The Simple Question That Makes Every Decision Easier (Use THIS Daily Framework To FINALLY Get Unstuck)

**Jay Shetty** (0:00)
Most of us don't struggle to find peace, we struggle to slow down long enough to feel it. In this conversation with Melissa Wood, we explore what it actually takes to stay grounded, when life doesn't slow down, and why so many of us feel disconnected, even when everything looks fine. I share the practices that keep me centered, and what we need to let go of to actually feel calm. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, you don't want to miss this conversation.

**Melissa Wood-Tepperberg** (0:24)
We live in such a chaotic world, and there's just this buzz of energy going on. I mean, I live in New York City, and you can hear sirens constantly. So to be able to drop into yourself is, it's the reason I know I'm here, and the reason that I've been able to build and blossom in the way that I have. And I think, like, the more that I've gotten to know about you and your story, I feel that is, like, the one thing in people that they struggle with the most, they, like, battle with is finding this, like, inner peace within themselves.
And I, you know, I'd love to know where this seed of this all really came from, for you.

**Jay Shetty** (1:19)
If you ask me about inner peace, my honest answer is my mom. And I really believe that a mother's love can be the greatest shield to all of the challenges, stresses, pains and pressures that a kid can go through growing up. And so my childhood was not easy by any means, but I feel like my mother's love was this protective shield that when I look back on it, I think, how do I not have any cuts on me? And how do I not have any scars? And where are my battle wounds?
And the beautiful part of that is you realize your mother's love protected you. But then you also realize that maybe your mom took some of those wounds for you.
And that's the hardest part because as you grow up and you want the people around you to also feel peace and also feel love and also feel joy that they helped you have, you realize you can't always control that. And so the seed of peace for me is definitely my mother's love. I think everything that's good about me is because of how my mom raised me. And all the credit goes to her because she loves me more than anything in the world. And I still feel it today.

**Melissa Wood-Tepperberg** (2:42)
I love your love for your mother.
It's so real. And as a mother myself, I'm like, that is, I think when people are like, what is your greatest wish in life? It's to have my children talk about me the way you talk about your mother and your parents, like it's just, I think when you look at just like what's the point of it all? And to have the people that were literally bringing into this world to feel that because I didn't feel that.
I hope and I pray that everyone feels what you felt. And I know that's why I feel so much passion about the way that I parent, because I want to break a cycle. I have broken a cycle. And in your home, was your mom a meditator? Was she, like what were, where did all of this grounded, like mama bear energy come from her?

**Jay Shetty** (3:54)
You know what, it was, she was the hardest worker I knew. And so she woke up earlier than us. She do her prayers in the morning.
But at that time, spirituality and religion to me were very ritualistic in how it was practiced at home. We did it on a particular day. It didn't have meaning. It didn't necessarily have a spirit. It didn't really have depth, I guess, to some degree at least, or at least from the outside in, it didn't feel that way to me. But I think for me, I just saw my mom working hard. I saw her making a fresh breakfast, lunch and dinner for my sister every day, dropping us to school, picking us up from school, going back out to work, coming back home. She was the breadwinner of the family.
She did everything. And to be honest, I think that's where I get my work ethic from, is watching my mom just work so hard at life when it wasn't really handing her out any favors or it wasn't giving her the best opportunities or it wasn't like things were lining up for her. But I don't remember hearing her complain. I don't remember her making a big deal out of it. Just remember her getting on with it. And, you know, I think I remember once when I was going through a bit of a tough time, and I don't talk to my mom about that in that way. Our relationship today is very much, I check in with her, she asks me what I ate, I tell her I love her, and she'll ask me a bit about something that's happening in my world which she doesn't fully understand. And it's a sweet interaction. But once I remember telling her that it was a really stressful time, and I wouldn't usually say that to my mom. This was around seven, eight years ago. And she said to me, she goes, well, you're really good at dealing with stress. And I said, what do you mean? And my mom doesn't give me pep talks either.