Unhurried Living | Helping Christians Rest Deeper & Lead Better

This is the second week of Advent and our focus is peace. Over the course of Advent I’m sharing one helpful spiritual practice per week to help us stay centered on the season. Today we are going to try on a practice called SLOW. SLOW stands for stop, linger, observe and wonder. You can use SLOW right there in the middle of a busy day. This idea first came to mind when I would catch myself feeling stressed but didn’t really know why. Sometimes it’s just a habit I carry. So I would stop, drop my shoulders and try to become present in the moment. SLOW emerged from my own need to choose a different way to make my way through my day. As we focus on peace this week, I do pray that SLOW will help you lower your shoulders, as again, we learn to let go and receive what the Prince of Peace offers to us.   Let’s try SLOWing together.Learn more about Gem  on the Unhurried Living website and follow her on Instagram.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This is the first week of Advent and for the next few weeks, we’ll walk together toward the birth of Christ, culminating on Christmas Day.For this season of Advent, I thought it would be good to share a few helpful spiritual practices. So we’ll engage hope, peace, joy and love in this way for the next four weeks. More than teaching these practices, we will experience them together. On today’s episode we’ll experience the Practice of Unpacking.Enjoy this and the entire Advent series.  I also invite you to connect with me via social on Instagram and at the Unhurried Living website. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Welcome Sister Joan Chittister to the Unhurried Living Podcast where we are talking about her latest book, "The Monastic Heart" where she offers simple, practical, deep wisdom. You know when someone has lived truth well when they can make things so very easily understandable. Sr. Joan Chittister is an internationally known author and lecturer, and the executive director of Benetvision, a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality. She is past president of the Conference of American Benedictine Prioresses and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Her books include:The Gift of Years The Breath of the SoulCalled to Question Following the Path She is also a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Unhurried is about making time in our lives for what matters most. The irony is that when we are frantically busy, we often run past what (and who) matters most in our lives. We can learn to slow down to remember and do what matters most to us and to God. Today I talk with dear friends John Freeman and Jeb Shore on how we take this simple idea and live into it's reality for our living and leading. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today, I’m sharing a great conversation I had recently with Stephen Arterburn about a book he and David Stoop have written: The Soul of a Hero. This theme is so prevalent in our culture. So many of our most popular movies are rooted in the hero’s journey. There is something noble and beautiful that we can aspire to in the heroic way of Jesus himself. Stephen Arterburn is the founder and chairman of New Life Ministries, the nation’s largest faith-based broadcast, counseling, and treatment ministry. He is also host of the New Life Live! radio program that airs on more than 180 radio stations, SiriusXM radio, and television. Steve is a nationally known public speaker and has been featured in media such as Oprah and Good Morning America. He is a teaching pastor at Northview Church in Indianapolis and resides with his family in Indiana. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Without question, there is one spiritual practice that has been the most central to my soul’s formation. In fact, I have been engaging this practice for over half my life and I have not experienced it the same way twice.  Here at Unhurried Living we call it Unhurried Time with God. But it is classically known as solitude and silence. I realize the term solitude and silence might sound a little daunting or intimidating. But really, it’s simply a matter of setting aside some extended time (one or more hours) to place yourself into attentive, receptive mode in God’s presence. It's a time to remind yourself you are a human being and not a human doing. But mostly it’s a time to be open to God’s love.  Next week I’ll offer part two of this conversation so I can share with you the nuts and bolts of how you might engage Unhurried Time with God. But today I just want to share a personal story of one encounter I experienced, how it unfolded, and the insights I gained. It’s good to remember that no two Unhurried Time’s with God are the same. The agenda is not ours to determine. We simply make the time, choose the location, and remain open to God’s presence. This is simply one story of many I could tell as I did just that. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today I’m introducing the process of Notice, Discern, & Respond (or NDR). NDR is a supremely helpful progression for change, especially in terms of our thoughts. Once you become familiar with this simple idea, it can be an underlying way of life as you engage your own thoughts and feelings as well as your transformational journey.  The beauty of NDR is that it helps you make the move away from reacting and into the more helpful mode of responding. Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, says it this way: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” I’m suggesting that NDR is one process you can engage in that space. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Hope is a deep and strong dynamic. I believe that deep down, we all have access to this gift. However, for many of us, it gets buried underneath the hard knocks of life. And yet hope gets uncovered, over time, as we make our way through our circumstances. Hope is that beautiful combination of two more life-giving dynamics: with and through. And, more importantly, it’s with and through with God. Today, on the I Can Do That Podcast, I’ll be sharing some of my personal stories of loss and how I made my way to hope THROUGH the circumstances.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today, on the I Can Do That Podcast, we are talking about love. I realize it’s pretty audacious to think I can discuss this subject in a 10-minute podcast. Let me assure you, I am in no way covering the depths of God’s love or what it means to give and receive love. I am simply layering another part of our foundation. But I’m not going to talk about a prancing through the daffodils kind of love. I told you that we’re combining grounded optimism with practical spirituality and I meant it. This means, in part, that we try to explore as best we can (even large topics like love) and then take appropriate action based on our current understanding. Is this a perfect science? No. Is this a work in progress? Definitely yes. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Alan  and friends, Darrell Warner and Matt Fogle, share a great conversation about the issue of identity. In his book, "An Unhurried Leader", Alan wrote about how doing our work to prove our worth is a very common temptation for leaders. It can be surprising just how often insecurity is driving us to frenetic activity.   We too often imagine that our value or worth is hanging in the balance of how well we perform. But what if our value is already decided in our favor. What if our identity is a gift we’ve already received rather than a paycheck we still have to earn?  Welcome to the Unhurried Living Podcast. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.