Alan Fadling's Blog, page 80

Lived Grace: Follow the Leader

Many years ago, when I worked for The Leadership Institute, I was arranging an event over the phone with a venue. I told the representative the name of our organization and he immediately asked, “Oh, are you a leader?” I was surprised by the question. It felt so stark. Am I a leader? Even though I had led in various ways for most of my adult life, I did not answer that question without pausing.

Around that same time, I was attending a workout class at the local YMCA. I stopped at the front desk to sign in and the woman behind the counter pointed out two new women who would be in the same class as me that morning.

Once I got into class, I went up to one of the women and introduced myself. I remembered what it was like to be new and thought it would be nice for them to feel welcomed. The woman’s friend came in a minute later and we met. As we were talking, the woman asked me if I was the instructor. I said, “No, I just come here to have fun and exercise.” She responded by saying that I looked like I had authority.

I began to think about her comment. Maybe what she said is something of what it means when Jesus talks about salt and light. The fact that I was open to these women showed a kind of leadership. I wasn’t even going for that. I just wanted to make them feel welcome and I always enjoy meeting new people.

We are all influencers. Even if you don’t want to call yourself a leader, you are still an influencer wherever you go.

So what is a leader? What does it mean to “look like you have authority.” Certainly, I wasn’t leading these women to do anything. I merely took initiative to welcome them. So now we’re getting somewhere. Initiative. Influence.

Many people we interact with don’t think they are leaders because they don’t have a particular title or role. But, from the beginning of Unhurried Living, we have been saying that you do not have to have a position of influence to be a person of influence. Everyone is a leader, an influencer, in some way.

That day, after my workout class, I was thinking about the way the Zumba instructor led us. We all gathered behind her and followed exactly what she was doing. She didn’t call out any the moves, she simply did them in front of us and we copied her. That is one of the distinctives of Zumba and of leadership…followership.

Over the years I had many and various instructors. Without question, my favorite instructors were the ones that were highly skilled, passionate, and connected to the group. Their excellence made me want to reach for that same level. They had done the hard work of achieving their fit body and their ability to teach.

Again, their abilities, modeled before my very eyes, inspired me to grow in my abilities. This is not to say that these skilled women were perfect. Sometimes they forgot a move here or there and we simply kept moving.

In our own lives we can be like these Zumba instructors–not always saying something, but modeling something. Like them, many of us have done the hard work of growing and maturing in Christ. Without getting trapped by perfectionism, we can all do our best to live our lives from the inside out. We can be people who model John 15, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” or Colossians 3, “Set your mind on things above.”

1 Corinthians 11:1 says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”I want to be able to say this to others with authenticity, don’t you?

People may or may not need more information. But their need for modeling lived grace–lived truth, right before their very eyes—this will always be a need.

In that workout room there were women of all shapes, sizes, and ages. We were all at different skill levels and that was okay. Some had been there for a while and knew all of the routines.  Some could hold their own but were still learning new routines each time. Others were brand new and didn’t know anything. But each one kept going no matter what. Even the newcomers didn’t stop and give up. They just kept trying even when they were going the wrong way and barely got their feet to go in the right place.

There was an encouraging feeling in the room. The music was loud, the energy was high, and we were all trying to accomplish the same thing – we wanted to be healthy. To accomplish that, we all simply followed the skilled, focused and present leader.

Reflect

In what ways are you an influencer to those around you?
In what ways can you see how living grace often helps others more than the words you speak?
Who are those in your life that you try to copy? What is it about their lives that inspires you?

 

Photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash

The post Lived Grace: Follow the Leader appeared first on Unhurried Living.

Podcast: The Ocean of God’s Love

We talk to so many people who struggle with finding the time to engage in the spiritual practices they long for. I know that your day may feel like it is flying by and you don’t have any choices in your schedule. However, most of you can find just a few minutes to pause, close your eyes and gather your heart, mind and attention.

I am going to share with you another prayerful practice you can use in the middle of a busy day to help you become present and remember that God is with you. We’ll envision ourselves on the ocean shore and I’ll share a few phrases from Psalm 42 and Psalm 145. So set aside what you are doing for a moment and let’s enter into the Ocean of God’s Love.

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher

Join us on Patreon!

