December 29, 2025 • 16 mins
Are you caught in an endless mental loop over a decision you can’t seem to solve?
As the year winds down, many of us feel pressure to figure out what’s next — yet instead of clarity, we feel restless, exhausted, and stuck in overthinking. When uncertainty meets fatigue, our nervous system can shift into alarm mode, making even small decisions feel overwhelming.
In today’s episode, Bonnie shares a personal story about decision paralysis, sleep disruption, and the moment she realized peace wouldn’t come from thinking harder — but from asking different questions.
This episode will help you step out of mental overload and into a gentler way forward.🌿
Key Takeaways
💛 Why uncertainty triggers overthinking — especially when you’re tired or stressed
🌿 How sleep loss and nervous system activation create mental “loops”
🧠 Why you can’t think your way out of anxiety — but you can soothe your body
✨ A simple soul care practice to help you step out of your head and into rest
🌿 Breath Prayer
Inhale: As the rain and snow come down from heaven
Exhale: Your Word will not return empty
📖 Scripture
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth…
so is My word that goes out from My mouth:
it will not return to Me empty.” Isaiah 55:10–11
💗 ✅ → Take the FREE Soul Care Quiz at soulcarequiz.com
Get your personal wellness assessment and learn which area of soul care you need most.
🛍️ → Eucalyptus Shower Steamers for instant calm at Bonnie's Soul Care Store
Connect with Bonnie:
💌 Join the Soul Care Newsletter:
https://thebonniegray.com/subscribe
🎥 Watch Weekly YouTube Devotionals:
https://youtube.com/thebonniegray
📚 Bestselling Books by Bonnie:
https://amzn.to/3NpVYQd
Follow Bonnie on Instagram & Facebook:
@thebonniegray
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Life Audio.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hi friend, welcome to Breathe the stress Less Podcast. I'm
Bonnie Gray, your sole care guide for this time, designed
just for you to rest and refresh your soul. You're
going to pick up a practical soul care tip to
help you restore calm to your emotions and your body,
(00:40):
based on science and inspired by scripture, and you'll pick
up a loving word of affirmation from God's word. Well,
I am a soul care mentor. I'm the founder of
Soul Care School, and I'm the best selling author of
Breathe twenty one Day, Too Stressless and Transform Chaos to Calm.
(01:05):
I am so happy that I can spend the holidays
with you week by week as we move through December
and now we are looking to turn the page on
a new year. And I want to ask you today
where do you feel God is writing your next chapter?
Do you have any decisions to make, maybe a new
(01:28):
path you want to take, or maybe you're at crossroads.
It's a wonderful time to just open our hearts and
see where God may be guiding us. But here's the thing.
Maybe you're sensing change is ahead, but instead of clarity,
your mind keeps looping and instead of feeling peaceful. There's
(01:50):
this nice time in between until the new year. But
instead of feeling peace, you feel restless. Even though life
is full of good moments, but your body may not
be feeling well. You may be feeling anxious. Well, I
want you to know you're not alone. That sounds familiar.
You're not alone. And today I'm going to share a
(02:11):
personal moment with you when this happened to me this
past week, How a decision I couldn't solve send my
mind into overdrive, and what helps me to step out
of that mental loop. I'm also going to share wide
decision paralysis keeps your mind stuck in overthinking what actually
(02:32):
happens in our nervous system. But praise God, we have
a simple slow care practice that will help you step
out of overthinking and back into place of rest and peace,
so we can step into the new year with hope
and energy and renewed peace. If you're feeling like I said,
(02:54):
mentally tired, uncertain, or worn down, I want you to
know that I have a wonderful tool for you, and
it's free. It's called the Free Soul Care Quiz. It's
a simple way to notice where you may be carrying
stress the most. And there's four different areas of wellness
(03:14):
and it's great, especially at the end of the year.
You can kind of get this free assessment. You take
this quiz. I created it based on four areas of
wellness to see which area you need most care. Is
it emotional wellness, spiritual wellness, physical wellness or social wellness.
