Many years ago, I embarked on one of the hardest yet most beautiful journeys of my life—a Datun in Nepal. For weeks, I sat in silence, exploring my inner world, unraveling layers of worthiness, low self-esteem, and the limitations that were blocking my heart. That deep work in stillness allowed me to touch something profound: peace.
But the real challenge came when I returned to the world—the fast pace, the noise, the pressures. How could I integrate the peace of Nepal into my daily life? How could I remember who I truly am and live aligned with my purpose?
Here's the tool that has helped me, and it may help you too:
Simply Be the Rose That You Are You don’t need to force anything. Let who you are be enough. Just as a rose blooms without trying, you are already everything you need to be. Strip away the shackles of history, the stories you’ve been told, the limitations you've carried. Take moments each day to sit in stillness, to reconnect with your heart, and let that be enough.
When the noise outside tries to pull you away, anchor yourself with quiet moments inside. Create space for your heart to open, and let that space be the foundation for how you move through the world.
#SimplyBeTheRose #QuietPower #DailyPeace #LiveYourPurpose #SilentStrength
(upbeat music) - Hey, it's Dr. James Rouse. Welcome to the Change Agents Podcast. This is the place where personal growth meets human performance. Join me and the Change Agents community where inspired individuals unite to ignite their full potential and create extraordinary mastery. - Good morning, it's James. It is really good to see you today. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your energy and please be grateful to have the honor and the blessing of laying eyes on you and I do hope and pray that this message finds you and all the people that you love, peaceful, thriving and very, very well. So this morning's message, I believe every single one of us has a relationship to. It may be more historical for you or it may be a present moment that you're practicing something that you're realizing more and more. I am practicing something that I know I no longer want to be. I am giving myself permission to align with something that is not my truth. And I want to be reminded and given a tool that I can implement to help me remember who I am authentically, empowered wise and truly aligning with what it is that we know we are here to do and to be. Number of years ago, in fact, nearly 40 years ago, I was doing a dot tune, which is a long 30-day meditation practice in Kathmandu. It was in a place called Swayambu, which is also known as the Monkey Temple. And as I was beginning my practice there, I thought to myself, wow, this is probably gonna be the hardest and most beautiful thing I will ever do. And it was the hardest and most beautiful thing I've ever done. I gave myself permission to sit quietly and silently for weeks. And I gave myself the opportunity to realize that this was going to be an opportunity to be a witness, to actually give myself an opportunity to see myself in my thoughts and in my ways and my patterning of thinking, I had the greatest work of my life to do. I at that time were really suffering with a low sense of self-esteem, low self-confidence. I had a lot of issues with my worthiness, anxiety, depression, I had all the things. I was also working on getting myself beyond my addictions with drugs and alcohol. So I had a lot going on while I was sitting there, a lot of things stirring inside of me. And this is something that I often share with people I coach. When we're in a place that we know, we've got a lot of stuff circulating in our mind, a lot of stuff that is keeping us as we perceive that we can't get into our heart, some type of blockage, some type of limitations, some type of edge that we're not willing to get over, to get into our heart, our self-compassion, acceptance and all the things that we know will help us to move through these dark nights, we can't seem to access. So I want to share this little story with you. When I was done with this experience of sitting for weeks in silence, I said to the meditation teacher when I was given an opportunity to ask a question. I said, here's what I'm really working on. I'm gonna go back to the United States and a lot of people know me a certain way. They know me as a drinker. They know me as a person who wasn't necessarily living up to the values I'm here working on here in Nepal. And I'm really most worried about me knowing I don't know how to do something different. I'm wondering how do I take this energy, this level of peace, this level of awareness and put it back into the world? Have you ever felt that way? You had a great weekend, you did some great meditation, maybe you went on a retreat, you went on a workshop, you came back and you're like, wow, how do I integrate this into my life, my real life? How do I bring this into my relationships? How do I bring this into my work? How do I bring this into the life that I know I'm here to leave in the world and not be separate from it, but integrate myself? So the meditation teacher said to me something beautiful. He said, this is a perfect time to remember how a rose participates in itself. I was like, I don't quite get what that means. And when I'm to say, when you walk into a garden full of all kinds of flowers, you don't hear the rose calling out and saying, hey, look at me, I'm a rose, I'm amazing, I'm beautiful, I'm doing my spiritual work, all the things, you simply will come upon a rose and you will realize that the rose just is. The rose is just fully participating in what it is. It's not trying to show anybody, it's not trying to teach anyone, it's not trying to change anyone. It's beautiful because it is, it just is. He said, go back to United States and be just who you are. Best in continual evolution of living your values, opening your heart, being courageous in your practice and let that be enough. Simply be the rose that you are. Remove the shackles of history. Clear away and remove the filter of what it is that you thought you might have been and what you frankly knew you could have been better and simply step into the role of what you would love to be now. A rose blossoms under the influence of owning its beauty and all of what it is is happening under the influence of that blooming. Go back to United States and bloom for yourself. And if anyone happens to look your way, they will only see you fully participating in you. Your rose nature being expressed as you. So, if you've got work to do and I know I surely do and it continues, think about how you can fully participate in your innate nature. Think about a value, a way in which you love to show up. Think about when your most beautiful, most powerful, most inspired and be that, simply participate in it and watch how you can reclaim your power, your peace, your beauty, your presence, your confidence and your creative knowing that you are fully all that you need to be and worthy of expressing it by here and now. Thank you, thank you for showing up. Thank you for the courage and the demonstration of that courage each and every day lived on the influence of love and acceptance of that beautiful rose nature. I'll see you soon. Peace and blessings and all the love. Bye for now. (upbeat music) - Thanks for listening. Together, I believe we can make a difference in our own lives and the lives of those around us. Don't forget to subscribe, share and leave a review to help us spread positive energy across the planet. Until next time, keep shining your life and being the change you wanna see and be in the world. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]
