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

One of my favourite improv principles, and one those of us with a tendency to pragmatism and practicality, would do well to remember. This one's all about gravitating towards that which makes life worth living, when we're faced with choices about what to do next and how to do it.

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

When you're neither in nor out on the day ahead, it's possible to kind of halfheartedly do all the things, instead of committing your attention to one thing deserving of it, or checking out altogether because you need some R&R.

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

It could be a faceless voice, all cynical and nit-picky about everything that’s wrong. Maybe it’s a fully fleshed out character in your mind’s eye - a haughty, enthroned judge sat above everyone and everything, passing its uninvited verdicts.

Do you have one? Or two? Three?

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 one's for anyone curious about or new to improv. I'll dispel some myths about what it is, as well as give you a flavour of what to expect when you first try it. You'll also get a sense of how I run Leeds Improv Co-Lab - my growing community of improvisers who regularly come for open play sessions.

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

Some days, events, arbitrary points in time come with emotional baggage. For me it's Mondays, a heaviness, a melancholic sigh, and the dread of expectation. Which is totally at odds with reality. This one's all about the emotional undercurrents that, if we're not aware of, can rule us. Here's how I'm working with Mondays, after years of resistance.

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

When a DIY job begins to turn sour, Chris gets his 1000th lesson in knowing when to back away because he's hungry/angry/lonely/tired. This one's all about feeling into our tendency to get swept along with the relentless, forward motion of productivity.

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've landed home after ALL the adventures during June and July. Yet fun and joy and can bleed into one long conveyor belt of stuff coming at you, much like the obligations and responsibilities of day-to-day life. Even when you're supposed to be having fun, it can be tricky to savour the here-and-now.

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

Love? Kindness? Hugs? Well they'd certainly help but I think there's a more pragmatic option too - human connection. What does that even mean though? And how do you get more of it when so much seems to get in the way?

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

"When we fail to prioritise the things we should, it is often because the dominant instinct takes more than its fair share." - this quote from Cicci Lyckow Bäckman might just explain why we sometimes avoid or distract ourselves from getting round to those things we should do, and would probably enjoy doing or which would make our lives easier. But what are our core instinctive drives? What is going on? Join me on a wander through the countryside as I too try to make sense of this perennial human problem.

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

Here's a timeless struggle I hear in coaching - what gets in the way of just being content with the way things are instead of feeling tense and irritated by it (or how things COULD be different). Join me on a ramble through the French countryside as we ponder the paradoxes of the human condition. How tres Français.

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

We've all got behaviours, habits, characteristics about ourselves we'd like to change. How do you react when they show up? With regret, shame, anger? What if that's like abandoning yourself...

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

Ever avoid or distract yourself from complicated, seemingly huge jobs because there's too many unknowns? Here's what could be going on.

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 morning I woke up with a start. To a memory of one of the scariest scenes I've ever played. And it wasn't even improv. Here are some reflections from the front line of terror.

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

Do you wave longingly as guests depart, or shut the door and get on with life? Do you race from one thing without finishing the other?After a long weekend's improv retreat, I chew over our tricky emotional relationship with transitions, thresholds and change. All while feeling a little tender myself.

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

Here are three big insights from the lovely improvisers who came out to play this Sunday for the third Undefended Improv workshop, this time in Liverpool, hosted with my friend Jen Hardy. In opening up, relating, and revealing what it's like really being us, we uncovered some universal truths that apply to life, whether you improvise or not. This one's for anyone tired of trying so hard to follow the rules and get everything right, keeping up appearances, yet deeply in need of more support and connection from the people around you.

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

In all of us, there's a part forever scanning for evidence to confirm all our worst fears. And when it finds evidence, a story begins to play. What's yours? Here's mine and how I'm trying a different, kinder response...

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

A late night improv experience of being in a slug cult reminds me - that the big themes we wrestle with as humans; like confidence, creativity, resilience, honesty isn't stuff we can learn or be taught. Fundamental stuff like this is often innate, so perhaps it just needs to be remembered, unconditioned back to the surface, or whatever block it unlearned.

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

Why revealing a little of what's really going on for you might be a smart move in tricky situations. Fresh from day one of the Maria Peters Improv retreat.

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

It's quite natural for folk like us to drift through life accumulating responsibility, commitments and obligations. They fall into what I'm calling your sphere of influence (bit of nostalgia for GCSE Geography fans). Once they lad, each one of these 'things to do' becomes one more burden, for us doers, prone to feeling overburdened.

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

Usually you're so up and on it, productive, because you love getting things done. But for some reason, today you just can't get going. You're forcing yourself to get through the day. Here's what might be going on.

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

Here’s a guided technique to get to the core of what’s really bothering you, and then soothe yourself. Practiced frequently, it gets you clear on who you are and what you need.

It’s a technique for personifying or imagining your emotions as parts within you - inner characters, influences, voices of authority that we accumulate throughout our life. Through this process we become aware of them, so they no longer secretly run the show behind the scenes. The idea is we become more mindful of who they are, what they want, and who YOU are in relationship with them.

The process I walk you through is:

1. Find somewhere quiet where you won’t be disturbed


2. Bring to mind the issue, question, challenge or topic that’s bothering you


3. Close your eyes and breathe


4. Notice what’s going on in your body


5. Give those feelings and sensations qualities, characteristics, persona


6. Name it, age it, endow it with identity (becomes clearer with practice)


7. Ask it questions, back and forth in a comparative dialogue


8. Let it know you’re in this together, say good bye and end

Questions you might ask are:

• How do you feel towards this part? What is your relationship to it? How might you befriend it?


• What does this part feel? Where is it directing its feelings?


• What does it want to say or do?


• What does it want for you? What does it need you to know?


