170: Natural Healing Show with Catherine Carrigan - Episode 170

170: Natural Healing Show with Catherine Carrigan - Episode 170

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety and better health when the world feels chaotic? This conversation between host Catherine Carrigan and zen master Clifford Stevens offers a gentle, grounded look at inner peace as something you can actually live, not just read about. Catherine sets the scene by sharing how peace is one of her core values and how she leans on gardening, prayer, meditation and talking to her angels to stay calm.

Clifford then unpacks peace from a zen perspective, describing it as an inner serenity that lets you "relieve the suffering of others" without being destroyed by what you see around you. You’ll hear a clear distinction between accepting reality and passively giving up. Clifford explains that acceptance in zen simply means seeing what is happening as it is, while still being free to act, care and try to improve things.

He also touches on detachment, carefully clarifying that it doesn’t mean indifference, but refusing to let outer events crush your inner balance. For anyone juggling stress, anxiety or recovery, the practical side of zen will stand out. Clifford talks through seated meditation, walking meditation and simple breathing as tools for finding calm anywhere – even, as Catherine jokes, during four long hours of jury duty or a delayed flight.

Her airport story, where just sitting near a long-term meditator shifted her mood from panic to calm, brings the theory of shared energy fields to life. Clifford also talks about zen humility, kensho (a first glimpse of our deeper nature), and the idea that "the oneself in me and the oneself in every other sentient being are one and the same." It’s a quietly powerful reminder that every bit of peace you find in yourself affects everyone around you.

How might your own calm start to change the atmosphere in your home, your workplace, or your recovery circle?