with me. So if you can

Robert Wooten: 19:07

change your perception and change your reaction to that trigger by healing whatever it is that's causing that trigger, you can then be at peace with that and refill your container back up with that peaceful energy. And then hopefully, once you get to the core of it, to the heart of it, you can make peace with it, and you can let it go, because that wasn't love, that generally was in the past. And then the past is what it was, and you can learn to move forward with the new future.

Christina Wooten: 19:34

It's something that's crying out for love, and so you can be intentional about offering what it needs. Because, you know our reaction is to be defensive, and, you know, oftentimes to bring up anger or distrust or agitation, and that unhealed part doesn't need those things that will continue to deepen the chasm and deepen the wound. You know, what it needs, truly, what it's asking for, is love. And so we can't really move forward until we are finding the source and allowing love to come in, right?

Robert Wooten: 20:09

So number two is becoming mindful of your breathing. As you notice that you're starting to feel the stress, or you're feeling the anger starting to well up, or you're starting to feel this upset coming up within you, everything begins in the breath. Notice whether you're holding your breath, is your breathing starting to become shallow or rapid, and once you are aware of it, first start by taking five deep, centering breaths. Concentrate on the inflow, the transition and the outflow for each breath, think one in as you breathe in. Out, one out as you breathe that breath out, and then two in as you breathe in, and then two out as you transition to breathe out. And you go through all five of those breasts that way, very slowly, centering for how deep the breath is, for how balancing it is, and sometimes just taking those few minutes to pause and center your breath can greatly reduce your stress response and allow you to stay in your calm, peaceful place without being knocked off balance and being reactive to something that someone is saying or something catching it early, right? So, number three, if you're in a stress inducing environment, for instance, going inward with some internal chanting can help. Simple chants such as Om, manipad may hum or simply om repeatedly, or OM, Shanti Om, can help keep you inwardly focused and less reactive, or defensive and loud and chaotic situations, and you don't have to say it out loud if you don't want to, if you're someplace that you can't speak these things out loud or feel awkward, you can just say it in your mind. And by saying it in your mind, and just saying the words over and over and over, that will help use tape centered inward, and then the things that are happening out outwardly around you, like maybe in your office, it's very chaotic suddenly, but it doesn't have anything to do with you, and you don't have to react to it, but yet you're feeling the stress that everyone else. This is especially good for empaths. If you're feeling all the stress energy around you coming from other people, you can help offset that by tuning inward, watching your breathing and then doing these inward chants to help rebalance you and rebalance your inward container of energy. I really

Christina Wooten: 22:30

like the prompt, and I use this for meditation, but also like when I'm in a stressful environment and I'm, you know, trying to be loving in the the area where I am, you know, whatever it is that I'm experiencing, the prompt that I like is I am in the presence of God. So it's just being aware of like in meditation, I'm in the presence of God, and allowing that presence to become more and more revealed as I become Stiller and calmer and present. But if you're in a meeting stressful, I use this a couple of times in one of my children's IEP meetings, and would sit there, I am in the presence of God when I was and what it helped me to do was just go, okay, underneath all of this, there is an undercurrent for me to tap into, and I can just be be present with that. And it helped me to feel really peaceful in a really high stress type of environment, yeah. So something simple, like a mantra or a focal point can be a great way to just harness the power of focus, right?

