The Next Right Thing

Doing the next right thing has been a life-line for me in parenting, schooling, work, relationships and all manner of decision-making. But these last few weeks navigating the rapidly changing situation in our world as we fight to slow the spread of Covid-19, doing the next right thing has taken on an entirely new level of meaning. As we move forward together I want to walk along with you as you navigate your next right thing - for yourself, in your families, with your friends, and as you carry so many question marks as it seems the world has shut down. Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Psalm 31:14-16 Get the ebook version of The Next Right Thing for free via Amazon Prime Grab a physical copy of The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

Today’s episode is for parents, caregivers, or anyone with children in your life who may need help with their next right thing. Though this episode was recorded just a few days ago, a lot has changed in the world since then as our global community continues to try to slow the spread of COVID-19. I only address the pandemic for a moment at the top of the episode and then continue with the regularly scheduled conversation about helping children navigate their own decision-making posture. Perhaps more than ever before this is a good time to talk with kids about keeping our minds on just the next right thing in front of us. Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Episode 94: Ask the Second Question Too Small to Ignore by Wess Stafford Families Where Grace is in Place  by Jeff VanVonderen Mark 10:15-16 Grab a copy of The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

Today’s episode is for anyone who has let something go and is now considering what it might look like to re-invite that thing back into your life in a new way. If you’ve been thinking about returning to something you left behind but aren’t sure where to start, listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Episode 11: Wear Better Pants My book Simply Tuesday - small moment living in a fast-moving world Zechariah 4:10 Grab a copy of The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

Weighing our options is important. But overthinking options and possibilities can keep us from actually making a decision. It's possible to be so distracted looking at the wall that we spend all our time there and we forget where we’re going and why we’re on the road in the first place. Here's a 10 minute reminder to keep your eyes on the road.  Links + Resources From This Episode: Learn more about hope*writers Learn more about Tsh Oxenreider and Literary London Episode 100: Tell Me About You (and I’ll Tell You About Me) Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

In our last episode, I talked about the HALT method and how using that can help when we have big decisions to make. In summary, try to avoid making big decisions when you’re hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. Instead, do the next right thing - eat, breathe, find a friend, or go to bed Today I've come up with another acronym to help us consider other states of being that could skew our ability to think clearly about decisions: FOGI (pronounced foggy - Are you annoyed with me yet? Hang in there!) Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Episode 115: Before You Decide, HALT Episode 21: Find a No Mentor Episode 80: Don't Take Offense Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

If you’re listening to this episode and you’re well-rested, well-fed, clear-headed, at peace, happy, even-tempered, and feeling basically great about life then this episode might not be for you today. For the rest of us? The halt method could save us from making decisions more complicated than they need to be simply by asking these four simple questions. Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Episode 114: Welcome Your Loneliness Episode 109: Wait Until The Morning Jean Yang's tweet from December 6th Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

In my letter to my readers last week I mentioned some loneliness I’ve been experiencing lately and a reader wrote back and asked me to share more about that. My first response in my head was a sharp no way but then my second thought was maybe. And the ellipses that follow that maybe? Is today’s episode. When we’re feeling lonely, what’s our next right thing? I can’t say I really have answers to that question, but I do have words and I do have stories and sometimes when you’re feeling lonely, words and stories land better than answers anyway. Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Episode 113: Decide to Decide Matthew 11 Sign up to receive my monthly letter Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

As I pay attention to my own life and the life of people around me, I’ve come to the conclusion that we can trace a lot of our anxiety, stress, and feelings of overwhelm back to a single or a series of unmade decisions. It’s not always because we are putting those decisions off. Sometimes It’s because we don’t even realize we’re carrying them. Today’s episode is a simple practice in uncovering decisions that need to be made and doing the next right thing to make them. Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing  What Now? by Ann Patchett Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

A lot of what we talk about here isn’t necessarily about the specific decision you’re holding like which job to say yes to or whether or not you ought to marry that person. Instead, we talk a lot about mindset, posture, and cultivating a listening way of life so that when tough decisions come our way, we’re better equipped to move through them. Today I’ll share two words we can eliminate from our vocabulary, especially when we’re talking about our roles, our work, or the roles and work of others. Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: A Million Little Ways The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

We all want to make our choices with wisdom, courage, and discernment. Today we come back home to one of the most foundational truths I hold on to when making decisions. On the surface it may not sound like it has to do with decision making at all. But these six words from Dallas Willard have changed the way I make decisions. Links + Resources From This Episode: You can find all of Dallas Willard's books here Psalm 23 My book, The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript  

Since adults make over 35,000 decisions every single day, it’s no wonder that this idea of doing the next right thing feels like such a relief. But there are also times when doing the next right thing doesn’t seem like enough. Maybe you’ve been practicing this simple discipline for a while now and still, it’s not leading to where you thought it would lead or bringing results you hoped to see by now. If you can relate, listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Hope*Writers is accepting new members through Friday, January 17th Start here if you want to take the Hope*Writers quiz My book, The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

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. Links + Resources From This Episode: 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 Download Transcript

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. Links + Resources From This Episode: Discern + Decide, my online self-paced course Sign up to receive my monthly letters The Next Right Thing by me Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

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 c

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. Links + Resources From This Episode: 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 Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

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. Links + Resources From This Episode: 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 Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

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. Links + Resources From This Episode: 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 Download Transcript

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. Links + Resources From This Episode: Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp Episode 16: Walk Slow and Carry Questions Grab a copy of my book, The Next Right Thing Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

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. Links + Resources From This Episode: 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 Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

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. Links + Resources From This Episode: 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 Download Transcript