I Love My Body

I celebrated my 45th birthday over this past weekend. But I didn’t feel social (unusual for me).

I just felt a strong pull to nest, rest and reflect—read more—so much so that I cancelled my long-anticipated workshop with Shiva Rea and instead spent a good part of Sunday alone enjoying a massage, a hot aromatherapy bath and a long rest.

When I awoke I was overcome with gratitude for my sweet 45-year old body and was inspired to write a letter to my dear old friend.


Dear 45-year old body:

I love you. I really do. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to arrive here, but regardless, I have!

I appreciate you in so many ways.

-I love you radiant face that gets more interesting and playful the older you get (and fascinating neck--it seems as if you're developing a personality of your own!).
-I love you sweet soft belly just the way you are. And, I’m amazed by your ability to grow a child that is now almost up to my chin!
-I love you open, inviting and accepting smile (and thank you teeth for staying so cavity-free!).
-I adore you bright blue green eyes that are filled with a mixture of insight, depth and curiosity.
-I love you full sweet, strong upper arms that give great hugs, will never be willowy and were inherited from Grandma Harrison (so I’m told).
-I love you constantly changing, ever-evolving torso that has shifted through stages including: strong and sexy, pudgy and pouty, feminine and flirty, tired and disconnected and fluid and fabulous!
-I love you hands (Nonnie’s hands) and the way you have supported me in writing, painting, expressing myself musically, cooking and serving others.
-I love you strong, sexy legs and flexible hips that can move, balance and support me in dancing and doing yoga for hours.
-I love you rapidly changing, looks-different-every-day skin—in all of your various stages, colors, creases, patterns, spots and spring to summer styles and looks (I promise I’ll start wearing sun screen more often to protect you!).
-I love you amazing feet—hail to the feet! You’ve carried me for thousands of miles from Big Sur to Egypt, from Oaxaca to Ephesus and around Lady Bird Lake twice a week for the last twenty years.
-I love you sweet, healthy breasts that have helped me embrace my femininity and have brought me from maiden to motherhood to middle age (oh the stories you hold!).
-I love you sometimes cranky, but always lovable knees--especially the small crinkles that are just starting to crash the party and how they suddenly make their entrance when I do a downward dog.

Sweet body, I so appreciate how you house my soul and allow me to live fully, laugh often, embrace pleasure, express love to those around me and enjoy motherhood, marriage, traveling, dancing, hiking and wrestling with my 8 year old.

I am so grateful for your vibrancy, energy and overall health. I promise to continue to listen and respond to your needs and desires in the coming years. And above all, I will do my best to love you through all the changes and evolutions that are yet to come.

Much love and deep gratitude—your best friend, Renee

FIND YOUR TRIBE, ATTEND A RETREAT/WORKSHOP OR JOIN THE DIALOGUE: Would you like support for learning to love and accept yourself and begin to attune to your needs and desires? Join or become trained to facilitate a Personal Renewal Group, or visit our calendar to learn more about our upcoming January career workshops, retreats and events (including our free 1/20 teleclass).

We love to hear from you. Please visit and join our Live Inside Out community to read how people are living more intentionally and share how you do the same.

The Journey, a blog about coach/author/entrepreneur Renee Trudeau’s personal journey and living life from the inside out, comes out weekly.

Photo: Me and my shadow at Pedernales State Park, December 2010.

Exquisite Self-Care

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and I ate something that I’ve been off of for about six weeks. And, it made me feel like crap. My husband would say—since my dairy and wheat intolerances manifest as emotional disequilibrium---I acted like crap, too!

This morning I woke up really thinking about the concept of exquisite self care. Not plain, vanilla, just doing the basics to feel good self-care (although this is essential). But really discerning, attuning and responding to my deepest needs and desires. Treating myself with the utmost care, love and tenderness.

For me this week, this would look like:

-abstaining from wheat and dairy and making sure my diet is diverse, nutrient/energy rich, delicious and I stay very hydrated

-attending my good friend’s Daring Divas dance class and connecting with the women in this vibrant community---no matter how busy my schedule looks

-appreciating and supporting my partner and taking time to be present with him/his challenges (this always comes back to me a hundred fold!)

