Back in Episode 70 we talked about The Best Time to Make A Decision. Spoiler Alert: Being a good decision-maker has less to do with having a certain kind of magically decisive personality and more to do with timing.

In today's episode, I'll share one simple practice that has helped me this very week to make better decisions for my own life. Listen in.

• Bonus: For Anyone Longing for Home
• Episode 108: Walk at Your Own Pace
• Episode 70: The Best Time To Make a Decision
• I share my morning routine in Episode 76: Create a Simple Morning Routine
• Leeana Tankersley on decision making
• Review The Next Right Thing on Apple Podcasts
• The Next Right Thing book
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
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Because I talk a lot about reflection and intention regularly throughout the year, when December/January come around and everyone else talks about it too, I find myself leaning forward to hear what they have to say.

So here on the last day of the month, the last day of the year and the final day of the decade, I'm asking myself as I share these words with you: do I have anything to add? I've decided that I do. It's a simple observation that I hope will encourage you to walk at your own pace in freedom.

If you want a little no-shame companionship as you stand between the year you've just lived and the one you're entering into, listen in.

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Today's episode is a bit different than our usual format so I'm offering a brief introduction to welcome you to it and give a bit of background.

Every year my church here in Greensboro creates one of my favorite offerings called Lessons and Carols. It's a service of music, both original compositions and familiar favorites, as well as a collection of readings from scripture that tell the story of Jesus, this year it was told through the lens of home, both the one we have here and the one we continue to long for.

Advent is a season of waiting and this night of lessons and carols is a time to remember how God's people waited many years for the Messiah, how he chose to make his home among us, and how we wait still for him to come again.

This year, my friend and pastor Michael Van Patter asked if I would be willing to write a short piece to end the night, a reflection to close our time together. It was an honor, as a writer, to hold space for this idea of home, to listen for the ways my own longing mixes with my current reality and how joy and sorrow coexist for all of us. That can be especially true at Christmas.

I wish I had the rights to broadcast the entire night right here on the podcast so you could hear how the creative image of God is so beautifully reflected in the music of some of my dearest friends at Hope Chapel. That would be my first choice.

Instead, I'll settle for my second choice which is to simply share with you that piece I wrote to close Lessons and Carols service.

Whether you're surrounded today by friends and family who know you well or if you find yourself in an unknown place this Christmas, I hope these words will bring a bit of comfort and clarity as you continue to honor the tension you may feel between being where you are and longing for a home you miss.

And Merry Christmas to you.

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Today I'm sharing some trusted books I've turned to multiple times over the years. If you've been listening for any amount of time, these recommendations probably won't surprise you. But it seemed fitting to have them all in one place and dedicate at least one episode to some of the books I've turned to over the years that have helped to shape my own decision making process, path, and posture. Listen in.

• Hearing God by Dallas Willard
• Invitation to Retreat: The Gift and Necessity of Time Away with God by Ruth Haley Barton
• Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer
• You Learn by Living: 11 Keys For a More Fulfilling Life by Eleanor Roosevelt
• The Listening Life by Adam S. McHugh
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
• The Next Right Thing by me
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Spoiler Alert! Today's episode will have spoilers about Disney's new animated film Frozen 2. Months before the movie released previews of some of the songs were made available and one of those songs was called The Next Right Thing.

As the host of The Next Right Thing podcast and the author of the book, many have wondered what I think about Disney publishing a song with the same title as my own work. Well today I'll share my response to that question and more; like what we can we learn from an animated princess about love and sorrow? And where did the songwriters find their inspiration for The Next Right Thing? Listen in.

• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• My book A Million Little Ways
• LA Time's story on Frozen 2 and the song The Next Right Thing
• The Quiet Collection for Christmas
• Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing
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Is there a way to enter this season thoughtfully with our whole hearts? How can we manage the holiday decision fatigue that seems inevitable? Is there a way to remain centered even in the midst of lots of activity? If you've had these questions too, listen in.

Plus: The Quiet Collection for Christmas is available starting today! Visit emilypfreeman.com/christmas to learn more.

• 5 Books for Advent Reading
• The Quiet Collection for Christmas
• Episode 90: Start With This Simple Rhythm
• To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue
• Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
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For those of us in the US, this is Thanksgiving week which for many may mean a shorter workweek, a few days off school, lots of travel and/or preparation for the arrival of friends and family.

Whether this holiday comes as a welcome pause or an unwelcome interruption, or if you're listening during a regular week with regular routines, I hope these few minutes we have together can be for you like a deep breath and a kind friend.

This week I'm carrying a question with me: In what ways has my experience at the table ministered the gospel to me? How can I participate in sacred table moments in the midst of everyday life? Can our time around the table really change the way I see myself, my family, my decisions, and the world around me?

Listen in.

• Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist
• The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp
• Episode 16: Walk Slow and Carry Questions
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Sometimes decision-making is a straightforward choice between two things. Those things may be both great things, both not great things, or one is greater than the other but the choice is nuanced and not as simple as it seems it should be.

But then there are other times where choices are clouded by the personality and demeanor of other people, where this one thing looks great on the surface but you know this situation isn't so simple and you wonder how to move forward in a situation that is clouded by interpersonal conflict or relational tension.

If you can relate, listen in.

• Tom Junod for The Atlantic: Mister Rogers's Enduring Wisdom
• Mister Rogers's Lifetime Achievement Award speech
• Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing
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If your concerns, decisions and complicated problems feel like they need an extra complicated solution, I hope you'll listen in and find some relief.

• Share your thoughts about The Next Right Thing podcast in our first-ever listener survey (closes November 15!)
• Episode 101: Read Your Own Headlines
• Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
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In the midst of what might be a busy schedule, a life transition, a big decision, or the constant demands of everyday life, it can be easy to lose the thread of the story our lives are telling. That may not seem like it matters . . . until it does. And that's what today's episode is all about. Listen in.

• Whistling in the Dark by Frederick Buechner
• Episode 4: Record What You Learn
• Episode 92: Point and Call
• Read more about how Ann Voskamp changed her life using a gratitude list
• Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing
• Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
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