I'm Emily P. Freeman and welcome to The Next Right Thing. You're listening to

episode 335. This is a podcast about making decisions but also about making a life. If you struggle with decision fatigue, chronic hesitation, or if you just need a few minutes away from the constant stream of information, and the sometimes delightful but distracting hum of entertainment, you're in the right place for discerning your next right thing.

I'm an author, a spiritual director, and an occasional workshop leader.

I live in North Carolina with my family and through my work I've helped thousands of

spiritually thoughtful people overcome decision fatigue so that they can discern their next

right thing in faith work in life.

Today we'll continue the conversation about the role of silence in our spiritual life.

If you haven't listened to episode 334, the one right before this, I encourage you to do so as it sets the stage by acknowledging the multitude of narratives we're all carrying around about silence. So you can check that one out first. But today I look

forward to exploring the role silence or quietness could play in our lives. According to

surveys we've done here, I know the majority of you

listening come from the Christian tradition and so do I. So just know that

when I talk about some of these spiritual practices, I'm doing so from that point of view. I do hope, though, that even if you don't

share my faith, that perhaps you might still receive something from this conversation.

I know that when it comes to thinking about how to quiet your inner chatter

We all probably have a lot of different ideas about what could be helpful and I hope today's idea would be something that you would consider.

Listen in.

Raise your hand if you have a running dialogue in your mind at all times.

For some of us this inner chatter is super loud and really critical. For others it's more like a running list of to-do's, a constant hum of rehearsing past conversations

or practicing future scenarios and finishing right now tasks.

Whatever your inner chatter is,

whether it's mostly positive or mostly negative,

or even neutral,

...