Voices from Around the World

Finding Beauty When The World Feels Heavy

• Obediah's Global Movement

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Summary

In a world filled with turmoil and unrest, Obediah explores the importance of recognizing and embracing beauty as a source of strength and resilience. She emphasizes that while beauty may seem irrelevant amidst chaos, it serves as a reminder of the sacredness that persists in our lives, encouraging us to keep going even in difficult times.


Takeaways

  • The world is experiencing significant unrest and change.
  • Feeling overwhelmed and exhausted is a common human experience.
  • Beauty can provide strength and resilience in tough times.
  • Even in chaos, there is still beauty to be found.
  • Beauty is not a luxury; it is essential for the human spirit.
  • Acknowledging beauty can help us cope with grief and injustice.
  • There is a sacredness that persists despite the chaos.
  • Finding tenderness in small moments can be powerful.
  • Our bodies and spirits continue to seek light and hope.
  • Embracing beauty can help us navigate through life's storms.




SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Voices Around the World, a soulful space where stories breathe, borders blur, and humanity speaks. This isn't just a podcast, it's a gathering, a circle of voices, intimate, courageous, and deeply personal, echoing from every corner of the globe. Through heartfelt interviews and reflective solo episodes, we explore the lived experiences that shaped our shared world, the struggles that stretch us, the triumphs that lift us, the quiet moments that remind us we belong. Each episode invites us into conversations with artists, healers, activists, educators, and everyday visionaries. People whose perspectives are rooted in culture, resilience, and truth. And sometimes your host steps into the silence alone, offering a gentle reflection on global issues through the lens of compassion, curiosity, and care. This is a space for listening deeply, for honoring differences, for finding connection and complexity. Because in the world that often divides, voices from around the world dares to weave us together, one story at a time. If your world feels a little loud right now, if your heart is caring more than it lets on, you're in the right place. So take a breath, allow your shoulders to drop, and remember, you don't have to hold it all alone. Let's be honest, life doesn't always wait for us to catch our breath. Sometimes the storms arise unannounced. A diagnosis, a breakup, a betrayal, a loss of job, a headline that makes your stomach drop, a silence that says too much, a world that feels like it's unraveling faster than we can hold it together. Right now, the winds are rising and restlessness is increasing across the globe. Wars are raging, forest are burning. People are fleeing homes they've loved for generations, the climate shifts, the news cycle spin. And somewhere in the middle of it all, you're just trying to make it through the day. It's a lot, I know. And if you felt overwhelmed, numb, angry, or exhausted, you're not alone. You're human. In moments like these, beauty can feel irrelevant, frivolous, out of reach. But I want to offer you something gentle and true. Beauty is not a luxury. It's a quiet kind of strength. It's the way your breath keeps showing up for you, the way your body still reaches for light, the way your spirit whispers keep going even when you're tired. It's the way you notice the softness of a sunrise, even when your heart is heavy. Beauty doesn't fix the storm. It doesn't erase the grief or the injustice. But it reminds us softly, steadily, that something sacred still lives here, that even in a chaos there is still color, still rhythm, still tenderness. So let's name the storm. Not to be consumed by it, but to honor it, to say, I see you, I feel you, I'm still here.

SPEAKER_00:

What is swirling in your life right now?

SPEAKER_01:

