BLOG
I started my journey of blogging in 2003 — mostly to capture what I called “transitioning life’s journey”.
In 2023 I took a 3 year break from blogging, but now feel a renewed sense of purpose in my writing.
I hope you enjoy and learn something as I explore the areas of anxiety, relationships, life & practice, faith & integration, men, and leadership.
[VIDEO] Embedding Yourself in Open Community
I have been sharing a lot with friends, colleagues, and clients recently, the life giving importance I have found in being completely embedded in open community during this season of life. In short — being deeply connected in relationships with others where I can be completely vulnerable. I wrote about this briefly a couple of […]
Embedding Yourself in Open Community
embed — “fix firmly and deeply in a surrounding mass” (Oxford Language Dictionary) I chose that word intentionally, because connect didn’t seem to accurately portray what I am getting at. Connecting to community seems categorically different than embedding oneself in community. open — “allowing access, passage, or a view through an empty space; not closed […]
[VIDEO] Run (or move your body) to Lower Anxiety and Depression, and Improve Overall Mental Health
Moving my body has been one of the most important things I have done in my life to help with the reduction of my anxiety, depression, and just overall wellness in my mental health. There is a lot of good research on this topic, and running comes up quite a bit in the literature. I […]
Run (or move your body) to Lower Anxiety and Depression, and Improve Overall Mental Health
I don’t think it will come as any surprise to anyone if I tell you that running can help you with your anxiety and depression. Or better put, movement of the body helps your mental health. I can speak to this personally as runner who has been running my entire life for fun, and in […]
[VIDEO] The Transformative Benefit of Journaling
Journaling has been an invaluable benefit to my life personally, and so many of the lives that I get to encounter in my therapy and executive coaching work. In this video I share briefly about why I want to encourage you to take up the practice. You can also check out my short post about […]
An Encouragement to “Journal”
“I’m not really the type of person who likes to journal.” “I don’t like to write, or put my thoughts onto paper.” “I just don’t have anything to write.” These are pretty typical responses I hear from clients when I broach the subject of journaling as a practice. And I can totally understand their sentiment. […]
[VIDEO] The Best Breath Practice for Anxiety (and much more)
UPDATE: Apparently the best breath practice I have been advocating, is called the physiological sigh, not the psychological sign. I have no idea how I just noticed this. I guess I had some letters turned around in my brain, and it’s funny that no one has said anything different in all the emails, conversations, and […]
The Best Breath Practice for Anxiety (and much more)
UPDATE: Apparently the best breath practice I have been advocating, is called the physiological sigh, not the psychological sign. I have no idea how I just noticed this. I guess I had some letters turned around in my brain, and it’s funny that no one has said anything different in all the emails, conversations, and […]
Rhett Smith 139: Transforming Our Anxiety — Getting Comfortable with the Uncomfortable
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 […]
Rhett Smith 138: Some Lessons I’ve Recently Learned About Hiring a Coach (and how it may help you)
n 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 […]
Attention, Psychic Energy and Flow: The Contents of Creating and Shaping Your Life
A decision I made several years back, was that if books that I was reading, kept referring to one author/thinker, etc., time and time again — then I needed to go read that person. More than likely, this person would be the original source of much of the work others have built off. And why […]
Video: Anxious Progression One Day at a Time
One of the ways that I have found to be helpful in working through anxiety, is what I refer to has anxious progression. In the fitness world it is often referred to as progressive overload. In terms of anxiety I like to think about the idea of taking things one is anxious about, and slowly […]
Rhett Smith137: Anxious Progression One Day at a Time
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 […]
Anxious Progression One Day at a Time
The key to improving physical fitness lies in adhering to a concept called progressive overload. You work a specific muscle or function in a specific manner, progressively adding intensity and duration over time. Hard days are followed by easy days. The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds — Not Crushes — […]
Video: Acknowledge, Identify and Reframe Your Anxiety and Depression
I know it has been a heavy year for many. Mental health issues have been increasingly on the rise, and anxiety and depression are leading the way. In this video I share about some of my own struggles and what has been helpful for me in navigating them. I hope you find it helpful. Link […]
Rhett Smith 136: Acknowledge, Identify and Reframe Your Depression and Anxiety
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 […]
Anxiety & Depression: Acknowledge, Identify and Reframe
I think I have been struggling with depression for about the last 6 months. Actually, let me rephrase that. I think it has been longer, but I think I’ve only really acknowledged it here in the last few months. This isn’t my first bout with depression, but I’m one who tends to run higher with […]
Rhett Smith 135: I’m Doubling Down on Breath Work
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 […]
Rhett Smith 134: My Ongoing Experiment with Fasting
“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 […]
Rhett Smith 133: Goal Setting, Habits and the “Long Obedience in the Same Direction”
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 […]