These are four areas I myself had to walk through
(03:38):
so that I can renew my wellness. And when you
find out what the most need area is, that can
really help simplify it because we can easily get overwhelmed,
we don't feel well, we feel everything's going wrong. But
if we just can see, hey, this is my greatest
area of need, it just helps calm just one area,
(03:58):
one step. So you could take this quiz at solcarequiz
dot com. Just go to soulcarequiz dot com and you
can get this free wellness assessment. And when we come
right back, we will breathe in our beautiful scripture for
the week. I want to offer this beautiful verse that
(04:31):
is really grounding for all of us as we walk
beside our loving Savior. It's from Isaiah fifty five ten
to eleven. As the rain and the snow come down
from heaven, and do not return to it without watering
the earth. So is my word that goes out from
(04:53):
my mouth, It will not return to me empty. This
is scripture for our breath prayer today. Just relax your shoulders,
breathe in, as a rain and snow come down from heaven,
breathe out. Your word will not return empty. Dear friend,
(05:18):
this is beautiful wherever you're at. Perhaps this rain falling
or maybe snowfalling. What a wonderful way to remember that
God's living word to you will never return empty. It'll
nourish your soul. So just begin to think what is
the word God is placing on your heart? Well, last
(05:41):
week I was sharing in our last episode how my
mind has been looping around a big decision, and I
thought that once everyone was home. My oldest son Josh
came home from college, and Caleb finished with his finals
in high school. My husband finally took some time off work,
the house was filled with Christmas joy. I thought my
(06:04):
mind would finally quiet, and in many ways it did.
We played board games, we built gingerbread houses, we watched
our favorite holiday movies. But when the house was quiet
at night, when the lights were off. Sleep wouldn't come,
even on good days, even on full days. Now I
(06:27):
tried to read The Count of Monte Cristo at bedtime.
I was thinking, a long novel will surely do the trick. Instead,
I found myself wide awake, caught in the story, turning pages,
but still restless. Then something unexpected happened. While I was
(06:48):
shopping at Costco, I spotted a box set of C. S. Lewis'
signature classics. It had eight books in a set, and
I bought it for my boys. USh when he saw it,
he said, I'm picking up Mere Christianity. He wants to
read that one. A friend of his in college read
it and he heard about it. He's like, I want
to read that one. Then Caleb grabbed the screw Tape Letters.
(07:14):
This is a book about fictional letters written from a
senior demon training a junior demon in the art of temptation.
And Caleb, oh my goodness, he devoured it in just
a few days. So I thought, hey, I should read
it too, before Josh finishes Mere Christianity. And he grabs
the screw Tape Letters. So I took that book to
(07:36):
bed and something shifted. Each chapter was short, and I
love letters. I love writing letters, and I thought, oh,
my goodness, is so interesting. I love the storytelling, is
very rich, very thoughtful. I had read it very slowly,
and I pondered, and after just two chapters, I felt peaceful,
(08:01):
I prayed, and I fell asleep. Friends, there's one line.
I love this quote. It stayed with me. This is
again from C. S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters. Gratitude looks
to the past and love to the present. Fear and
ambition look ahead. Oh wow, that really stuck with me.
(08:27):
I'm going to read it again. Gratitude looks to the past,
Love looks to the present, fear and ambition look ahead.
Oh my goodness, I realized something. That was my AHA moment.
I have been trying to solve things that aren't solvable
yet because I'm looking towards the future at uncertainty. But
(08:51):
what I could know was this love love speaks to
the present. So I asked myself a new set of questions.
I want to offer these questions for you to consider. Also,
which path would help me rest more, which direction would
help me experience God's love more? And three, which choice
(09:17):
would grow my faith even without certainty. And now I
have a whole new conversation with God and it's really
bringing me more peace. So, friend, I want to offer
those questions to you. If you are standing at crossroads,
there's decisions you need to make and you've just found
(09:38):
your mind looping. These three will bring you peace closer
to God's love in the present. Which path would help
you rest more, Which direction would help you experience God's
love more? And which choice would grow your faith even
(10:01):
in uncertainty. I think these are wonderful soul care questions
that can guide and open a new conversation, and it
would break the loop of right or wrong, bad or good.
Those are fear based, so friend, not every decision offers clarity, right.
(10:22):
That's why we have faith. We want to walk by faith,
and some decisions only offer formation. It helps us to
grow through experience. God doesn't always lead us with uncertainty, right,
otherwise we wouldn't need faith. But God always leads us
with his presence, his love. So if his word is
(10:44):
watering the soul of your life, you don't have to
pull on the seed to make it grow. You want
to keep watering the soil of your heart with God's
one word. Remember we talked about making space like Mary
did in previous episode, that God would write his story
in you and day by day his love will guide
(11:08):
you through. Now, when we come back after our short break,
I'm going to share the science behind how we can
lower the stressor of uncertainty and when we're in that
decision paralysis. So we'll be right back. So, friend, here's
(11:36):
what's happening in our bodies, especially as we're looking at
the year end, reflecting reflections sometimes triggers decision fatigue because
we're trying to ascertain the future, the uncertainty and when
we're tired, especially after the holidays, right, we're a lot
of times tired. The brain scans for certainty, but uncertainty
(11:59):
will keep our nervous system on alert like hyper vigilant.