What is heavy? What is loud? What is asking for your attention, even if you've been trying to ignore it? You don't have to fix it. You don't have to carry it alone. Just name it. That's a brave beginning. Here's the thing. We live in a world that often demands too much and offers too little space to fill it all. A world that tells us to keep hustling, keep producing, keep swiping away, even when our hearts are breaking, even when the world feels like it's on fire. We're taught to numb, to distract, to pretend we're fine. But what if we didn't? What if, instead, we paused? What if we softened? What if we let the beauty interrupt the noise? Because in times like these, when everything feels uncertain, when grief is collective, when the headlines are heavy, notice in beauty is not frivolous, is a quiet act of rebellion, a sacred kind of resistance. It is saying, I still see the sky. I still believe in softness. I still choose to feel. And that choice, that's where resilience begins. Not in pretending everything is okay, of course, but in choosing to stay open anyways, to keep showing up with tenderness. To offer compassion to yourself when you're tired, and to others when they forget how to be kind. Because here's what I know. Resilience isn't about pushing through at all cost. It's about remembering what anchors you. Something that helped you feel rooted, something that helped you keep going. That is the beauty, and that is the medicine. That is your spirit remembering how to rise. Now let's talk about stay in presence. Not the created kind you see on wellness blogs, not the kind that requires incense, a perfect sunrise, or an empty calendar. I mean that raw, real kind of presence. The kind that meets you in the middle of the mess and says, I am here even now through the chaos, through the storm. Presence is not performance. It's not about being calm or wise or endlessly patient. It's about being willing, willing to stay, willing to listen, willing to feel. In a world that teaches us to run from discomfort, to distract by all means, to numb, to swipe, to fix. Stillness becomes a radical act. Silence becomes sacred. Listening becomes healing. Because when we stop running from the storm and start sitting with it, something inside of us shifts. We stop racing, we start breathing, we begin to hear the quiet truths beneath the noise. Stillness doesn't disappear in the chaos. It means we stop abandoning ourselves in the middle of it. And that's where the alchemy begins. That's where resilience is born. Not in the absence of pain, but in a presence of self. Try this. When everything feels like it's too much, when your thoughts are racing and your heart feels heavy. Ask yourself what is still true. Maybe it's the fact that I am breathing. I am loved. I am not alone. I am allowed to pause. I am worthy of peace even now. These truths are your anchors. They don't erase the storms. They help you stand in it. They help you remember who you are beneath all of the noise. So today, I invite you to choose your presence, to sit with your breath, to listen to your body, to honor emotions without rushing to fix them. Let your silence be your sanctuary. Let stillness be your strength. Let presence be your path back to yourself. Let's close with a moment of stillness. You don't need to do anything fancy. Just be here. With me, with yourself. Find a comfortable position. Allow your shoulders and your hands to relax. Let your jaw unclench. Allow your breath to find its rhythm. Take a deep breath in and a slow breath out. Take another deep breath in and a slow breath out. Let your breath be your anchor. Let it remind you that you are here. You are safe. You are held. Now, imagine yourself in the center of a storm. The wind is loud, the sky is dark, but you are not running. You're standing still, rooted in a present moment, like a tree that knows how to bend without breaking. Feel your feet planted on the ground. Feel the weight of your body. Feel the steadiness beneath you. Now let the storm swirl around you. Let the chaos exist. You don't need to fix it. You don't need to flee. Just continue to breathe. Inhale, I am grounded. Exhale, I am safe. Inhale, I am allowed to pause. Exhale, I am allowed to feel. Inhale, I am present. Exhale, I am whole. Now, bring to mind something that feels chaotic.

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A swirl, a storm, a knot in your chest. Don't push it away. Just notice it.

SPEAKER_01:

Say to yourself, this is here, and I'm still okay. Now ask, is there any beauty here? It might be small. A flicker, a memory, a color, a breath. Let it rise. Let it soften you. Let it remind you you're not broken. You are healing. Now imagine a quiet clearing in the center of the storm. A place where wind calms. Where the light filters through. Where your breath feels like a prayer. This is your sanctuary. This is your still point. You're welcome to return here whenever you need. Repeat silently. I honor the chaos. I welcome the beauty. I am rooted in presence. Take one final deep breath and release. Begin to return to your space in the presence. Wiggle your fingers and your toes. You may now open your eyes when you're ready. Thank you for being here. Thank you for choosing presence in a world that often asks us to disappear. Thank you for remembering that beauty still lives, even here, even now. If this episode stirs something in you, share it. Let it ripple outward. Let it be a lantern for something walking through their own storm. Because here's what I know. We are not alone in our ache, and we are not powerless in our tenderness. Across the globe, people are rising in quiet ways, choosing compassion over cruelty, stillness over speed, connection over collapse. And as Victor Frankel once wrote, when we are no longer able to change in a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. And as Maya Angelo reminded us, we may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. So let this be your reminder. You are allowed to feel.