Praxis Podcast with Rhett Smith

This was a fun and deep and meaningful conversation with my good friend Jennifer McDaniel . Jennifer is a nutritionist and author, and is the founder and director of McDaniel Nutrition Therapy . I first met Jennifer in early 2022 when I was preparing to run the 106 mile UTMB trail race and she was my assigned nutritionist.  In this conversation we explore a trend that we have been noticing in our...

About a week and a half ago I spoke at Preston Trail's Marriage Conference on Mental Health and Marriage. As I thought about this topic I kept coming back to a few essential things that I feel are at the core of this topic. we are wired relationally we are wired relationally around love and trust optimum mental health in a marriage is incumbent about the promotion of love and trust  So in this epi...

In this episode I talk with my good friend, Will Perry, who is the Lead Student Pastor at Hope Fellowship Church in Frisco, TX, which is a multi-site campus.  I have known Will for almost 10 years and have loved watching him serve in youth ministry. He is one of the best youth pastors I have known, and I admire the way he engages not only youth, but his leadership and volunteers.  In this episode...

In this episode I talk with my good friend and colleague, Michael Cox, who is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and contributor and instructor in the Restoration Therapy community that I am a part of.  I appreciate Michael so much as a friend and colleague, and I admire the work he does with so many people, especially couples.  In this episode we dig deep into marital work, and what typically bri...

In this episode I talk with my good friend Nicole Zasowski, who is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and the author of several books: What if it's Wonderful, From Lost to Found, and Families and Forgiveness which she co-authored with Terry Hargrave. I so much respect the professional and personal work that Nicole does in her life, and she is a lifelong learner which I love. In this episode...

In this episode I talk with my good friend Broc Jahnke, who is the Lead Care and Support Pastor at Hope Fellowship Church in Frisco, TX. I wanted to have Broc in to talk about one of the ministries he specifically oversees -- ReGeneration -- which is a 12 step recovery ministry. I finished going through ReGeneration near the end of 2023 after 48 weeks, and it's something I wanted to unpack more wi...

It has been a little over 8.5 years since I first launched my podcast, but I've taken long breaks, and have not recorded a new episode in over a year and a half.  It's been a season of working on my own personal and relational life with others, and diving deep into some new things. In this episode I talk about my vision for this new relaunch of my podcast and the importance of the word praxis. It...

Earlier this year I was really impacted by Michael Easter's book The Comfort Crisis . And I think what stood out to me the most was really the idea that in order to grow, one must work on becoming more comfortable with the uncomfortable -- and I liked how he connected it with the idea of progressive overload that we often find in the exercise/strength literature. When I came across that it really...

In this episode I share with you some lessons I've recently learned in hiring an endurance running coach to help me train and complete the UTMB trail race this year in the Alps.  I talk about the importance of hiring a coach (therapist, executive coach, etc) to help with: coming up with a flexible plan to create change and accomplish your goals. the importance of accountability that comes with hir...

This podcast episode is a further exploration of the blog post, Anxious Progression One Day at a Time .  In this episode I explore the concept of progressive overload in physical fitness, and how that same concept can be applied to working through anxiety -- mainly, progressively adding anxiety to our lives that we have to sit with, face, overcome, etc. It's through the progressive overload of anx...

I recently wrote about this on my blog -- because I've realized the last few months that I have been depressed and anxious for a while . Spurred on by the continual navigation of COVID, and how that has impacted things culturally, as well as some of the way things are currently done on a day to day basis -- I've realized that there has been a latent affect to what has been going on for 18 months,...

I have always been a fan of breath work, especially in the way that it has not only been so helpful for my own life and the anxiety that I have struggled with -- but I have literally seen it change the people's lives that I work with. Breath work is integral to our ability to emotionally regulate -- to stay calm and connected, not only with ourselves, but with others. In this episode I explore: th...

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.  Pierre Teilhard de Chardin I'm definitely no expert on the topic of fasting, but I have been experimenting with it for a few years, and finally decided to do my longest fast since I first tried it back on Maunday Thursday in 1999. In early February I did my first ever 5 day water only fast. A...

At the beginning of each new year we tend to think about turning the page on the current year, setting some goals, and moving with energy and momentum towards the new year that awaits us. Though there is no magic with the turning of the calendar year, it does offer us a chance to think about resetting. But this was a different kind of year. 2020 threw all kinds at challenges at us, and as we move...

It's hard to know where to begin when describing my friend Marc Payan. Just Google his name and see what comes up. Marc is a leader everywhere he goes, and like few people I have seen before, he inspires and encourages those around him to life a transformed life. That's the best way I can put it -- though it doesn't even really capture accurately what I want to say about Marc. So you are going to...

Part of being human is that we get anxious. And no human can opt out of experiencing anxiety. It visits all of us at varying times in our lives, and to varying degrees. But what if you can reframe anxiety in a way that you see it as a friend, rather than a foe. What if your anxiety could help you grow? I explore this and what it means to be anxious. And how we often misinterpret critical passages...

Todd Sandel (CEO and Founder of The SouthCity Group) and I discuss the importance of play and rest at home and in organizations. One of the most important things leaders can do is model from top down the importance of play and rest to their teams.

Todd Sandel (CEO and founder of The SouthCity Group) and I continue our conversation around leadership during this time of uncertainty due to COVID-19. In this episode we address leadership drift due to overworking and trying to prove ourselves worthy of adding value.

In my ongoing conversations with Todd Sandel (CEO and founder of The SouthCity Group), we discuss the difference between personal wellness and productivity. One leads to burnout, while the other can lead to a thriving home and organization.

Todd Sandel (CEO and founder of The SouthCity Group) and I continue our conversation about leadership during this time of uncertainty. In today's episode we focus on the habits and routines that help leaders and their organizations thrive during this time. As well as talking about what that looks like in the home. Specifically the importance of tuning in with one another.

In this interview I chat with CEO and founder of The SouthCity Group Todd Sandel about how leaders can navigate this time of uncertainty. We discuss the metaphor of trimming the sails and how leaders and their teams can identify and prioritize what is most important during this time. This is critical in organizations and in the home.  

Y esterday I posted a short video on the movement from orientation to disorientation to new orientation . I first learned it by this name and paradigm by reading Walter Brueggemann's work, The Message of the Psalms . The movement itself is as old as humanity, and it is a movement that we all go through in our lives. Currently we are in a period of global and national and local disorientation -- to...

It's been a long time since I have done a podcast. About a year actually. I was on a break for awhile, just reading, researching, writing and focusing on other kinds of work. I had nothing new to add to the conversation so thought I would hit pause. But in light of COVID-19 and how it has caused all of us to look at some things in a new way, it has also really caused a spike in people's mental hea...

In this episode I had the privilege of sitting down with my good friends Jeff and Robin Reinke. Besides being colleagues of mine in a workshop we lead in equipping ministry leaders in a variety of issues impacting the church, we are also co-authors in Vital Tools for Relevant Church Leaders: Restoring Relationships and Building Community During Difficult Conversations . Jeff is the Marriage and Fa...

In this episode I discuss the topic of singleness with my colleague Kelly Haer. Kelly is on staff at Pepperdine University in the Boone Center for the Family where she is the Relationship IQ Director. Kelly is a part of the teaching group that I am a part of that meets with and trains ministry leaders 3-4 times a year on issues that are impacting the church. In our time together we works towards e...