105: Ken Shigematsu on the Survival Guide for the Soul

What keeps us from flourishing in life is a neglect of the inner life of the soul. It’s the engine where everything starts…and stops. And more and more today, this neglect is driven by our ambition to accomplish something big outside ourselves. We live in a society that pressures us to achieve professionally, socially, and through the constant acquisition of things, status, and titles. The trouble is that this rat-race to achieve is a never-ending ride. You can’t get off this train without a major interruption of mindset, shift of priorities, and a willingness to make a choice to change. Today, you’re going to learn how to flourish in this very competitive, demanding culture and even redefine greatness.

Buy the Book

What keeps us from flourishing in our spiritual lives is a neglect of the inner life of the soul. And more and more today, this neglect is driven by our ambition to accomplish something big outside ourselves. We live in a society that pressures us to achieve professionally, socially, and through the constant acquisition of material possessions. Drawing on a wide range of sources including scripture, church history, psychology, and neuroscience, as well as a rich variety of stories from his own life, Ken Shigematsu demonstrates how the gospel redeems our desires and reorders our lives. He offers fresh perspective on how certain spiritual practices help orient our lives so that our souls can flourish in the midst of a demanding, competitive society. And he concludes with a liberating and counter-cultural definition of true greatness.

Survival Guide for the Soul: How to Flourish Spiritually in a World that Pressures Us to Achieve will appeal to anyone who longs to experience a deeper relationship with Christ in the midst of the daily pressures to succeed, as well as to those on the borderlands of faith seeking to transcend the human tendency to define ourselves by our production and success.

Discussion questions available in the audiobook companion PDF download. BuySurvival Guide for the Soul: How to Flourish Spiritually in a World that Pressures Us to Achievek now.

About Ken Shigematsu

Ken Shigematsu is senior pastor of Tenth Church (www.tenth.ca) in Vancouver, British Columbia, one of the largest and most diverse city-center churches in Canada. Before entering pastoral ministry, he worked for the Sony Corporation in Tokyo, Japan. The intense work schedule at Sony led him to explore personal disciplines that could bring order to his life, from those of his samurai ancestors to St. Benedict’s rule for Christian communities.

His first book, God in My Everything: How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God (Zondervan, 2013) describes how a personal rule, or spiritual rhythm, can support the growth of a God-filled life. An international bestseller, it was selected as the Word Guild 2014 Christian Living book of the year and received honorable mention for the Grace Irwin Prize, Canada’s largest literary award for Christian writers.

Ken’s second book, Survival Guide for the Soul: How to Flourish Spiritually in a World that Pressures Us to Achieve (Zondervan, 2018) examines how specific spiritual practices reorder our lives and focus our priorities. The lessons of scripture and church history are backed with recent research in psychology and neuroscience to support the vision of a well-ordered, spiritually dynamic life.

Ken lives in Vancouver, Canada with his wife Sakiko and their son Joey. Proceeds from his writing support the work of World Vision and similar organizations around the world. He invites readers to join him on Twitter @KenShigematsu.

Review “Win Today”

Click here to read the ratings, or even better, please leave me a rating and review on iTunes. Your rating will help the podcast get noticed and positioned on iTunes.

What Listeners Are Saying…

“So great to find a podcast that is both encouraging and challenging! It is professionally produced, yet still has an informal feel like I’m hanging out with Chris… And frankly, I’d love to hang out with him! I really appreciate his heart and have been able to apply many of his topics in my life to help me grow professionally, physically, and relationally. A+!”