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

The Dignity of Being Tired: Give Yourself a Break

What if tiredness isn't weakness? What if it's the most honest thing your body is telling you?

In this episode, we talk about why we treat exhaustion like a personal failure instead of listening to what it's actually telling us. I share what it was like being Mayor of Truro, running on empty, showing up to every event because stopping felt like letting people down. We explore why busyness has become a badge of honour, why animals rest without guilt and we can't, and what actually happens in your brain when you don't get proper rest. This isn't about life hacks. It's about giving yourself permission to stop before you have nothing left.

Key topics:

• Why tiredness is not a weakness but honest information from your body
• The culture of celebrating exhaustion as proof of commitment
• What happens in your brain during deep sleep and why rest matters
• Thich Nhat Hanh on how animals rest and heal without guilt
• Practical permission to disconnect and stop being on call

Companion meditation: Inner Peace Meditations #98 — Permission to Rest

If this episode meant something to you, please share it, leave a review, or treat me to a coffee: stevenwebb.uk

With thanks to: Senga, Sujata, Jack, Denise, Glenn, Aileen, Joe, Laurie, Barb, Audra, Bronwyn, and Emily.

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

What Rises When You Stop Pushing

An Easter Sunday conversation about what comes back to us when we finally stop forcing. Steven opens with daffodils appearing on Cornish roadsides and moves into a wide-ranging reflection on renewal — drawing on Alan Watts, Shunryu Suzuki, and Junpo Denis Kelly to explore why the things we thought we'd lost often return on their own. This one speaks directly to anyone at a low point.

All episodes of Stillness in the Storms are brought to you without adverts by the generous donations of listeners treating Steven to a coffee.

DETAILS

Level: All levels Type: Conversational podcast episode Duration: ~20:00 Companion meditation: Inner Peace Meditations EP97 — "Find the Green Shoot"

IN THIS EPISODE

• Daffodils on roadsides and what spring actually looks like before it looks like spring
• Alan Watts on waves and rhythm — the wave rises, crests, and falls, but the ocean never runs out of waves
• Junpo Denis Kelly on what arises first: caring. Anger comes from caring.
• Shunryu Suzuki and beginner's mind — meeting the season as though you've never seen one before
• A reference to Tony Hoagland's poem "The Color of the Sky" and the line about the end turning out to be the middle
• Steven's own recent hospital stay and what it clarified about renewal
• A direct word to anyone feeling behind or broken: you're neither

WHO IS THIS FOR?

• You're going through a difficult period and need to hear that it doesn't last forever — without being told to think positive
• You're curious about Alan Watts, Zen philosophy, or contemplative ideas but want them grounded in real life, not theory
• You've been forcing yourself to recover, improve, or move on and it's not working
• You want a thoughtful Easter listen that goes deeper than chocolate eggs
• You enjoy Steven's conversational style and want something reflective to sit with over a cup of tea

WHAT YOU'LL TAKE AWAY

• A different way to think about low points — not as failure but as the turning point of a wave
• Permission to stop forcing renewal and trust that some things return on their own
• A felt sense of being spoken to honestly by someone who has been there
• Fresh ways into Watts, Suzuki, and Kelly that connect to everyday experience
• The companion meditation (IPM EP97) as a practice to carry the themes further

ABOUT STEVEN WEBB

Steven Webb is a meditation teacher, podcaster, politician, and the host of Inner Peace Meditations. A former mayor of Truro in the county of Cornwall, Steven continues to split his time between politics and the contemplative work he is best known for. After a life-changing accident left him paralysed from the chest down, he found his way to inner peace through mindfulness, Zen philosophy, and the teachings of Alan Watts and Shunryu Suzuki. He now helps others find calm and resilience — especially those who find meditation difficult. Steven lives in Cornwall, England and shares his work at stevenwebb.com. You can also find his podcast on politics and public life, Stillness in the Storms, at https://stillnessinthestorms.com/

KEYWORDS

stillness in the storms, renewal, spring, Alan Watts, Shunryu Suzuki, Junpo Denis Kelly, beginner's mind, Easter, inner peace, low point, waves

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

Host: Steven Webb Website: stevenwebb.uk

Have you ever caught yourself collecting meditation apps, lining up Buddhist statues on a shelf, and wondering if you're doing peace wrong? In this honest Sunday morning episode — recorded while recovering from an operation and still on painkillers — Steven asks a question that quietly nags at a lot of seekers: do you actually need to call yourself a Buddhist to find inner peace?

Steven traces his own path from collecting the accessories of Buddhism to hitting rock bottom at forty, when inner peace stopped being a nice idea and became something he genuinely needed. What he found was that suffering doesn't come from life itself — it comes from our relationship to it. The clinging. The resistance. The stories we tell ourselves about what should be happening instead of what is.

Drawing on Alan Watts's famous reminder that "the menu is not the meal," Steven makes a gentle but clear distinction: the label, the tradition, the institution — that's the menu. The direct experience of stillness, right where you are — that's the meal. He also explores Jun Po Denis Kelly's Mondo Zen approach, where awakening isn't reserved for monasteries but happens in ordinary, messy, everyday life.

Along the way, Steven touches on the different branches of Buddhism — Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan, Zen — and points out that the core practices of meditation, mindful awareness, and compassion don't ask you to believe in anything at all. He shares one of his favourite insights: that every one of us interprets reality differently through our own senses and brain — and understanding that simple fact is where real compassion begins.

Steven's conclusion? He's not a Buddhist. Not really a Christian either. But the teachings of compassion, understanding, and love that run through all traditions? Those he agrees with completely. And the world, he says, could use a lot more of all three.

• Suffering comes from our relationship to life, not from life itself. It's the clinging and the resistance that create the pain, not the circumstances.
• The menu is not the meal. Labels, traditions, and institutions point toward inner peace — but they aren't the experience itself. Direct stillness is.
• You don't need to be a Buddhist to practise Buddhism's core teachings. Meditation, mindful awareness, and compassion require no belief system.
• Awakening happens in ordinary life. Jun Po Denis Kelly's Mondo Zen reminds us that you don't need a monastery — you need honesty and presence, right where you are.
• We all experience reality differently. Understanding that each person's brain interprets the world in its own way is the beginning of genuine compassion.
• Enlightenment isn't a permanent state. There are more enlightened moments and less enlightened moments — and that's perfectly fine.
• Compassion is the common ground. Across every tradition, the call is the same: more understanding, more love, more kindness.

New monthly supporters: Stephen, Kaylin, Allison

One-time supporters: Femke, Hannah, Andrew, Tracy, Helen, Tiffany Lynn, Gem, Ulysses, Anonymous, Suta, Jess, Leigh, Gerit, Cheryl, Krysia

Your generosity keeps this podcast going — thank you.

Stay curious, and I love you.

Steven