About two years ago I came across Sarah Stanley online which led to a few email exchanges about running and health. And over the course of the last two years I have been both continually impressed and encouraged as I have watched her explore the outer limits of her abilities (physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually) through her ulta-running, all the while being fueled on a plant based diet. And her running resume is impressive: 26 marathons, Boston qualifying, 7 50 mile races, and 4 100 mile races...and on and on and on. The intersection of running and food has been resonating with me the last couple of years and is the reason why I wanted to sit down with Sarah and interview her on my podcast.
As you will be able to tell from this interview, Sarah is full of life, and is passionate about so many things. I love that excitement and I love the message she brings at the intersection of our fitness, food and faith.
My dad is an amazing guy. Besides being my father he has taken on many roles over the course of his life such as church planter, pastor, professor, prison chaplain, hospice chaplain, writer, teacher, speaker, spiritual director, radio show host...and co-founder of Water from Rock which is a non-profit ministry based in Scottsdale, AZ, and which provides weekly classes, workshops, retreats, Lenten and Advent devotionals and much, much more. So all that to say, my dad is incredibly wise and has a lot of important insight into some of the issues that we all at times find ourselves struggling with.
In this episode, my dad sits down with a couple of weeks after my 40th birthday as we explore the importance of how we navigate significant life transitions; what it means to discover our passion and how we can go about exploring that; as well as looking at the role of "letting go" in our journey through life so that we may more fully embrace the work of God in our lives.
We talk about and cover all kinds of topics in this episode, but a few of the key themes are:
--some of the keys to transitioning through various stages of life
--ways in which we can discover what we are passionate about
--different spiritual exercises to help you connect with God
--what it looks like to let go so you can open yourself up to embrace God's work in your life
Check out the blog post for this podcast
What can I say about Marc Payan? He is someone who is hard to sum up in just a few words. I first came across Marc in the online marriage and relationship space. Though we first met online I began to occasionally see Marc in person and I have really been inspired by him.
Marc is probably best known now as the founder of Payan X which began with him helping a few people get in shape in his garage, and which now is a "movement" of thousands of people. Though it primarily involves fitness, it is more than that. It's about life transformation in many areas such as leadership, relationships and community....and fitness is just one aspect of that.
But all of this began with Marc's own personal transformation of losing close to 110lbs, becoming physically fit, and then leading a "tribe" of "warriors" that began with a few in his garage...and who are now helping transform the communities around them.
Marc has some great insight into about the importance of "working it out", rather than working out. And about "what's eating you", rather than what you eat. And not about losing your weight, but about gaining health.
This interview is full of all kinds of great insight on how your health and fitness can transform not only you, but also your relationships. Marc has a great story of transformation that will inspire you.
--change driven by guilt and shame versus sustainable transformation
--looking at how some family of origin issues fuel our unhealthy behaviors around food
--the importance of leadership and how to share that vision with others ("dreams are birthed in relationships with others)
--creating space to allow others to collaborate and lead with you
--the importance of the 3 R's in transformation (relate, repeat, reframe)
--essential keys to help you get unstuck
--"fat dad vs. fit dad"
I have been dreaming and thinking about starting a podcast for about two years, but just never got around to it. As much as I wanted to start it, life just got in the way. Work has been busy in my private practice, as well as speaking and writing. And then there is family life and all the things that come with that as well. Trying to balance out work, family life, as well as my own personal stuff has become a huge challenge over the years...and so the podcast just took a backseat.
So that's why I thought it so important to start my podcast journey off talking about the intersection of self-care and relationships. What I have learned over the years is that when I'm not taking care of myself, I'm just not any good to the relationships around me. My ability to take care of myself directly impacts the relationships that I'm in.
My desire is to be someone who is life-giving, and to breathe life into the relationships around me, rather than suck the life out of them.
So in this episode I explore:
--what self-care is
--the four core areas of self-care (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual)
--ways to implement self-care into your life in a sustainable way
--some baby steps to take towards self-care
--the impact of self-care on our relationships
So I hope you enjoy this first ever Rhett Smith podcast, and that you tune in for more.
Check out the blog post for this podcast