Research shows that novel but calming experiences, especially ones that
engage our senses, they help us settle the nervous system
and restore our perspective. That's why certain things like certain
books or music, prayer rhythms, or creative practices, they can
(12:23):
bring us peace, not because they solve the problem, but
because they help return us to the present. Rest will
help us, restore our ability to take a different look
at things. So rest is so important. What are some
of the things that help you to find rest, to
(12:46):
help you feel God's love and care right where you're at.
That leads me to this week's sole care practice. It's
my favorite. I've been doing it every year since I
was seventeen years old, so we're talking decades after Christmas.
I always listen for a one word for the new year. Now,
(13:07):
one word is not a plan. One word is not
a solution to whatever we can't decide. It's just one word.
God give me one word. So I want you to
listen for one word He wants to give you as
you step into the new year. Now, this one word
does not have to solve the problems of the new year.
But it's just one word. God's putting it in your
(13:28):
heart right now as you step into the new year.
So this week, instead of asking God for answers, try
asking God for one word that's based on our breath
prayer today in Isaiah right that God's word never returns empty.
So as for one word that reflects how God's inviting
you to live, how He's inviting you to shape your rhythms.
(13:53):
How he's one word helping you rest, one word that
will help you experience his love. So you see, you're
focusing orienting, asking for one word about rest, about God's
love and how he want to shape your rhythms, not
one word to solve our problems. Psychologists call this the
(14:15):
fresh start effect. It anchors change to meaningful moments in time,
and it will reduce overwhelm and increase clarity. So write
your one word down and you can just soak it in,
let it guide your attention, just return to it. It's
not pressure, just again imagining that rain and that snow.
(14:38):
What is that one word?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Whisper?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And now I'm going to be sharing about new rhythms
in the coming year that God's inviting me into as
the new year, So I myself will be going into
this reflection time and sharing with you in the new year. Well, friend,
let's pray Jesus thank you that your word is already
at work, watering our lives with grace when we don't
(15:03):
know the way forward. Teach us to choose rest over
certainty and trust over fear. Buy at our hearts, guide
our steps, and help us follow you one faithful breath
at a time. Amen, well friend, If this episode touch
(15:25):
something in you, is there friend you can encourage share
this episode with her. And if you're feeling tired, uncertain,
or longing for rest and not sure where to start,
I want you to take my free soul care quiz.
It's a gentle way to just pause and ask what
does my soul truly need right now? This quiz will
help you to identify the kind of stress you may
(15:48):
be carrying, the soul care rhythm that fits this season,
and the next small step God may be inviting you
to take. You could take this quiz at solcarequiz dot com.
Just go to soulcare quiz dot com and you can
get this free wellness assessment. So remember, you're loved and
(16:08):
you're cherished. Just rust and I'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Breathe.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
The stress Less podcast is a production of Life Audio
and Salem Media. If you liked what you heard today,
please take a second to rate and review this podcast
in your favorite podcast app so that more listeners like
you can find the show. For more faith filled inspirational podcasts,
visit us at lifeaudio dot com.
Life Audio.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hi friend, welcome to Breathe the stress Less Podcast. I'm
Bonnie Gray, your sole care guide for this time, designed
just for you to rest and refresh your soul. You're
going to pick up a practical soul care tip to
help you restore calm to your emotions and your body,
(00:40):
based on science and inspired by scripture, and you'll pick
up a loving word of affirmation from God's word. Well,
I am a soul care mentor. I'm the founder of
Soul Care School, and I'm the best selling author of
Breathe twenty one Day, Too Stressless and Transform Chaos to Calm.
(01:05):
I am so happy that I can spend the holidays
with you week by week as we move through December
and now we are looking to turn the page on
a new year. And I want to ask you today
where do you feel God is writing your next chapter?
Do you have any decisions to make, maybe a new
(01:28):
path you want to take, or maybe you're at crossroads.
It's a wonderful time to just open our hearts and
see where God may be guiding us. But here's the thing.
Maybe you're sensing change is ahead, but instead of clarity,
your mind keeps looping and instead of feeling peaceful. There's
(01:50):
this nice time in between until the new year. But
instead of feeling peace, you feel restless. Even though life
is full of good moments, but your body may not
be feeling well. You may be feeling anxious. Well, I
want you to know you're not alone. That sounds familiar.
