Today I'm joined by a writer who deeply understands what it means to live life on autopilot, chugging through the day "on fear and caffeine." As it turns out, that life is a train to nowhere and Shauna Niequist decided to get off. I'm happy to sit down with her to talk about writing, connection, and her next right thing. Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Learn more about Shauna on her website and Instagram
• Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
• I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet by Shauna Niequist
• Laura Tremaine and Shauna Niequist talk about journaling
• 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 for this, and every, episode at emilypfreeman.com.

A lot of us are looking for our truest words these days. We're taking the hymns and choruses of our childhood faith, the verses we have memorized, our adolescent optimism, our adult commitments, our 2020 cynicism and our 2021 exhaustion and we're holding them all up to the light. We have thrown some things out. We are holding on for dear life. In the sifting, there's sure to be some mix-ups. If you can relate, this episode is for you. And for me. Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Walking in Wonder by John O'Donohue
• Find Annie F. Downs online here and on Instagram here
• On the Brink of Everything by Parker Palmer
• To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue
• 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 list we all know to make when we're stuck in the decision-making process. There are helpful things about the pro/con list but we all know they don't work all by themselves. This type of list could be a good starting point, but what do you do next? I dedicated The Next Right Thing to anyone who's ever made a pro/con list in the middle of the night. If that's you, listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Gilmore Girls: Season 3, Episode 17 (Netflix)
• Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer
• Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
• Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman

What do we do when we wish we were different but struggle to make a change? What do we do when a thing we're good at (that is sometimes good) is also a thing that is sometimes trouble? Every strength has a shadow side and sometimes gifts come with burdens to bear. If you wonder what to do when your best gets the best of you, listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Friends University's Master of Arts in Christian Spiritual Formation and Leadership
• Learn more about the StrengthsFinder assessment
• The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen
• 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 www.emilypfreeman.com

She believed that life was a series of unlimited choices, until she discovered at age 35 that her body was wracked with cancer. In the years that have followed, Kate Bowler has wrestled honestly with the reality she has been handed and the terrible advice she's received along the way, like that everything happens for a reason.

Hers is a voice I never want to stop listening to and in her new book, No Cure for Being Human, she is honest, vulnerable, and delightfully human, saying the words we all know but are sometimes afraid to say: that life is beautiful and terrible, full of hope and despair and everything in between. I'm delighted to sit down with Kate to talk about that and the truths we need to hear. Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler
• Learn more about Kate's work 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/podcast.

If you need to get in that autumn state of mind, today's episode is for you. Maybe the season has caught you by surprise or you're feeling a little off but don't know why. It's time to clear the summer mind-clutter and move into fall like a soul minimalist. Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Episode 181: A Soul Minimalist's Guide to Summer
• Simplify by Joshua Becker
• Becoming Minimalist
• 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 episode at www.emilypfreeman.com.

It's a short trip from helpless to hopeless, just a shuffling of a few letters and you're there. If you've been struggling to hold on to hope over the last few weeks (or years), then today's episode is for you. Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• La Foce
• 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 don't learn just from experience. Transformation happens when we reflect upon our experience. Of all the lists we keep, the most important isn't a to-do list but a list of what we're learning. Because you're not just doing things, you're becoming someone. Who? And what are you learning along the way? Listen in.

Links + Resources From This Episode:

• Pantsuit Politics end-of-month Instagram posts: July and August
• Annie B. Jone's August Instagram post
• Because I Love You by Kaitlin Walden
• In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen
• When the Soul Listens by Jan Johnson
• 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 episode

May this simple reading of Psalm 139 be a reflection you can return to as you discern your next right thing in love. 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 transcript

I've been meaning to do an episode like this for months now and the time has come. Whether you already have The Next Right Thing Guided Journal or if you didn't even know it existed, this episode will tell you everything you need to know about how to use it for your life, all in one place.

You don't have to wait until the end of the year to reflect on your life and this journal makes it easy to start today. I'll share tips and instruction as well as how I use this resource in my own life. Plus, I'll tell you what I wish was different about the journal. You can begin or jump back into this reflective practice and discern the life that wants to be lived in you today. 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 episode