'The Next Right Thing' * Session #1

'Reading is an immense gift, 
but only if the words are assimilated, taken into the soul,
 eaten, chewed, gnawed, received in unhurried delight.'
- Eugene Peterson -


Welcome to Session #1 of our Sunday Evening Book Club!  For the next four weeks, we're going to be talking about Emily Freeman's The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions.

We'll discuss two chapters of the book each week.  These are the podcast episodes that I remember most vividly, the conversations that personally touched my heart ... and the life-altering questions that continue to resonate months later.  

It's not too late to grab your Kindle edition for $9.99 or your hardcover copy for $11.39Your library system might have a copy at one of their locations.  Or you can hear the original podcasts and read the transcripts from which the book was born.

I'll simply share several quotes and let them speak for themselves.  And then invite you to speak for yourself in the comment section.  I can't wait to interact back and forth with you over this meaningful book.  

And the good news is that, no, you don't have to read the book to join right on in!

Email readers - I give you an easy-peasy step-by-step participation guide at the bottom of the post.  

Here we go ...

Chapter 7
Ask This Question Before Every Hard Decision

'When my first book came out and speaking opportunities started to roll in, I said yes more than I wanted to because I was afraid of missing out on something.  I also said no a few times because I was afraid I couldn't pull it off.  Fear works both ways, keeping you from doing things you might want to do and convincing you that you have to do things you don't want to do.'

*

'When it comes to hard decisions, I no longer wait two weeks to ask this question.  I ask it at the first sign of hesitation.  Am I being led by love or pushed by fear?  The answer to that question isn't always clear, but I continue to carry it with me into every difficult decision.  

It's one thing to live through something hard ... it's another thing altogether to create a storm in our head and then make our decisions based on a possible scenario that hasn't even happened.  That would be like naming the whole story as doomed before it had even begun.  We can't prevent storms from coming, but we can decide not to invent our own.'  


Chapter 9
Make the Most Important List
{the original podcast and transcript is here}

'When we stand at the finish line of one season and the starting edge of the next, what we normally do is race into the next season without considering the one we just moved through.  That's understandable, but it could also be costing us something, and we may not realize it until we approach that same season a year from now.

Take a few minutes to create a Life Energy List for the season you just experienced by intentionally looking back and asking yourself two questions:  What was life-draining?  What was life-giving?'

*

'What is life-giving?  Your current life will give you hints; it always does.  Your body gives hints.  Your mood gives you hints.  Your family gives you hints.  I never have to think twice or wonder.  I always know as soon as I name them.  You will too.

This is a practice in collecting the clues from your life and getting them down on paper so that when opportunities, commitments, and requests come your way in the future, you will be able to consider them with information from your actual life rather than frantic speculation and last-minute pro / con lists.'

*

Ok, friends.  Let the party begin ...

➔  EMAIL READERS, PLEASE JOIN IN!  
-  Click on the post title at the top of the email  
-  Scroll down to the comment section
-  Leave your thoughts in the box where it says enter your comment...
-  Fill out your name where it says comment as:
-  If you have a website, put it in where it says URL.  If you don't have a website, leave the URL blank.
-  Hit the blue publish button.  Your comment will appear after I make sure it's not spam.

Linda

P.S.
Next week?  
Chapter 12
Be Where You Are 

&

Chapter 14 
Stop Collecting Gurus


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