You're not alone. And today I'm going to share a
(02:11):
personal moment with you when this happened to me this
past week, How a decision I couldn't solve send my
mind into overdrive, and what helps me to step out
of that mental loop. I'm also going to share wide
decision paralysis keeps your mind stuck in overthinking what actually
(02:32):
happens in our nervous system. But praise God, we have
a simple slow care practice that will help you step
out of overthinking and back into place of rest and peace,
so we can step into the new year with hope
and energy and renewed peace. If you're feeling like I said,
(02:54):
mentally tired, uncertain, or worn down, I want you to
know that I have a wonderful tool for you, and
it's free. It's called the Free Soul Care Quiz. It's
a simple way to notice where you may be carrying
stress the most. And there's four different areas of wellness
(03:14):
and it's great, especially at the end of the year.
You can kind of get this free assessment. You take
this quiz. I created it based on four areas of
wellness to see which area you need most care. Is
it emotional wellness, spiritual wellness, physical wellness or social wellness.
These are four areas I myself had to walk through
(03:38):
so that I can renew my wellness. And when you
find out what the most need area is, that can
really help simplify it because we can easily get overwhelmed,
we don't feel well, we feel everything's going wrong. But
if we just can see, hey, this is my greatest
area of need, it just helps calm just one area,
(03:58):
one step. So you could take this quiz at solcarequiz
dot com. Just go to soulcarequiz dot com and you
can get this free wellness assessment. And when we come
right back, we will breathe in our beautiful scripture for
the week. I want to offer this beautiful verse that
(04:31):
is really grounding for all of us as we walk
beside our loving Savior. It's from Isaiah fifty five ten
to eleven. As the rain and the snow come down
from heaven, and do not return to it without watering
the earth. So is my word that goes out from
(04:53):
my mouth, It will not return to me empty. This
is scripture for our breath prayer today. Just relax your shoulders,
breathe in, as a rain and snow come down from heaven,
breathe out. Your word will not return empty. Dear friend,
(05:18):
this is beautiful wherever you're at. Perhaps this rain falling
or maybe snowfalling. What a wonderful way to remember that
God's living word to you will never return empty. It'll
nourish your soul. So just begin to think what is
the word God is placing on your heart? Well, last
(05:41):
week I was sharing in our last episode how my
mind has been looping around a big decision, and I
thought that once everyone was home. My oldest son Josh
came home from college, and Caleb finished with his finals
in high school. My husband finally took some time off work,
the house was filled with Christmas joy. I thought my
(06:04):
mind would finally quiet, and in many ways it did.
We played board games, we built gingerbread houses, we watched
our favorite holiday movies. But when the house was quiet
at night, when the lights were off. Sleep wouldn't come,
even on good days, even on full days. Now I
(06:27):
tried to read The Count of Monte Cristo at bedtime.
I was thinking, a long novel will surely do the trick. Instead,
I found myself wide awake, caught in the story, turning pages,
but still restless. Then something unexpected happened. While I was
(06:48):
shopping at Costco, I spotted a box set of C. S. Lewis'
signature classics. It had eight books in a set, and
I bought it for my boys. USh when he saw it,
he said, I'm picking up Mere Christianity. He wants to
read that one. A friend of his in college read
it and he heard about it. He's like, I want
to read that one. Then Caleb grabbed the screw Tape Letters.
(07:14):
This is a book about fictional letters written from a
senior demon training a junior demon in the art of temptation.
And Caleb, oh my goodness, he devoured it in just
a few days. So I thought, hey, I should read
it too, before Josh finishes Mere Christianity. And he grabs
the screw Tape Letters. So I took that book to
(07:36):
bed and something shifted. Each chapter was short, and I
love letters. I love writing letters, and I thought, oh,
my goodness, is so interesting. I love the storytelling, is
very rich, very thoughtful. I had read it very slowly,
and I pondered, and after just two chapters, I felt peaceful,
(08:01):
I prayed, and I fell asleep. Friends, there's one line.
I love this quote. It stayed with me. This is
again from C. S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters. Gratitude looks
to the past and love to the present. Fear and
ambition look ahead. Oh wow, that really stuck with me.
(08:27):
I'm going to read it again. Gratitude looks to the past,
Love looks to the present, fear and ambition look ahead.
Oh my goodness, I realized something. That was my AHA moment.
I have been trying to solve things that aren't solvable
yet because I'm looking towards the future at uncertainty. But
(08:51):
what I could know was this love love speaks to
the present. So I asked myself a new set of questions.
