Play

One of my favorite songs when I was a kid was The Marvelous Toy by Peter, Paul and Mary (the album Peter, Paul and Mommy was constanly playing in our house when I was growing up in the early seventies).

I loved the feeling of wonder and joy it evoked. My brothers and I would act out this song over and over again, trying to guess what this magical toy might be.

Listening to this song Saturday night at home with my family after a yummy dinner of grilled shrimp tacos with mango/avocado salsa, inspired an evening of silliness, dancing, pillow fights and brought back a flood of memories of how often a sense of playfulness was present in my home growing up (my mom a musician/artist, loved to laugh).

Beginning this week and throughout the month of July I have created lots of time to play.

I still have to get some essential work stuff handled (I am self-employed and work with a team), but knowing that I’m at a pivotal point in my life/business, I knew it was essential to carve out a chunk of time this summer to spend time hanging out in the right hemisphere of my brain.

That’s when my best ideas come and when I get the most clarity about what I want.

Some of my colleagues, I’m sure, are thinking I’m crazy to be taking time out for creativity and play this month when I have just put together a new six-person work team, am in the middle of growing our global Personal Renewal Group program and beginning a handful of new big initiatives. But, I know that this time will be invaluable to not only where I’m headed this fall, but how I get there.

Play is essential to not only experiencing a sense of balance/equilibrium in life, but to feeling whole and alive. It’s part of who we are (read more from Psychology Today on the Power of Play).

Anyone round my base is it! Ready or not, here I come!
Allee Allee In Free! (from It’s Raining, Peter Paul and Mommy, 1969)

P.S. Interested in meeting once a month in a women's self-renewal circle to enhance your ability to be more playful and present? Join or become trained to lead a Personal Renewal Group for mothers. Life coaching groups are meeting from Amsterdam to Akron. Join the self-care revolution.



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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: my seven-year old playing in the fountains in downtown Dallas near the Dallas Museum of Art.

Wanna’ play?

Contrary to what some of my friends may think after watching me work my tail off over the last year, I am not and never have been a workaholic. I’m more a “work hard (when necessary), play hard” kind of girl.

And, after all the energy I poured into birthing The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal over the last twelve months, I’ve been making up for lost time by having a whole lotta’ fun! My summer has been filled with impromptu dinner parties with friends I have been wanting to get together with for over a year, mom’s nights out with my school community, picnics in the park, some really great Self Renewal Parties with moms, last minute play dates and making time for new adventures with my son and husband on the weekends. (After almost a year of planning, we’re heading to Ireland next week to visit friends in Howth, a fishing village outside of Dublin.) This is still a working summer for me --and we’re still in the midst of helping women launch PRGs around the nation--, but simply setting an intention for “playfulness” before heading into these summer months, really helped me reclaim this big part of who I am.

I’m planning on taking a personal planning retreat this Friday (I try to do these every three months at www.thecrossingsaustin.com) to reflect on how to consciously enter a very full fall without getting sucked into the “work, work and more work” vortex. I’m intent on holding onto this sense of levity and “joie de vivre!”

There are so many books on “playful parenting.” What about being a playful woman/mother? One of our wonderful PRG leaders, Rachel Hobson, started a whole group around moms and play www.playispossible.com! It seems there are many of us who recognize the “power of play” in our lives as well as our kid’s.

Want to come play with me and other moms passionate about empowering women in gorgeous Austin, TX in September? Check our next PRG Facilitator Training: (http://www.reneetrudeau.com/order/retreat.html).

Cool sites for moms
I just received a copy of Andi Silverman’s new book, "Mama Knows Breast: A Beginner's Guide to Breastfeeding" (www.mamaknowsbreast.com). It’s fun to read, attractive to look at and packed with “real life” tips, resources and “how to” information on nursing that acknowledges breastfeeding isn’t always as easy as it looks. Kudos to Andi for birthing a great resource for moms! I wish I had had this when I first started nursing Jonah. You can buy it on Amazon.

My friend Amy Tiemann, author of www.mojomom.com, just told me about a great new community building site for mothers called www.themotherhood.net. Check it out! It looks like a wonderful resource.