Thursday, September 17, 2009

What's Your Mantra?

A couple of week ago I was coaching two entrepreneurs in my office, one after the other, around issues related to owning their power, growing their business and experiencing more balance in their lives. (I do very little one-on-one coaching now since I have a fabulous team in place to serve our clients and I am traveling a lot more for speaking/workshops. So, it feels like a rare privilege when I do get this opportunity.)

One client, a 42-year old leadership consultant, believed that “If I just work really hard and prove my worth, everything will be ok.” The other, a highly successful 38-year old writer, operated from the place that “Life is hard and sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll get a break.”

We all have a mind-set or “mantra” (a commonly repeated word or phrase) about life that we recycle over and over in our heads, whether we’re conscious of this or not.

What I find fascinating right now—in these very interesting, potentially stressful times—is that our mantras about life are having a huge impact on our perspective around the economic downturn.

I have many mantras—we all do—but one that continually pops to the surface time and time again is “Everything always works out for the best.”

Even though many of my clients and friends—and my businesses as well—are experiencing repercussions from the recession, in the long run, I think this time will be seen as a gift. A wonderful opportunity to pause, get clear on what’s really important and possibly, make some hard life choices and course-corrections.

Mantra in Sanskrit—the language of classical Hinduism--means a sacred utterance.

When I think about how much our internal language impacts our outward experience, I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to make sure my mantra is supporting--not dis-empowering me.

And, it inspires me to want to dig a little bit and ask my close friends and family what sacred utterance permeates their thoughts and world view.

I’d love to hear your life mantra, or your perspective on the current economic scenario. If you’re willing, share it here our Live Inside Out Facebook page.

P.S. I’d love to connect! If you’re free tonight from 7-8 p.m. CST, join us for our Free Personal Renewal Group class via telephone on Reconnecting with Who You Are. For women at all life stages; details below.

AN INVITATION: Interested in learning how you can experience more loving kindness towards yourself and tap into the power of self-care? 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.

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: Renee Peterson Trudeau. St. Frances of Assisi Church, Ranchos de Taos, built in 1815.

2 comments:

Jodi / Joy Discovered said...

My mantra is "Always be learning / Always be growing." This has propelled me forward in every situation I've encountered. Learning feels like home now. And there is nothing better than coming out the other side of something challenging, as a stronger and wiser person.

renee trudeau said...

Thanks Jodi--that's a good one. If we look evolution/learning as our sole (and soul) purpose, it sure does shift perspective, doesn't it?