Thank You Nonnie!

I’m officially declaring September as Gratitude Month in honor of Nonnie, my maternal grandmother Mabel Rebecca Harrison, who passed in 2005 and would have been 99 on September 1st.

She was an amazingly strong woman, mother, teacher, business owner and all-around renegade for her times.

She had a huge presence in and impact on my life and the lives of my six siblings.

She taught us to read when we were very young, encouraged us to use daily
affirmations--her favorite: “I am healthy, wealthy and wise”--nurtured us all through her amazing cooking, blazed the trail as single working mother/entrepreneur, constantly extolled the virtues of positive thinking –“if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” took us on trips that extended from the pyramids in Egypt to Big Ben in London, and taught us a lot about the power of gratitude.

My siblings and I often drove her crazy (picture a sweet but strong seventy-something Nonnie chasing four wild boys ranging in age from two to fifteen) and I know she thought my mom, her only child, was off her rocker to have had seven children! But, as the years passed—particularly after my mom’s sudden and unexpected death in 2000--we became her greatest joy and frequently made trips to visit her in Houston.

So my brothers and I will be gathering tomorrow evening to celebrate Nonnie and thank her for teaching us to remember the power of thanksgiving—as a way of life. (We were going to cook a grand southern style feast in honor of Nonnie, but my brilliant 7-year old reminded us: “Nonnie loved Luby’s.” So, good is good enough.)

And, in Nonnies’ honor, I invite you to spread the word (put Facebook to good use!) that September is officially Gratitude Month. What are you grateful for today?

AN INVITATION: Interested in reconnecting with who you are and feeling more grateful and joyful every day? Consider starting/joining one of our women's self-renewal circles, signing up for our FREE September 17th Global PRG Sampler Teleclass on Reconnecting with Who You Are or attending our life-changing October 2-4 Fall Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at The Crossings (early bird rate ends Aug. 31st).
Also, visit Live Inside Out and sign up to receive weekly tips on how to live more intentionally by becoming a fan on our Live Inside Out Facebook page.

The Journey, a blog about coach/author/entrepreneur Renee Trudeau’s personal journey to life balance and living life from the inside out, comes out weekly. For more information on Renee’s upcoming events, click here.

Photo: Circa 1975. Nonnie's only child, Juliana Harrison(my mom), with two of my younger brothers in our ranch-style home in San Antonio.

Find Your Center

When you're feeling unfocused and find yourself flitting from one thing to the next, what do you do to get grounded?

This is the question I have been asking a lot of clients, friends, organizations—and myself-- over the last month. We’re living in unusual times and unless you have the option of spending hours a day meditating alone in a monastery, you’ve probably experienced some of the collective chaos that is present in our world right now.

For me, one of the anchors that supports my ability to find my center and remember what’s really important is taking regular retreats.

Whether that’s one day each quarter to step back and get clear/focused on how I want to direct my energy or a 5-day spiritually intensive voyage to help me birth a new era in my life-- I am a huge believer in the power of retreating (read more on ideas for retreats).

Interestingly, I recently completed a beautiful vision map outlining how I intend to experience maximum ease and flow in my life this fall and at the top of the list was quarterly retreats and monthly mini-retreats (minimum of 8 hours) in my schedule.

There are other things I do that are essential to my experiencing equilibrium and well-being on a daily basis—meditation, movement, eating high energy foods, volunteering, time in nature, regular heartfelt connection with my family/friends—but I have found over the years that nothing pulls me out of myself, helps me remember who I really am or gives me inspiration, hope and clarity like taking a retreat.

If you’re in career or life transition or just craving a deeply soulful, nourishing and restorative retreat experience, I encourage you to consider joining me at my Oct. 2-4 Self-Renewal Retreat at The Crossings. (I’m so excited to be including special musical and movement segments with nationally known creative divas Sara Hickman and Dr. Deb Kern!). Or, if that’s not do-able, ask a friend who has a vacation property if you can rest and rejuvenate there for a day or two.

My primary focus at my retreats is not to just create an amazing weekend experience (which we do, read more), but to support the attendees in bringing self-care into their everyday life and experiencing how life-changing this gift can be.

It may seem like a luxury in our current times to take a break to invest in yourself, but my experience has been that when I slow down and learn to be more present, listen to my intuition and get back in touch with who I really am--the payoffs are huge.

AN INVITATION: Interested in learning how you can learn strategies and receive support for finding your center? Consider starting/joining one of our women's self-renewal circles, signing up for our FREE September 17th Global PRG Sampler Teleclass on Reconnecting with Who You Are or attending our life-changing October 2-4 Fall Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at The Crossings (early bird rate ends Aug. 31^st).

Also, visit Live Inside Out and sign up to receive weekly tips on how to live more intentionally by becoming a fan on our Live Inside Out Facebook page.

The Journey, a blog about coach/author/entrepreneur Renee Trudeau’s personal journey to life balance and living life from the inside out, comes out weekly. Subscribe here. For more information on Renee’s upcoming events, click here.

Photo: Renee Peterson Trudeau, north of Taos in north central New Mexico.