I want to offer these questions for you to consider. Also,
which path would help me rest more, which direction would
help me experience God's love more? And three, which choice
(09:17):
would grow my faith even without certainty. And now I
have a whole new conversation with God and it's really
bringing me more peace. So, friend, I want to offer
those questions to you. If you are standing at crossroads,
there's decisions you need to make and you've just found
(09:38):
your mind looping. These three will bring you peace closer
to God's love in the present. Which path would help
you rest more, Which direction would help you experience God's
love more? And which choice would grow your faith even
(10:01):
in uncertainty. I think these are wonderful soul care questions
that can guide and open a new conversation, and it
would break the loop of right or wrong, bad or good.
Those are fear based, so friend, not every decision offers clarity, right.
(10:22):
That's why we have faith. We want to walk by faith,
and some decisions only offer formation. It helps us to
grow through experience. God doesn't always lead us with uncertainty, right,
otherwise we wouldn't need faith. But God always leads us
with his presence, his love. So if his word is
(10:44):
watering the soul of your life, you don't have to
pull on the seed to make it grow. You want
to keep watering the soil of your heart with God's
one word. Remember we talked about making space like Mary
did in previous episode, that God would write his story
in you and day by day his love will guide
(11:08):
you through. Now, when we come back after our short break,
I'm going to share the science behind how we can
lower the stressor of uncertainty and when we're in that
decision paralysis. So we'll be right back. So, friend, here's
(11:36):
what's happening in our bodies, especially as we're looking at
the year end, reflecting reflections sometimes triggers decision fatigue because
we're trying to ascertain the future, the uncertainty and when
we're tired, especially after the holidays, right, we're a lot
of times tired. The brain scans for certainty, but uncertainty
(11:59):
will keep our nervous system on alert like hyper vigilant.
Research shows that novel but calming experiences, especially ones that
engage our senses, they help us settle the nervous system
and restore our perspective. That's why certain things like certain
books or music, prayer rhythms, or creative practices, they can
(12:23):
bring us peace, not because they solve the problem, but
because they help return us to the present. Rest will
help us, restore our ability to take a different look
at things. So rest is so important. What are some
of the things that help you to find rest, to
(12:46):
help you feel God's love and care right where you're at.
That leads me to this week's sole care practice. It's
my favorite. I've been doing it every year since I
was seventeen years old, so we're talking decades after Christmas.
I always listen for a one word for the new year. Now,
(13:07):
one word is not a plan. One word is not
a solution to whatever we can't decide. It's just one word.
God give me one word. So I want you to
listen for one word He wants to give you as
you step into the new year. Now, this one word
does not have to solve the problems of the new year.
But it's just one word. God's putting it in your
(13:28):
heart right now as you step into the new year.
So this week, instead of asking God for answers, try
asking God for one word that's based on our breath
prayer today in Isaiah right that God's word never returns empty.
So as for one word that reflects how God's inviting
you to live, how He's inviting you to shape your rhythms.
(13:53):
How he's one word helping you rest, one word that
will help you experience his love. So you see, you're
focusing orienting, asking for one word about rest, about God's
love and how he want to shape your rhythms, not
one word to solve our problems. Psychologists call this the
(14:15):
fresh start effect. It anchors change to meaningful moments in time,
and it will reduce overwhelm and increase clarity. So write
your one word down and you can just soak it in,
let it guide your attention, just return to it. It's
not pressure, just again imagining that rain and that snow.
(14:38):
What is that one word?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Whisper?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And now I'm going to be sharing about new rhythms
in the coming year that God's inviting me into as
the new year, So I myself will be going into
this reflection time and sharing with you in the new year. Well, friend,
let's pray Jesus thank you that your word is already
at work, watering our lives with grace when we don't
(15:03):
know the way forward. Teach us to choose rest over
certainty and trust over fear. Buy at our hearts, guide
our steps, and help us follow you one faithful breath
at a time. Amen, well friend, If this episode touch
(15:25):
something in you, is there friend you can encourage share
this episode with her. And if you're feeling tired, uncertain,
or longing for rest and not sure where to start,
I want you to take my free soul care quiz.
It's a gentle way to just pause and ask what
does my soul truly need right now? This quiz will
help you to identify the kind of stress you may
(15:48):
be carrying, the soul care rhythm that fits this season,
and the next small step God may be inviting you
to take. You could take this quiz at solcarequiz dot com.
Just go to soulcare quiz dot com and you can
get this free wellness assessment. So remember, you're loved and
(16:08):
you're cherished. Just rust and I'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Breathe.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
The stress Less podcast is a production of Life Audio
and Salem Media. If you liked what you heard today,
please take a second to rate and review this podcast
in your favorite podcast app so that more listeners like
you can find the show. For more faith filled inspirational podcasts,
visit us at lifeaudio dot com.
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