Whether you're making plans to travel, to be with friends or family, or to host people at your house in your very own neighborhood, chances are you have some expectations for how things will go. So what do you do when the day comes, the trip is lovely, the food is great and the company kind, but you get stuck in a disappointment that you can't seem to shake? Sometimes our next right thing turns out differently than we thought, and even if it's not life threatening or earth shattering, we feel disappointment and we may not even know all the way why. Here's a way to move through it. Listen in.

 

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• A Rhythm of Prayer by Sarah Bessey
• Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

It's the question Barbara Brown Taylor asks and answers in her memoir, Leaving Church, and one many of us have carried forward to ask and answer as well. The best questions are shareable and re-answerable and today I'll share my list of what's saving my life. Because when you are in a season of discernment and decision-making (which is almost always), it's helpful to name and celebrate where the life comes from. Listen in.

 

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor
• Episode 76: Create a Simple Morning Routine
• Episode 90: Start with this Simple Rhythm
• Episode 141: Redo Your Morning Routine
• Caffeine Eye Cream by The Inkey List
• Episode 167: Spiritual Direction for Beginners
• Episode 178: How to Find a Spiritual Director
• On Being feat. Gordon Hempton with Krista Tippett
• I Used to Be a Human Being by Andrew Sullivan
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

May this simple reading of Psalm 46 be a reflection you can return to as you discern your next right thing in love. This Psalm is a reading from the New International Version. Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

When was a time you said yes and were so glad you did? I asked you that question last week and this week we’ll share your answers. We're celebrating your favorite yeses and a few of mine too. Listen in.   We're also celebrating a huge milestone: We've sold 100,000 copies The Next Right Thing! I'm so glad I said yes to writing that book and I'm equally glad you said yes to reading it. Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
• A Million Miles In a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
• Say Yes by Scott Erickson
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

How can we discern our next right thing when presented with a great opportunity? Is there a framework to follow when discerning when to say yes or when to say no? Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Episode 19: Choose Your Absence
• That Sounds Fun Ep. 375 with Kristin Chenoweth
• Miss Me with That by Rachel Lindsay
• Record your favorite "yes!" and share it with me here
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

What do you do when you work hard on something for years of your life, you believe you’re being faithful to your next right thing, and then you release your prayed for work into the world only to later learn new information that forces you to question what you worked so hard to offer? Author, pastor, and spiritual director, Jamin Goggin, had to wrestle with that very question and is here to tell the story. Listen in.   Links + Resources From This Episode:

• The Way of the Dragon or The Way of the Lamb by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel
• Jamin Goggin on Twitter and online
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

Two days a year, the earth from pole to pole receives an equal distribution of light and dark, day and night. The equinox is always around this time of year — spring for those above the equator, autumn for those below. How can we be balanced on the inside even when we're in full shadow or full light? How can we bring peace to the world even in the midst of chaos? What does equanimity mean for me today? As we approach the Spring Equinox, here is a short reflection. Listen in.   Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Garden Maker by Christie Purifoy
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

We underline a quote because it mirrors, questions, or inspires something in us. But it does no good for us if we don't have a way of recording and organizing it for later use and reflection. Today I'll share my four bucket system for capturing and organizing my favorite quotes so that they might make a difference in my everyday life. Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Say Yes by Scott Erickson
• When Everything's on Fire by Brian Zahnd
• Evernote
• The Three Battlegrounds by Francis Frangipane
• Episode 167: Spiritual Direction for Beginners
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a transcript of this and every episode at emilypfreeman.com.

As we begin the slow transition from one season to the next, let's revisit a familiar framework in another Soul Minimalist’s Guide, this one specifically for spring. Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Episode 1: Become a Soul Minimalist
• Episode 34: Pick What You Like
• 10 Questions for Reflection & Discernment
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a transcript of this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

Sometimes you need someone to read to you words spoken by a sufferer in the midst of struggle, words without a filter or a reframe. Here is a simple reading of Psalm 22, a Psalm of individual lament that may perhaps be a strange kind of comfort for you if you're in the midst of your own struggle. Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Psalm 22, read from the Common English Bible
• Other episodes like this one: Psalm 139 and Read Psalm 23
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing 
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
• Download a copy of this, and every, transcript at emilypfreeman.com.