-going to bed NO MATTER WHAT by 9:30 p.m. on the weeknights (after 44 years, I’ve finally figured out my very best sleep happens before midnight)

-getting outside to enjoy the amazing 71 degree weather at the park with my son, even though I’ve got mounds of work at the office (no worries, the important stuff always gets done)

-paying attention to my personal rhythms, ebbs and flows—trusting that I will be guided to know how/when/where to best take action at work and at home

-returning the expensive, but uncomfortable sheets I bought this past summer that don’t support me in having optimal sleep (I know, Princess and the Pea, but sleep is really key for me!)

My husband and son are going on a camping trip this weekend. Pause. I think I hear some whoops from the parents who know how delicious and rare it is to have time alone in your house when your beloved family is away!

In the past, my usual MO would have been to rush into planning mode—filling all my waking hours with lunches, walks, get-togethers and non-stop social activities with friends. But today, I’m really challenging myself to slow down. To go inward and ask, “What would exquisite self-care look and feel like this weekend?” And who knows what the response will be.

It might look like cleaning out my garage, sitting for a couple of hours and coloring mandalas, blasting some blues and dancing in my living room, going on a vigorous walk/run or sitting on my back porch swing soaking up the decadence of unscheduled time. I have no idea.

But, I do plan on choosing how I spend this time very intentionally. Really reveling in this concept of what exquisite self-care might look and feel like to me.

I’ve learned that not only is self-care crucial to our well-being, to our sustenance, to feeling “alive”—more and more, it’s become my spiritual practice.

Because I find that when I listen and respond to the whispers in my heart about what I most need to love, nurture and nourish my physical and emotional well-being, I feel more connected to my Source, to God. Often, if I listen closely, it’s as if I can hear an invisible voice cheering me on, saying, “Yes, this is how you’re supposed to live--how you were intended to live. You are worthy and deserving of this level of care. And, when you honor and love yourself, you honor and love me, your Source.”

And I believe that sense of interconnectedness is what most of us live for. I know it is for me.

FIND YOUR TRIBE, ATTEND A RETREAT/WORKSHOP OR JOIN THE DIALOGUE: Would you like to experience connection and community and receive support from like-minded women? Join or become trained to facilitate a Personal Renewal Group, visit our calendar to learn more about upcoming events including our November 5th One-Day Reflect, Reclaim, Re-Balance Women's One-Day Self-Renewal Retreat and our FREE October 14th Live Inside Out teleclass on Being More Present and Remembering What Matters.

Also, check out our Live Inside Out community and read how people are living more intentionally.

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.

Photo: A desert flower in an oasis in Big Bend National Park, one of the places my soul gets nourished.

Loving Kindness

Every Monday morning, I send out a quick work/life effectiveness tip to our seven-person team. Most of us work virtually and we’re spread out across three states. So, I do many things to keep us all feeling connected.

These amazing women support our clients, Personal Renewal Group Facilitators, career/life balance programs and all Career Strategists and Renee Trudeau & Associates initiatives. They work daily with women and families around the world.

I had planned to share a powerful letter on my blog today that I wrote to my 35-year old self last night, but decided instead to share the message I sent to my team this morning and save the letter for next week. Here it is. I hope it might invite you to pause before you begin your day.

Dear RTA Team:

I woke up this a.m. with a funky stomach and slight headache (I think some roasted turkey that had been sitting out too long at a party was to blame) and began feeling some overwhelm creeping in as I looked at my list of goals for today.

I have a full week—prepping for our Reconnecting with Who You Are class via telephone on Thursday evening, several writing deadlines and projects due tomorrow, lots of conference calls/ meetings and several new entrepreneur clients to support this week.

But instead of succumbing to the feeling that I was behind and needed to push harder, I remembered the wonderful gifts that come from loving kindness--to self. So, I am moving slow this morning, drinking some wonderful Detox Yogi tea, tweaking my schedule a bit and trusting in the knowledge that when I am kind to my body/spirit, the Universe supports me. And, I get MORE done (rather than less!).

Try it (or at least, experiment with this idea). More on this theme from my newsletter Are You Kind to Yourself?

Take it easy and before you begin your day, check in with your body, mind and spirit. What do you need to feel nourished on the inside as well as the outside today?

Take good care. I look forward to exploring this theme more deeply with you at our upcoming October self-renewal retreat--Renee

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 (early bird rate ends September 16th).

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.

Painting: Mara Friedman