Become a Patron

Those of you who listen to our podcast know that we are creating a worldwide conversation at the intersection of deeper spiritual life and broader personal influence. That’s what we mean by Unhurried Living.

In an age where hurry, distraction and busyness are rampant, we share a different message: Rest Deeper. Live Fuller. Lead Better.

We need your help to keep this work going–and to make it better. So we invite you to join us as a partner on Patreon.com.

We want to release the same high-caliber, high-value episodes to you, but with even more excellence. We want to create even more conversations, prayers, interviews and 5-minute retreats for a more gracious, thoughtful approach to your life.

Our podcast will always be free to all listeners, but by subscribing to Patreon you can help–your monthly subscription helps us grow our team, pay for the hard costs of producing our work, and makes it possible for us to spread our message globally. You can partner with us for as little as $1 a month.

Plus, depending on your subscription, you’ll get access to some resources and opportunities available only to our patron community, like:

A copy of our talking points and notes for each episode.
Access to a members only Patreon feed.
An extra 10-minute “inside track” after-episode podcast, where we unpack the podcast theme further.
Helping us choose topics and respond to questions for future episodes.
A 20% discount for all of Unhurried Living online courses.

Help us produce the work you already love–become a subscriber today. We thank you in advance for becoming a part of our community. So head on over to patreon.com/unhurriedliving and become a patron today!

The post Podcast: The Ocean of God’s Love appeared first on Unhurried Living.

Working With God: Water Into Wine

Lately, I’ve been making my way slowly through the gospel of John in the mornings. Rather than racing to finish reading it, I’ve been taking the unhurried route, reading until something catches my attention, speaks to my heart or seems nourishing to me. It’s one of the ways I’m enjoying working with God in my life.

I’m seeking to read like a listener. You might assume that’s the only way to read the Bible, but it isn’t. I’ve read the Bible as a source for teaching somebody else. I’ve read the Bible to prove my own points. I’ve read the Bible because good Christians, especially leaders, read the Bible. There are many ways and many reasons to read the Bible.

Still, I’ve treasured the scriptures for as long as I’ve been a follower of Jesus. This Fall, that will have been a forty-year journey. But my relationship to the Bible has been changing over time. Most recently, I’ve gone back to picking up my leather-bound Bible and reading there. There’s nothing wrong with reading on my computer or smartphone, but it just feels more organic and simple to read on the physical page.

One day in the last week, I came to John 2 and the story of Jesus turning water to wine. I love that story. I love that John captured it when the other three gospellers hadn’t. I’m sure you’ll remember a key moment in the story:

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” (6-10)

Jesus, together with his disciples, is a guest at a wedding. Whose wedding? It just might be a relative since his mother and his brothers are in attendance (v. 12). Jesus and his disciples have been invited (v. 2). Mary might (v. 3, 5) have had some hospitality responsibility since she takes initiative when the wine runs out.

The image of 120-150 gallons of water being turned into fine wine is a beautiful illustration of God’s super-abundant solutions to everyday problems. Somewhere between pouring water into this large stone jars and bringing a sample of it to the master of the banquet, something happens. Jesus transforms a whole lot of water into a large vintage of fine wine.

What do you do when the wine runs out? How do you respond when your life or your efforts feel a whole lot waterier than you hoped? Where do you go when the outcomes of what you’d planned seem average, even insignificant?

Maybe we could just take our everyday containers of life, friendships, workplace, whatever and fill them with the simple water of our engagement, our effort, our good work. We could invite Jesus to touch the water of those intentions, efforts and work and make it something of fine quality.

It just might become a way to display his power, his goodness, his generosity, his attention to quality. We could welcome the touch of his hand and the sound of his voice to transform our often-watery efforts. Wouldn’t that be beautiful? Wouldn’t you love to offer fine wine to those you serve and seek to bless?

Let’s welcome God’s super-abundant solutions to our everyday challenges today. Let’s invite Jesus to turn our water into wine. Amen.

You Might Also Enjoy

Podcast: “Pain & Loss As Unexpected Grace” (Alan/Gem)
Blog: “Transformation: Cooperating With the Work of God” (Alan)
Blog: “Will I Ever Run Out?” (Gem)

The post Working With God: Water Into Wine appeared first on Unhurried Living.