• How can you let it know you’re here, with it?


• How can you make sure it’s seen, heard, and welcome?


• What job could it do?

If this is your first time, take it slow, wait and be gentle with yourself. Chances are these parts haven’t been spoken to in a LONG time. It’s a process of to-ing and fro-ing between thinking and feeling and noticing what happens in your body as you go through the steps. Parts become clearer over time - you begin to recognise which parts get triggered by which kinds of situation.

It’s a simplified version of internal family systems, a novel and effective branch of modern psychology. Here’s a detailed primer:

https://lucasforstmeyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Introduction-to-the-Steps-Questions-of-IFS-Therapy-by-Lucas-Forstmeyer.pdf

Or another, as a video: https://youtu.be/Ym8o762U7uc

If you’re on Instagram, there’s a lady here doing lots of interesting work with IFS: https://instagram.com/the_ordinary_sacred?igshid=ZWQyN2ExYTkwZQ==

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 have a theory about people like us. It's that how intensely we 'go at' something - how productive we are, correlates with the ensuing period of retreat. Or winter as I now call it. After a period of steady DIY and growing my business, winter came and then lingered. The frost was harder than I expected. Yet that's no bad thing. We can learn a lot, if only we can resist the temptation to get back on it and doing again.

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 a superhuman doer, someone who likes to get on and progress, maybe you're prone to slumps? Perhaps you find yourself staring into space, unable to get motivated. It could be that you're overburdened.

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

When we're not sure what's going on, or what to do next, pretending that you do is often enough to nudge in that direction. It can give you and the people around you, the confidence to get started, and make sense of the situation. This is another principle from improvised comedy and drama that can help in life too. We'll be exploring it at the next Leeds improv Co-Lab play session on June 6th. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/chriskenworthy?

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

What does it mean to mess up, get things wrong, or for things to otherwise not quite work out as we'd planned? Happy little accidents is the theme of our next improv Co-lab session in Leeds. Yet there's something for everyone on how we relate to our inevitable mistakes.

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

Hey perfectionist: "Allow yourself acceptance and rest, trusting that there is loving, transformative power in the absence of striving." Easier said than done though, right? But what if no doing is required? Can you still progress, grow, have good things happen in life if you simply allow life exactly as it is? That's the work for every perfectionist, even though it's totally at odds with how we relate to the world.

Quote from @enneagrampaths on Instagram.

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

The more I coach, the more I think gender isn't a helpful distinction between human beings. Even the terms ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ make me nervous. Here's a deconstruction and (perhaps) a more helpful way of making sense of who we are in the world.

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 wonderful metaphor for what happens when we don't healthily process our thoughts and feelings, came from a client recently. Sooner or later the drawer will overflow, or worse, burst...

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

Like all humans, us coaches can be messy, fallible contradictions too. Just in case we give the impression we're always living a best life. Would you want it any other way?

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

How do you set realistic, meaningful goals as a perfectionist?

How do you prioritise the process over the outcome?

Fellow coach and friend Vix Anderton and I talk about imperfect action, reframing goals as something more inspiring, living your goals in the present and more.

In this short yet juicy conversation we shared laughter and joy on a topic that can sometimes leave us feeling like failures.

We covered: play and movement 🙃the power of asking why ❓embodying your goals 💛 and the importance of experimenting.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AHPjhIzfIKg

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 principle of improv invites us to reveal more of our inner world, to make more of a scene of ourselves. Not just in pursuit of more watchable performance, but so other people know what's going on for us, in life. Why leave it all to guesswork? Play it big. Link to event: bit.ly/improvleeds

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

Last night I did a duff improv performance. Rather than languish in pity, here I volunteer the experience, diving into some of the helpful tricks the head and heart play when you're emotionally activated by a tricky situation.

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 month, Ellie Lloyd-Jones (another big hearted, talented, smart, beautiful coach) and I are taking a bunch of purposeful business folk out into Derbyshire for a half-day of immersive conversation and connection in nature. Here's what hosting NetWalking Leeds (a mini version of this) taught me so far about humans when they give themselves just this. Link to the event, if you're curious to join: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/elevate-with-ellie-57510010673#events

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

Right or wrong, good or bad. Does your inner critic run the show; noticing, categorising and criticising? Here's a new way of looking at judgement and being judgemental. It could just be the greatest gift you never knew you had...

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

How this simple principle in improvisation might help us out of a tight spot, when we don't know what to do next. We'll be playing with this theme at improv Co-lab this coming Thursday, my open event for improvisers in Leeds https://www.tickettailor.com/events/chriskenworthy

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

Joanne Tremarco's improvised performance of a show by this name inspires Chris, almost to the point of complete emotional dysfunction, late night at the Liverpool improvisation festival. To the point he even gets her name wrong. Here I'm very excited by fooling, a performance technique I did in a workshop earlier in the day with JOANNE

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 is one of improv's finest and most transferable principles for getting you out of a tight spot. Whether that's a tricky scene, or just generally in life when you feel low mood or motivation. I certainly feel that way at the moment, so here I explore the value in focusing on what's good - like gratitude for what's here and now or our relationships.

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

Dragons, giants, magic, castles and gophers. This weekend's improv intensive on storytelling and movement had it all. Here comes the feels and reflections on everything that went down. Link to information about Chris Mead, who led the weekend: https://chrismead.co/

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

Today's emergency question that we're playing with, from Richard Herring's book of the same name. Do we instinctively act out of self interest? Are we just animals? Is there such a thing as a truly selfless act? Naturally, you'll discover all the answers to life's big questions, here in a windy park in Leeds.

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

Hoot! Yesterday we launched Leeds' first improv Co-lab event. Here's the story of the universe calling me out on an idea through to making a real thing, and everything I learned along the way.

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