Calmer in 5

In today's Calmer in 5, we explore a simple but powerful shift in perspective: life doesn't happen to you—you happen to life. When we see ourselves as passive recipients of events, life can feel overwhelming and out of control. But when we remember that our presence, awareness, and response shape how each moment unfolds, something loosens. This episode invites you to step out of reaction and into participation—meeting life as it is, with intention and calm. Nothing needs to change for this shift to begin—only how you meet the moment. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

It's no secret that the world seems pretty fast-paced. Do you want to know an even bigger secret? The world is not fast-paced…you are. As I will talk about today, you are the one who sets your pace, harried or calm. Once you know this, you can take the steps to find a pace that creates calm. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

Without some practice to help us understand what is right for us, we are at the whim of the world, society and all others we don a mask for. Today I explain how knowing yourself can put your mind at ease. I'll give a very topical example as it relates to my life and ZC and CI5. Come listen Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

In our search for calm, it's easy to think we need to withdraw, disconnect, or figure everything out on our own. In this episode, we explore a simple truth that often gets overlooked: calm doesn't come from isolation—it comes from connection. Whether it's with others, with the present moment, or with yourself, connection creates a sense of safety, grounding, and peace that the mind alone can't manufacture. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

In today's episode, we explore how easy it is to look outside ourselves—especially online—for reminders of love, kindness, and goodness in the world. While social media can sometimes highlight beautiful acts of compassion, it can just as easily pull us into comparison, judgment, and worry. During my meditation, I was gently reminded that I don't need to go online to find kindness at all. It's already here—waiting to be noticed in everyday moments, quiet gestures, and simple human connection. Today's reflection invites you to step out of your worries, soften your judgments, and become more present to the love that's unfolding around you right now. Come listen. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

In today's episode, I explore a truth we rarely hear in a world that celebrates productivity above presence: you don't need to do anything to matter. Your worth isn't measured by output, achievement, or the roles you play — it's woven into your very being. Join me as I share a gentle reminder that simply existing makes you valuable, loved, and enough. When we release the pressure to prove ourselves, we rediscover the calm and freedom that have been ours all along. Come listen. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

Today's episode is a little different — and more honest than I expected. I recorded this once already, but after a technical mix-up and a little soul-searching, I realized the message was still calling me. So I sat back down behind the mic to tell the story the way it wanted to be told. It began with something simple: tying my shoes with my full attention and feeling a surprising wave of calm wash over me. In this re-recorded episode, I share why presence doesn't disappear when the moment passes — it invites us back. And sometimes a lesson is worth returning to, because it still has something to teach us. Come listen. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

On my walk today, I realized something about my heavy boots — they let me go anywhere with confidence. Puddles, mud, snow… none of it stops me. And it made me think: when you're clear about who you are, the same is true for your life. In this episode, we explore how a grounded sense of self gives you the traction to move through anything. Come listen Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

I watched five little birds splashing in a puddle today — just playing, completely unbothered by the world around them. And for a moment, I felt self-conscious watching them… until I was reminded that letting joy in is always more important than worrying what others think. This episode is an invitation to choose wonder over judgment and let simple beauty reach you. Come listen Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

When we want to feel calm, we often turn to what we can see. But sound can bring us back to center just as powerfully. Today, I invite you to think about the last thing you heard that truly moved you — something that didn't just make you smile, but made your day. Let's reconnect with calm through the sense we often overlook. Come listen Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

In the stillness of a 3 a.m. drive, Thom reflects on how easily we can miss the beauty that's right beside us — until a simple turn brings it back into view. In this episode, The Moon Was Always There, he explores how calm often returns in the same way: quietly, faithfully, waiting for us to notice. It's a gentle reminder that light and peace are never truly gone… they're just waiting for us to look up. 🌙 Come listen Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

Joy is one of the most natural feelings we have — yet, strangely, one of the hardest to show. Somewhere along the way, many of us learned to keep it quiet, to tone it down, or to wait for "the right moment." But joy isn't meant to be contained. In this episode, we explore why we sometimes hide our happiness and how sharing it freely can bring calm, connection, and light to everyone around us. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

The thought of change is difficult for some people. In fact some people rail against change in any form. Ultimately though, they bring about uneasiness and stress trying to keep things the way they feel they should be. If only there were examples of how change happens every year and we barely notice it. Some even welcome it. Let's talk about natural examples of transitions, and how we can observe them peacefully. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

One of the greatest challenges we face as a people is the misunderstanding that we must tend to the needs and suffering of those around us before we tend to our own. Often we are told to disregard our needs, to focus on others first, even exclusively. However, as I will talk about today, you are absolutely useless to anyone if you are not taking care of yourself first. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

Here's something you might not know; your thoughts create your reality. Okay, if you're here then you have listened to Zen Commuter and you know that already. But what does that have to do with calm? What we focus on grows, good or bad. if we think the world is horrible, our brains actively look for evidence to support that belief. Well, the same is true for seeing the world as beautiful. Watch where you spend your attention and see the world you create. Don't like it? Change your thoughts. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter

Many times, mostly when we are sad or lonely, we think things will never change. We think that the sorrow will remain forever. However, whether you are going through a good time or a tough one, it is certain that it will not remain the same. In challenging times this gives us hope that brighter times are ahead. In joyous times it is recommended to enjoy the moment, knowing that it too will cease. This seeming randomness, while on some level being cyclical, can bring about a wonderful sense of calm. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

There are always calm moments, but fewer absolutely transcendent moments of utter serenity. Can you remember one? If you can't, then you have all the ingredients for making one. today I share with you one of mine, and encourage you to create yours. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

Not every moment in life ties up neatly. Some conversations trail off. Some endings never come. And yet, calm is still possible—even in the face of loose ends. In today's episode, I explore how we can find peace not by forcing closure, but by learning to rest in the unknown. Whether it's a lingering question, an unresolved relationship, or a dream left open-ended, this episode offers a gentle path toward acceptance and emotional freedom. 🔹 In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why the need for closure can create tension and unrest How to shift your mindset around unresolved situations A simple practice for making peace with what's still unfolding. Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

In today's episode of Calmer in 5, we explore something deceptively simple, but deeply powerful—the act of slowing down to truly connect with others. It's easy to get swept up in the current of our own to-do lists, inner chatter, and distractions. But when we pause—even for a moment—we open the door to meaningful human connection. When we release our grip on self-absorption, we make space for love, presence, and shared understanding. It's not about grand gestures; it's about stopping long enough to truly see the person in front of us. In this episode, we'll talk about: Why fast living can rob us of genuine human moments How self-focus can block us from feeling connection and love A simple practice you can use today to shift into presence and engage more fully with others Whether it's with a friend, a stranger, or someone you see every day, today's episode is your reminder that calm deepens when we slow down and connect.   Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter  

When we think of calm we often think about being alone, in the woods, at home alone or at the beach. But today I talk about how community, real community, can bring an even deeper sense of calm.   Thanks for Listening! If this episode helped you see your day in a different light, consider sharing it with someone who might be needing a dose of calm. Let's Connect: Instagram: @thom_walters Email: thom@zencommuter.com Support the show: patreon.com/zencommuter