Podcast: The Fruits of the Spirit Are Not a To Do List

I have a little journal. Actually, I have many little journals. Some are full, some are half-full and some are still empty. They are crisp, clean and waiting for my jewels of wisdom to mark their pages. In the age of digital media, I still love pen to paper.

This particular little journal contains doodle prayers. I draw or write on one side and then compose an explanation on the other side. It’s mostly chicken scratch, but deep meaning and heartfelt prayers can be expressed even by stick figures.

When I thumbed through the other day to remind myself what was in there, I stumbled on a page that I want to share with you.

One one side are listed the Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness and Self-Control. Phrases under each word hint at a deeper meaning.

On the back of the page are the words, “The fruits of the Spirit are a perfect picture of what God is like.”

For much of my life I have had the unconscious impression that the Fruits of the Spirit were a list of characteristics I was currently not managing to be. Love, joy, and peace could be attained here and there, but once I got to patience, it pretty much fell apart.

The good news is that the Fruits of the Spirit are not a to do list. I can’t eek them out any easier than growing a grapefruit out of my ear. Fruit emerges on its own when one tends the process of the plant. When I was a child, I gardened with my dad. We tilled the soil and watered the plants, but neither of us actually produced a carrot.

Join us on our podcast today as we talk about our “normal condition” and about living from within the source of it all…God Himself.

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher

Join us on Patreon!

Become a Patron

Those of you who listen to our podcast know that we are creating a worldwide conversation at the intersection of deeper spiritual life and broader personal influence. That’s what we mean by Unhurried Living.

In an age where hurry, distraction and busyness are rampant, we share a different message: Rest Deeper. Live Fuller. Lead Better.

We need your help to keep this work going–and to make it better. So we invite you to join us as a partner on Patreon.com.

We want to release the same high-caliber, high-value episodes to you, but with even more excellence. We want to create even more conversations, prayers, interviews and 5-minute retreats for a more gracious, thoughtful approach to your life.

Our podcast will always be free to all listeners, but by subscribing to Patreon you can help–your monthly subscription helps us grow our team, pay for the hard costs of producing our work, and makes it possible for us to spread our message globally. You can partner with us for as little as $1 a month.

Plus, depending on your subscription, you’ll get access to some resources and opportunities available only to our patron community, like:

A copy of our talking points and notes for each episode.
Access to a members only Patreon feed.
An extra 10-minute “inside track” after-episode podcast, where we unpack the podcast theme further.
Helping us choose topics and respond to questions for future episodes.
A 20% discount for all of Unhurried Living online courses.

Help us produce the work you already love–become a subscriber today. We thank you in advance for becoming a part of our community. So head on over to patreon.com/unhurriedliving and become a patron today!

The post Podcast: The Fruits of the Spirit Are Not a To Do List appeared first on Unhurried Living.

The Beauty of Old and New

A few years back, on our 30th wedding anniversary, Alan and I went to Kauai. The down time was much needed. We toured, laughed and ate our way around the island. We enjoyed the beauty and the peaceful pace.

You may not be surprised that it took the first three days for my mind to quiet. I thought I was a fairly relaxed person (compared to the typical Orange County-ite). But arriving on the island and having nothing to do but enjoy the scenery, I could feel the revving in my soul. After a few days, my inner pace slowed, and I looked forward to bringing that pace back home with me.

One morning I took my camera out to the back yard. The light was, what I like to call, creamy. The rain left little droplets of wonder on leaves and flowers. I snapped away at the gorgeous Hawaiian foliage. On one side of the property I found a bush that containing beautiful red flowers. I just love this look. Some parts are in focus, some are out of focus. It seems to give the image more meaning. Kind of like life itself.

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After I captured the image of the first red flower, I scanned the bush for others, in case there was a more perfect specimen. I looked down to the lower branches and saw this:

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I was surprised to find a mostly spent flower. I don’t know why I was surprised. I’ve seen this occur in my own back yard with other palm-like bushes. The new growth comes out of the top and the lower branches die off and are pruned.

Surprised as I was, I found the dying flower to be just as beautiful as the fresh, new, red ones up top. In some ways, it was even more lovely. It wasn’t as tight. It had opened up, possibly releasing the seeds of new life. It had changed color, and taken on a unique character, all its own.