Robert Wooten: 23:40

I heard one that was simple like that too. That was, I am peaceful, I am peaceful, I am relaxed, I am calm. And you can just use one of those words. You can say all three of those words, I am peaceful, I am relaxed, I am calm. And by saying that I am, the thing that you say after I am is what you become. And so if you can say I am peaceful, you will become peaceful. If you say I'm tired or I'm stressed or I'm angry, you become that thing as well. And so if you can focus your energy towards what it is you want to become peaceful, calm, relaxed in the presence of God, I think that is a great one, because it will help you redirect that focus inward and take more charge of how you choose to respond. And the last one is another mindfulness practice that is noticing and naming the feelings as they arise. So when people begin in meditation, they quite often told to do this when they find it difficult to sit on the cushion for longer than a couple of minutes. Most of us can sit still for a minute or two, but when you move on to 1015, 2030, minutes in meditation, which is pretty normal, it's harder in the earlier stages to make yourself do that. So you'll have some random feelings that come through, or some random physical feeling sometimes they come through also, and so saying, restless, for instance, when you feel fidgety or anxious, when that feeling arises, but also itchy, when you have an itch that you really need to scratch, or painful, when your knees or ankles begin to complain at the early stages of practice. Now there's a difference between your body not being used to the practice and actually really physically causing yourself some injury. So know the difference between that feeling also know if your brain is trying to tell you that I was a long distance runner for years, and if you run a marathon when you're about, I don't know, 1314, miles in for whatever reason, your body suddenly wants to tell you everything in the world that you are damaging, like you're ruining your knees forever, your feet are going to be forever destroyed. You can't breathe. You just need to stop. And your body just keeps screaming this at you over and over and over that you just need to stop and walk. Be okay. Well, just stop and walk, but you have to learn how to power through that. If you're conditioned and you're in good shape, you know that's just a brain trick. That's a mind trying to make things easy on you. And if you have this goal of pushing yourself through this to be able to compete, then you have to power through it. And then once you get to about 20 miles, that all quits, and then you can power back up, and you get your second wind, and you go, and all that pain goes away and you don't feel it anymore. You get back in your head, and you focus on letting the running take care of itself. So the key here is to notice the feeling. You honor it by speaking it, and then you let it go. If you keep feeling it, say it again. If it still hurts, you say painful. If you still feel the itch. You say, itchy. And if you keep giving it that notice and then letting it go, intentionally, letting it go, trying to let it pass, then you'll notice that eventually it will just go away on its own. And I think this can be helpful for us in daily situations as well. If you're trying to focus on a project at work, for instance, and you keep becoming distracted, notice this. And when the distraction comes to your awareness. Say, distract it, and then let it go, redirect your attention back to what you were working on and get back to work. If something else comes up to distract you, say it again. Distract it. Move back into what you're trying to focus on, and let that distraction go. Pass on by when

Christina Wooten: 27:06

people are thinking about starting a meditation practice or starting a practice. So a couple of things that come to mind is, what do you tell yourself when you really don't want to sit down for a meditation, or you don't want to sit down for your practice that day, when you just feel I mean, I know what my response is, but I'm curious as to what is yours. What do you say to yourself in order to push through. I

Robert Wooten: 27:29

remember hearing a coach one time say that if you can do one push up, you can get in better shape, or if you can do one sit up, you can get in better shape. And you would think that that would not be the case, but the reality of that is, if you do one push up, you'll do more push ups. Most likely, I mean, you'll do two today, maybe you'll do five tomorrow, and then eventually you begin to build up your ability to do more push ups, and you get in better shape. So for me, what if I really don't feel like sitting down for 30 minutes or 20 minutes, I'll say I'll do it for five minutes. I can sit still for five minutes. And so I set an alarm for five minutes, and I go and I sit for five minutes. So I think if you can do the five minutes, likely you'll do longer, because you'll find this sense of calm, you'll touch back in with how that feels, and you'll go deeper into the meditation. And before you know it, the five minute alarm goes off, and you're like, Well, I'm not ready yet. And you just turn it off, and then you go back into your meditation. So if you feel like you just can't make yourself do it, then do it for less time. What is the saying? If you feel like you should meditate, you should meditate. If you feel like you shouldn't meditate, you should meditate. So. So I think that's the that's the goal there is to if you have to lessen the time, then that's fine. Then do it for a time that you know. You can do it for like five minutes, or maybe even one minute. If you have one minute, it's better than nothing.

Christina Wooten: 28:45

I agree with that. I think that you know if you can just force yourself to get through the resistance of the initial sit down or the initial dedication to something you will positively impact yourself. I think for me, how I manage it is adjusting my practice for my mood or for where I'm at that day. So there's so many different forms of meditation or different forms of peace. So, you know, drumming can be a meditation that's much more active. Walking can be a meditation, guided meditations, Mantra meditations. There's lots of different expressions of meditation. So if I'm absolutely dreading one, then there's usually somewhere on the spectrum that I can be like, oh, you know what? That sounds good today. I could try that so, you know, being consistent overall in the practice, but maybe not necessarily always in how that's achieved. I for me, I need variety every now and then, just to keep me consistent and to keep me in the flow and in the practice. And I say that to my students, also from an intuitive perspective. When you're building your skills, there may be some days where you're like, oh, just I don't know, but try do something. There's so many different practices that you can do, and if you just consistently do something, you will make a profound change in your journey. You just got to find something that fits where you are in the moment.

Robert Wooten: 30:15

Absolutely So as we wrap up here, if day after day seems to be one catastrophe after another for you and the level of chaos seems too much, it helps if you have created this bubble of calm around and inside you to help shield yourself from absorbing too much of it. So keep your container of peace filled to overflowing, and the world around you will slowly become a better place. Thank you for joining us again, and may you be filled with love, peace, calm and happiness. Any blessings,

Christina Wooten: 30:48

any blessings. The

Robert Wooten: 30:52

modern life and spirit podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided is not intended to provide medical psychological legal or financial advice. Information provided is not to diagnose or treat any medical or psychological illness. To read the full disclaimer, see sedonamedia.com you.