Beyond the basement – Details, episodes & analysis

Your playfulness helps you navigate uncertainty, deepen your relationships, be more creative with problems, and generally have more fun and joy in life. Here I explore three powerful ways to invite more of that into life. I think we’re all naturally playful at heart, it isn’t something you need to learn or add. More of a remembering or uncovering beneath what life can dump on top of it. That’s certainly been my experience. For many years I got stuck in serious and sensible mode - joyless and apathetic. That part still exists, I’ve just found that in liberating my playful parts, life is fuller, there’s more range and richness. I wish that for you too. Join me for a walk in the woods as we explore all this and more…

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

If you’re anything like me you avoid arguments and confrontation. I prefer the easy life - it’s only natural. Yet in choosing the path of least resistance, we can miss out on what’s on the other side of all that pain, conflict and tension. Also known as ‘rupture and repair’ with our fellow humans. Here I explore what’s on the other side with a live story from the Authentic Relating leadership retreat I’ve been on in France. Join me by the lake for the third and final instalment of reflections on how we relate to one another, and everything they didn’t teach you at school about human-ing.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

This last week I've been in Slovenia, exploring how we relate to, express, and experience life through that thing below your neck. Join me on a mountaintop for helpful insights I picked up studying with Mr Embodiment, Mark Walsh, like how to find yourself when stressed, and what other people make of you. I recorded this while having a very direct experience of the universe; all the feels you can expect from eny immersive adventure, be it a retreat like mine, a festival or any experience full of all the things you love.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

I suppose you could call this a talking meditation, a kindly lament on what it is to be a fallible human, when things don't go well. While at the same time remembering that's what makes you an inherently good human being. One way to look at this is through the lens of this dignity and humility from Authentic Relating - the art of being human.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

If you don't get out the house, are you a bit like a dog who hasn't been walked? Climbing the walls. Going out of your mind. If so, you could be like Ellie and I, for whom movement, nature and connection with other people is a necessity.

Ellie is my friend and a fellow coach. Together we're running a series of immersive Co-Walking events to help people like us get a more rich and meaningful experience from retreat into nature, away from the seeming madness that is modern life.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

This issue is the scourge of our modern age. The way we zone out, live on autopilot or spend all our time lamenting either the future or the past, instead of what's unfolding right before our eyes. Here's my take on what could be going on, as I explore this phenomenon through improvisation and authentic relating.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

Hi. I'm a beginner. By that I mean curious, enthusiastic, a learner, playful. I don't have everything sussed out. Would you want to be any other way? The world seems to expect that though - flawless experts who get things right first time, every time. I see it in politics, industry and other walks of life.

This was prompted by soon launching my own improv/authentic relating inspired workshops, and noticing the fears, hesitance, shame and doubts that get in the way of doing fun stuff we really care about.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

Hope you don't mind me nudging the podcast into edgier territory but here we go... Some reflections on my experiences of the great leveller, what it revealed to me about life, myself and others. We'll also go deeper into expectations and responsibility too, what motivates us and who you truly are when things turn bleak. There's hope too. Recorded on the anniversary of my mum's death, Dorothy Kenworthy who died in 2005.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

At the beginning of most days I check-in with myself by wondering who's showing up inside - urges, desires, feelings sensations and mental preoccupations. We call these our parts, and getting to know them, helping them feel seen and heard, is undoubtedly one of the most helpful practices I have for feeling more present, happier and hopeful about the day ahead. I explore all this, how I do it and why in this episode.

Listen to 'Something to help when you're overwhelmed or need motivation' episode for the guided technique I mention here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

I could be way off here - drawing parallels between substance abuse, and that urge to perpetually do and make, that drives people like us. But maybe there's something to this. The fact is that excessive productivity and progress destroys relationships and wellbeing, just like any other compulsive behaviour. What do you reckon?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com