At any given moment in my life, there are fresh outcroppings of creativity, new opportunities and fresh starts. Alongside those are places whose time has come and gone. What once was new is now old and it is time to let go.

It is ok for both to exist together for a while. It is natural. Both of these flowers were on the same bush. The new and the old each have their own kind of beauty. Each should be treasured and thanked for being what they are, as they are.

I am learning to relax into this process. To embrace the new as it emerges and to gracefully let go when something has run its course.

Are there any new invitations or opportunities arising in your life right now? Are there areas where you can tell the time has come to let go?

Spend some time in gratitude, thanking God for the processes of your life. Engaging the seasons in their ebb and flow can lead to a little more peace in your heart.

Just for fun, below are a few more shots of the flora from that trip. Just a little loveliness for you today.

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The post The Beauty of Old and New appeared first on Unhurried Living.

Podcast: Spiritual Friendship – The Power of Sheer Encouragement

Spiritual friendship is a life-giving gift we give ourselves and others. There are likely people in your life who are struggling with self-doubt, fear or other issues. You can be a loving, listening ear and a quiet voice of encouragement. A simple sentence or two, shared at just the right time, may have a huge payoff in that person’s life. Don’t ever think that what you have to offer is too small. Small things matter. Quiet goodness offered often is a very good thing.

So, we thought would share a bit about what spiritual friendship can look like. We have a few friends that we meet with in different ways. Sometimes as couples, others in one-to-one conversations. We’d like to share the dynamcis of these friendships and how we benefit from this level of friendship.

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher

Join us on Patreon!

Become a Patron

Those of you who listen to our podcast know that we are creating a worldwide conversation at the intersection of deeper spiritual life and broader personal influence. That’s what we mean by Unhurried Living.

In an age where hurry, distraction and busyness are rampant, we share a different message: Rest Deeper. Live Fuller. Lead Better.

We need your help to keep this work going–and to make it better. So we invite you to join us as a partner on Patreon.com.

We want to release the same high-caliber, high-value episodes to you, but with even more excellence. We want to create even more conversations, prayers, interviews and 5-minute retreats for a more gracious, thoughtful approach to your life.

Our podcast will always be free to all listeners, but by subscribing to Patreon you can help–your monthly subscription helps us grow our team, pay for the hard costs of producing our work, and makes it possible for us to spread our message globally. You can partner with us for as little as $1 a month.

Plus, depending on your subscription, you’ll get access to some resources and opportunities available only to our patron community, like:

A copy of our talking points and notes for each episode.
Access to a members only Patreon feed.
An extra 10-minute “inside track” after-episode podcast, where we unpack the podcast theme further.
Helping us choose topics and respond to questions for future episodes.
A 20% discount for all of Unhurried Living online courses.

Help us produce the work you already love–become a subscriber today. We thank you in advance for becoming a part of our community. So head on over to patreon.com/unhurriedliving and become a patron today!

The post Podcast: Spiritual Friendship – The Power of Sheer Encouragement appeared first on Unhurried Living.

The Hard Work of Overcoming Myself

We live in a culture of competition. We love hearing news about who is the fastest, the richest, the strongest, the smartest. We revel in superlatives. But superlatives, by definition, deal in the tiniest of quantities. There aren’t dozens of gold medal winners in an Olympic race. There is one.

And so competition offers a minority of people a momentary boost of outward importance and reminds a majority of others that they are less than the best. What happens if we base our sense of worth or well-being in being best and someone else crosses the finish line before us?

Does our well-being really rest in beating everyone else? Is it really “out there” to be achieved? Is surpassing everyone else really the path to joy and fulfillment? Or might it not be that well-being comes instead as we rise above ourselves. There is a good that does not require rising above everyone else’s good. And I’m not talking about merely settling for “good enough.” What about winning the battle for becoming our best self in Christ?

For example, the good of love isn’t a good limited to just one superlative example. We don’t tend to think of love in terms of gold medal winners. While it’s true that we appreciate hearing about shining examples of compassion, we don’t usually assume that no one else can show compassion as a result.

Kingdom good is not limited to top performers. It is abundant and available to anyone and everyone who would reach for such eternal good. Blessed are the poor and the meek. They may not be considered winners in this world, but they are invited to be abundant recipients of generous grace.

