by Rhett Smith | Sep 24, 2010 | Leadership
On Monday I had the awesome opportunity to hang out with about 100 youth pastors in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. We were all attending a Youth Specialties luncheon, checking out their upcoming events, hearing about some of their ventures, and just having a good time...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 11, 2010 | Intentional Living
Last week I shared with you some of my thoughts from my talk at the ECHO Conference. In the post, Is Your True Sense of Self And Identity At Risk As You Navigate An Online World I explored more in depth some of the technological hindrances to self and identity in an...
by Rhett Smith | Jun 11, 2010 | Men
“Without truth there can be no intimacy, because without truth you wind up sharing lies or delusions. Without intimacy there can be no relationship. When two partners share their true selves, protecting self and others by the correct practice of boundaries, the...
by Rhett Smith | Apr 5, 2010 | Technology
[image by sass_face] Let me start this post with an example. I’m the type of person who if I’m going to try and be disciplined about not eating junk food, then it’s much better I tell my wife if we just don’t buy and have junk food in the...
by Rhett Smith | Mar 22, 2010 | Marriage
[image by globevisions] One of the things that seems to be a common trend among couples I work with in therapy is that there is an assumption about the relational boundaries that each of them will/are keeping. There is an assumption, but rarely something they have...
by Rhett Smith | Nov 18, 2009 | Marriage
[image (47/365) :: Saga] Triangling Facebook Into the Marital Unit Often I find myself working with a kid in therapy whose parents have brought him/her in because of the problems they are creating in the family. In therapy/counseling terms that kid has become the...
by Rhett Smith | Nov 17, 2009 | Marriage
[image by soundlessfall] Earlier this summer I was contacted by Irving Bible Church in Las Colinas, TX to write an article on technology for their monthly magazine. After talking with the editor at length we eventually agreed upon a topic that we thought would be of...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 6, 2009 | Intentional Living
[image by net_efekt’s] Marathon Training In the Spring of 2006 I had this deep yearning to run a marathon, something I had never done before, yet something I always wanted to do. Training for this marathon was going to require some shifting of things in my...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 3, 2009 | Technology
The Running of the Salmon When I was in high school my family and I went on an Alaskan cruise, and along the way we stopped at one of the islands to get a tour of where the salmon swim upstream during the spawning season. I don’t remember a lot of details about...
by Rhett Smith | May 12, 2009 | Marriage
Two of my favorite poets are the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke and the Lebanese American poet Kahlil Girban. One of the things that has drawn me to these two poets, especially when they write on love and marriage is the way in which they speak of relational...
by Rhett Smith | May 6, 2009 | Marriage
“Stewart and Shannon were dealing with one of the most pervasive problems of intimate partnership, the drawing of personal boundaries. Boundaries exist on two levels: behavioral and emotional. Behavioral boundaries refer to the preferred amount of togetherness...
by Rhett Smith | May 4, 2009 | Marriage
I’ve been talking briefly this last week about boundaries, especially since it is such a popular topic not only among those who go see a therapist, but it is popularized in self-help books, magazines, talk shows and about everywhere you look. Unfortunately,...
by Rhett Smith | May 4, 2009 | Leadership
So I have been writing a few posts (will be 4 in all) on some areas that I think church employees need to rethink, or at best, at least address. Now I’m not writing these posts cause I have done all these things right, rather I am writing them because I have...
by Rhett Smith | May 1, 2009 | Leadership
Let me say that the reason that I am bringing these four areas to your attention is not because I’ve done well as a church employee in these areas…but rather, these are areas that I’ve failed in, struggled with, and have had to crash and burn a lot...
by Rhett Smith | Apr 29, 2009 | Marriage
Well known psychologist David Schnarch has a wonderful book called the Passionate Marriage: Keeping Love and Intimacy Alive in Committed Relationships. When Schnarch speaks about boundaries he speaks about differentiation. What is differentiation? In short, according...
by Rhett Smith | Apr 24, 2009 | Marriage, Technology
[image by Simon Doggett] I thought this was an interesting piece out of USA Today, especially when I’m beginning a series of blog posts on the issue of boundaries in a variety of contexts. Read The Popularity of Twitter has Some Relationships in a Twist, and...
by Rhett Smith | Apr 23, 2009 | Marriage, Technology
[image by The Wandering Angel] Boundaries. It’s a topic that comes up quite a bit, and it comes up in a variety of contexts. The context I most often hear it in regards to relationships. Boundaries is a subject that I talk with many people about, and it’s...
by Rhett Smith | Apr 1, 2009 | Marriage, Technology
My wife and I have been talking for months about whether or not we should get rid of our TV. And it’s a slow process. It first began by reducing from two DVR’s to one. Then it continued with cutting all of our cable but the bare minimum/basics so we can...
by Rhett Smith | Nov 18, 2008 | Intentional Living
I came across this Tweet from Anne Jackson today, and it resonated with me a lot. Learning to say no to good things. It’s always hard, but it’s necessary. I’ve been losing focus lately. I know we all have lots of good things on our plate. We have...
by Rhett Smith | Nov 3, 2008 | Marriage
Looking to Connect It is no surprise to any of us that people are looking online to connect with others, and that in the process a certain level of intimate needs are met. Whether it’s a chat group, dating service, blog or class reunion site, people are finding...