Balance from the Inside-Out

September has always been like the start of the New Year for me.

I have launched businesses, started new jobs, rolled out new business models, embarked on back-to-back speaking sprints and unveiled new creative endeavors around this time of year for as long as I can remember. (I have heard that the Native American New Year begins around this time—maybe my Cherokee roots are guiding me here.)

A few weeks ago during a one-day retreat, I did a visioning exercise focused on the next four months and how/where to direct my energy. During this time, I got a very clear message that this fall would be unlike any other. And, that some really exciting things would be unfolding for me in 2010, which would require a lot of inner and outer preparation during the last half of 2009.

I have learned the hard way that when I don’t listen to my intuition and ignore my body and soul’s natural rhythms (read more about this topic), everything becomes a struggle. And rather than ski effortlessly down the slopes of life, I feel like I’m trudging through mud up to my waist (sounds familiar, huh?).

As I write these words, I sense how far I’ve come to get to this place (it’s not easy to slow down when you have a hefty overhead, bills to pay, requests pounding at your door and “overachiever” tendencies). And, I acknowledge how much I’ve had to release and let go to get to this place of surrender. (And, that this journey is never-ending!)

But, balance, equilibrium, ease—whatever you call it—is of paramount importance to me. (Click here for some tips on how you can bring more peace into your day to day experience.)

And, I know that when the time comes to step on the gas, I’ll be ready, rested and clear-headed to respond to whatever gifts and adventures I am presented with next.

AN INVITATION: Interested in learning how you can create balance from the inside-out and receive the support you need to do so? Consider starting/joining one of our women's self-renewal circles, signing up for our FREE September 17th Global PRG Sampler Teleclass on Reconnecting with Who You Are or attending our life-changing October 2-4 Fall Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at The Crossings (early bird rate ends Aug. 31^st).

Also, visit Live Inside Out and sign up to receive weekly tips on how to live more intentionally by becoming a fan on our Live Inside Out Facebook page.

The Journey, a blog about coach/author/entrepreneur Renee Trudeau’s personal journey to life balance and living life from the inside out, comes out weekly. Subscribe here. For more information on Renee’s upcoming events, click here.

Photo: Renee Peterson Trudeau, Rio Grande Gorge in northern New Mexico. Breathtaking.

Choices

I often hear my coaching clients say they don’t have a choice. What they really mean is they’re not ready to make a hard choice—downsizing to a more affordable home, leaving a financially comfortable job, ending an unhealthy relationship, moving to another part of the country, taking a much needed sabbatical, changing their diet, living on a salary that is half of what they used to make, getting up early to exercise or meditate, etc. (Read my last post where I share about my struggle with this.)

It’s so easy to slip into the sleepy slumber where we think we’re at someone else’s mercy when it comes to how we set up our lives. But we’re not. We’re the masters (or at the least co-creators), not the slaves. And, our choices—big and small—impact our day to day experience of life.

I have many friends and colleagues around the nation who are making hard –and often uncomfortable choices--in order to support their larger life goals of more freedom, balance, simplicity, harmony, health, room for creative pursuits and time to be alone or with family.

The other night my husband I were sitting up late talking after our son went to bed. For us, like many, the year is unfolding differently than we had anticipated. Yet, our gratitude is growing for the choices we’ve made which support our values and allow us to:
*live in a home that is beautiful but modest and only needs one salary to cover the mortgage instead of two
*be five minutes from my new office which provides me more time to focus on the aspects of my business that really feed me
*live close to things that are integral to our quality of life: my yoga and dance studio, hiking trails, a farmer’s market, the Texas hill country, the Crossings
*be at our son’s school community in five minutes, which limits the time we all spend in the car each day
*spend more time together as a family playing music, dancing, being outdoors, talking (because the TV is off)
*enjoy relatively high energy levels, health and vibrancy due to the food we eat and things we do to feed our spirits and minds—not just our bodies
*live lives where we feel a deep sense of connection—to ourselves, our family members and our larger community

There is a story in the chapter on Managing Your Energy from The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal where my photography teacher challenged me in my twenties when I told him I was late to class because of my corporate job. “I had no choice,” I said. I really thought I didn’t. And now, I know I do.

AN INVITATION: Interested in reconnecting with who you are and getting support for the choices you need to make in your life? Check out our women's self-renewal circles, our FREE September 17th Global PRG Sampler Teleclass on Reconnecting with Who You Are, my upcoming The Empowered Entrepreneur Workshop on Aug. 28th in Austin, TX or our life-changing October 2-4 Fall Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at The Crossings.

Also, visit Live Inside Out and learn how you can live more intentionally (and become a fan on the Live Inside Out Facebook page).

The Journey, a blog about coach/author/entrepreneur Renee Trudeau’s personal journey to life balance and living life from the inside out, comes out weekly. Subscribe here. For more information on Renee’s upcoming events, click here.

Photo: Renee Peterson Trudeau, a field in the Berkshires in upstate MA. My choice: to pause and spend time in natural environments that feeds my body, mind and soul.