To become all that God made me to be does not require that I conquer everyone else. Others are not the standard against which I must measure myself. Life is not finally a competitive event in which there can be only one winner. If it was, the winner would be God. But God has not chosen to play that game. Instead, Jesus comes not to be served as the winner of the race, but to serve everyone else in the field.

My greatest opponent is actually myself. The further I walk in this journey with Jesus, the more I realize this. It is overcoming my own negative thoughts, impulses and habits that is race enough for me.

I don’t need to surpass others to get what I need. I can receive all I need from my Maker, just like anyone else can, so that I might have something to sharewith others. Rather than seeing myself in competition with others for severely limited good, the kingdom of God is like a river that never stops running.

If I could somehow stand next to a river and take every ounce of water within my sight for myself, the river would simply fill in what I had taken and continue to flow. There is alwaysabundance in God’s kingdom. That’s not the vision of competition against the other.

What does this race looks like for you these days? In what way might Jesus be inviting you to a vision of His kingdom in which there is more than enough for you and for everyone else who will cross your path this week? What impulses or habits in your life are hindering you from fully enjoying, living into and living out of this grace-full kingdom? How would you wish to talk with God about this kind of race?

You Might Also Enjoy

Blog: “Identity: Roots or Pursuits?” (Alan)
Blog: “Embracing My True Self” (Gem)
Podcast: “Priorities – Keeping First Things First” (Alan & Gem)

The post The Hard Work of Overcoming Myself appeared first on Unhurried Living.

Podcast: The Unhurried Way of Love

In these weeks following Easter, our church community has been focusing on “Resurrection: A New Life of Love.” The essence of the risen life is love. Living a risen life is living in Jesus’ way of love.

We live in Southern California, and it can be a very hurried place. I have a little made up word to describe one way I experience the chronic hurry of our region.

The word is “gronk.” “It is a contraction of green and honk, and it represents the nanosecond of time between the fresh green light in front of us and the angry horn blasting behind us. It is an inflammation of impatience. It is an utter lack of simple kindness. It is chronic and epidemic. And, bottom line, it is unloving.”

In so many people there is an absolutely epidemic lack of patience and kindness—a lack of what Francis de Sales called “the little virtues.”

Virtues like patience, humility, gentleness, simplicity, honesty, and hospitality lived out in your ordinary, daily life. They are little virtues because they aren’t the ones that tend to make headlines. They don’t seem impressive or heroic.

But these little virtues are the virtues of love.

They are the ordinary ways that we live a life of love in our simple, everyday lives.

In our gospel text, Jesus gets at the essence of this at the very beginning of our reading: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you (12-14).”

Jesus is saying, “Love is at the center of who I am. Love is the essence of our friendship. Love is how my friends live. Love is the greatest life there is. Love is the great commandment.”

And in his letter, John tells us this: “Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. (1 Jn 2:7-8).”

It’s not a new commandment in that it is as old as Moses. It’s really as old as creation, even as ancient at the very Being of God .

But John wants us to realize that it is new in Jesus.

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher

Join us on Patreon!

Become a Patron

Those of you who listen to our podcast know that we are creating a worldwide conversation at the intersection of deeper spiritual life and broader personal influence. That’s what we mean by Unhurried Living.

In an age where hurry, distraction and busyness are rampant, we share a different message: Rest Deeper. Live Fuller. Lead Better.

We need your help to keep this work going–and to make it better. So we invite you to join us as a partner on Patreon.com.

We want to release the same high-caliber, high-value episodes to you, but with even more excellence. We want to create even more conversations, prayers, interviews and 5-minute retreats for a more gracious, thoughtful approach to your life.

Our podcast will always be free to all listeners, but by subscribing to Patreon you can help–your monthly subscription helps us grow our team, pay for the hard costs of producing our work, and makes it possible for us to spread our message globally. You can partner with us for as little as $1 a month.

Plus, depending on your subscription, you’ll get access to some resources and opportunities available only to our patron community, like:

A copy of our talking points and notes for each episode.
Access to a members only Patreon feed.
An extra 10-minute “inside track” after-episode podcast, where we unpack the podcast theme further.
Helping us choose topics and respond to questions for future episodes.
A 20% discount for all of Unhurried Living online courses.

Help us produce the work you already love–become a subscriber today. We thank you in advance for becoming a part of our community. So head on over to patreon.com/unhurriedliving and become a patron today!

