The Next Right Thing

If you've ever felt like you could make better decisions if only you had more time or wished for time to stop just for a while so you could catch your breath, today's episode is for you.  Links + Resources From This Episode: Join The Next Right Thing Book Launch Team - through 2/22 The Dusty Ones: Why Wandering Deepens Your Faith  by AJ Swaboda Big Ben  Hebrew Parallelism in the Psalms  from Oblat...

Being a good decision maker has a lot to do with timing. When is the best time to make a decision? Research has some actual answers. Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? - John Tierney for The New York Times Magazine Extraneous Factors In Judicial Decisions Episode 33: Gather Co-Listeners The Next Right Thing  book coming April 2! Pre-order on Amazon...

One life-giving choice I've made when I'm feeling overwhelmed with indecision is to decide not to walk through it alone. Links + Resources From This Episode: Episode 49: Collaborate Laura Tremaine's 10 Things to Tell You Episode 33: Gather Co-Listeners Sign up for One Last Thing: a relentlessly helpful and mercifully short Saturday email Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman

If your fear of making a wrong choice is keeping you from making any choice at all, this episode offers 3 simple things to remember. Links + Resources From This Episode: Episode 05: For the Love of Good Change with Jen Hatmaker A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman Order The Next Right Thing:  A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions on Amazon , Barnes & Noble , Books-A-Million Fin...

So much of our lives are filled with waiting but no one really ever teaches us how to do it. How do we know when we need to wait? How do we know when it's time to move? There's several kinds of waiting, today I'll share four: the kind we talk about, the kind we don't talk about, the kind that sneaks up on you, and the kind that needs to stop. Links + Resources From This Episode: John O'Donohue Epi...

When an ending is difficult, it's easy to color the entire reality through the lens of how it ended, whether it's a relationship, a job, a dream project, or a life. The ending does not get to define the whole story. Maybe it's time to take back the narrative. This could be a life-giving part of your healing. This could be your next right thing. Links + Resources From This Episode: Budder on Emily'...

One question can make the difference between living with all consuming daily stress and a lighthearted sense of hope.  Links + Resources From This Episode: The Welcoming Prayer  by Father Thomas Keating Things Above Podcast by James Bryan Smith Preorder The Next Right Thing book - coming April 2! Luke 17: 20-21 Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman

Before you make any major decisions in the new year, here's a 3 minute blessing to start things off.

We don't want to wait until the other side of Christmas to finally pause and say, hello soul. I've missed you this month. Instead, we work to create space now. For a few minutes today, we'll make room, we'll take a moment to acknowledge our soul and remember the miracle of God With Us. Links + Resources From This Episode: Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard The Art of Everyday Living  - Emil...

During Advent, it's true we wait expectantly. It's also true we're preparing for an arrival.   What does preparation look like for you today? Might it include creating some space? Making some room? Clearing some clutter - and not just the kind you can see? Links + Resources From This Episode: The Quiet Collection for Christmas - Learn more here Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Joy to the World...

If you want to find relief from seasonal anxiety, I would love to help.    Links + Resources From This Episode: The Quiet Collection for Christmas - Available through 12/11/18 The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L'engle by Madeleine L'Engle Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman

Our choices define our lives - not just the ones we're carrying now about our future, but also the ones we've already made in our past. Wouldn't we do well to bring them to mind and see what they have to teach us? In this episode I'll share my own simple rhythm of reflection in hopes that it could inspire you to come up with your own. Links + Resources From This Episode: Last week's Episode 60 + B...

Starting before you're ready moving even when you're not sure where you're going is only possible when you have a next-right-thing mindset. Today I'll share a story from my own life and, in the process, offer what I hope will be as fun an announcement for you to hear as it is for me to give. Links + Resources From This Episode: The Weight of Glory  by C. S. Lewis Episode 27: Stop Rushing Clarity M...

It's possible to be surrounded by silence everyday and completely miss the point. It's also possible to lead a full, loud life and still receive the gifts God has to offer us in the pockets of silent time we can find. You can be busy and soulful at the same time. The key is in paying attention. Links + Resources From This Episode: Episode 58: Welcome Silence The Monthly Letter Let Your Life Speak:...

In 2012 singer John Mayer had surgery on his vocal chords and was ordered not to speak for two months or sing for six. His healing depended on his silence.  While his need was physical, perhaps silence is required for all kinds of healing: the wounds of the body and of the soul. Today's episode offers a short practice to help ease into silence, one small moment at a time. Links + Resources From Th...

To take action and make a decision requires something of you. But make no mistake — putting decisions off require something too, and that may be even more expensive.  Links + Resources: The Prayer of Saint Patrick What's your next right thing today? Share it using #mynextrightthing + tag @emilypfreeman! Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman

Focus is hard because there's both so much going on and often not enough information.  When you have a big idea but aren't sure where to start, listen in.    Links + Resources From This Episode: Cozy Minimalist Home   by Myquillyn Smith The Nester Cozy Home Tour  - I'll be at the Greenville, SC stop on Nov. 4! Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman

There's a skill to walking in the dark: you have to go slow, trust what you know, and take it one step at a time. After the winds and rain of hurricane Michael knocked out power in the city, we navigated our way through our dark house, not a beam of light from a street lamp or a night light or even the moon. Whether darkness comes as an absence of light or a waning faith, the way to walk through i...

In a world that seems to only value a twisted kind of angular strength, let's find ways to receive the curves, to be nurtured by God and one another. Links + Resources From This Episode: The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God's Goodness Around You by Shannan Martin The Ministry of Ordinary Places  - That post I mentioned I wrote because I can't stop talking about this book Episode 53: A...

The rest from decision fatigue doesn't descend upon me when my work is finally finished. Instead, it comes slowly as I'm willing to allow the present to be imperfect.   Links + Resources From This Episode: Choosing Rest by Sally Breedlove Rhythms of Rest by Shelly Miller Simply Tuesday by Emily P. Freeman The Lazy Genius Podcast Episode 77: The Lazy Genius Rests The Next Right Thing Podcast Episod...

Decision fatigue can creep into our life for any number of reasons, but one isn't as obvious as some others. When change rises slow or comes up from behind, it can turn your life a different color so gradually you don't realize it until you compare things to this time last year.  Discover what slow change might be happening within or around you and see if that might help clarify your next right th...

If you are feeling overwhelmed, carrying a heavy decision, or live with what seems to be a growing imbalance between the work you do during the week and the rest you're supposed to be doing on the weekends, choosing a pastime could be a worthy next right thing. Links + Resources From This Episode: Churchill's Tribute to King George VI Painting As A Pastime by Winston Churchill Hearing God by Dalla...

Last year I decided to enroll in grad school. But first, I lost sleep, asked everyone's opinion, and made myself crazy. Here's what happened next. Links + Resources From This Episode: Things Above Podcast The Apprentice Series  by James Bryan Smith Visit hope*writers to learn more about our membership Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman

Making the decision to move forward with an idea is hard enough, but one thing that can keep us feeling especially stuck is trying to move forward with a decision alone because we are afraid. When it comes to collaboration it takes a certain amount of courage to say yes to an invitation. But for some of us it takes courage in even greater measure to extend the invitation in the first place.   Link...

As we continue to make our way through an ever changing set of circumstances, the seasons will keep rolling on, bringing with them both dreaded and hoped-for hellos and goodbyes. You may be holding on to a hopeful vision for your future, but perhaps you're questioning what that means for today. What do we do while we wait for seeds to grow? Listen in. Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download T...