The post Podcast: The Unhurried Way of Love appeared first on Unhurried Living.

Love Well

L.O.V.E. Such a small and simple word. When all is said and done, love is what matters and what lasts.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor. 13:1-3)

So go ahead and love. Love little things. Love big things.

Zippers. The color red. The smell of a baby’s hair. A jar full of M&Ms. A giraffe’s long neck. The fragrance of the ground after a rain. The sound crickets make by a campfire. Ocean waves lapping. A sunrise.

Love it all. Love it well.

God is love. The great commandment is to love. God is a creative creator. Why then would I withhold love from anyone or anything?

I’m not talking about being in love with stuff. I’m talking about embodying love, exuding love, letting love drip from your pores, allowing love to be the air you breathe.

Why? Because God is love. And he is here, with you. In you.

So love. A lot. Love the good around you…

The graceful moves of a dancer. People who have been married for 65 years. The purple stripe in the neighbor girl’s blond hair. The silence of falling snow. Chocolate melting on your tongue. Lobster mac and cheese.

Love it. Love it all.

Let your heart open to goodness. Revel in it.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

Watch for these characteristics in your daily life and then love them. Let the God of love give grace to you through simple pleasures. Honor God by delighting in goodness, no matter how seemingly small. Practice on the small stuff and let your heart widen ever larger.

Our world is crowded with overwhelming, noisy, distracting words and imagery. Do not let your flame of love decrease at the sight of these things.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13:13)

Notice goodness in all its forms. Embrace love and then share freely with others. Point out the beauty that pops up like a sprout through the last winter snow. Not a form of denial, but active, overcoming love.

So love and love well.

The post Love Well appeared first on Unhurried Living.

Podcast: Creative Conversations – How the Rules of Improv can Benefit Your Relationships

I recently re-read Tina Fey’s, Bossypants, which is a really fun read. She’s so funny and such a talented writer. I was reminded about the four Rules of Improv. It sent me on an online search and I stumbled upon the 11 Commandments of Improv by Del Close. Del Close was a coachto many of the Saturday Night Live greats like Dan Aykroyd, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Gilda Radner and dozens more.

It’s amazing how these simple rules can help actors keep a flow of conversation and story going in their improvisational scenes. We’ve thought before that these guidelines could be beneficial in relationship and in our conversations.

We’ve tried these out in our own friendship personally and as we do our work together. These rules of improv have helped us to get unstuck on more than on occasion. Let’s start by sharing Tina Fey’s 4 Rules of Improv and then we’ll describe a bit how each one works relationally:

Agree…say YES
Say yes…AND
Make statements (as opposed to questions)
There are no mistakes (only opportunities)

Listen to the podcast to see how we unpack each of these in the context of relationships and conversations.

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher

Join us on Patreon!

Become a Patron

Those of you who listen to our podcast know that we are creating a worldwide conversation at the intersection of deeper spiritual life and broader personal influence. That’s what we mean by Unhurried Living.

In an age where hurry, distraction and busyness are rampant, we share a different message: Rest Deeper. Live Fuller. Lead Better.

We need your help to keep this work going–and to make it better. So we invite you to join us as a partner on Patreon.com.

We want to release the same high-caliber, high-value episodes to you, but with even more excellence. We want to create even more conversations, prayers, interviews and 5-minute retreats for a more gracious, thoughtful approach to your life.

Our podcast will always be free to all listeners, but by subscribing to Patreon you can help–your monthly subscription helps us grow our team, pay for the hard costs of producing our work, and makes it possible for us to spread our message globally. You can partner with us for as little as $1 a month.

Plus, depending on your subscription, you’ll get access to some resources and opportunities available only to our patron community, like:

A copy of our talking points and notes for each episode.
Access to a members only Patreon feed.
An extra 10-minute “inside track” after-episode podcast, where we unpack the podcast theme further.
Helping us choose topics and respond to questions for future episodes.
A 20% discount for all of Unhurried Living online courses.

Help us produce the work you already love–become a subscriber today. We thank you in advance for becoming a part of our community. So head on over to patreon.com/unhurriedliving and become a patron today!

The post Podcast: Creative Conversations – How the Rules of Improv can Benefit Your Relationships appeared first on Unhurried Living.