Do You Need to Reset?

In the mid-seventies--as part of a radical move to simplify their lives--my parents hauled my four brothers and I from bustling San Antonio, TX to a remote area of Northern California. We lived in the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains near the Donner Pass. I rode our horses Bobbie and Pattie bareback, hiked over rocks and climbed trees barefoot, spent hours lounging in the sunny fields on my stomach writing poetry, daydreaming and enjoying the strong, clean smell of the Ponderosa pines.

But what I remember most from that period of my life was my relationship to time. It felt expansive, luxurious and endless. My brother and I would disappear into the forests for hours with nary a watch in site. No one called for us and no one bothered us. We had space to be, to explore and to follow our whims, wherever they took us. (At the time we attended a Waldorf school, so lucky us-no homework!)

This weekend, after a month of non-stop weekend activity, my family finally enjoyed a quiet, restful two-day respite. (I had to actually "plan" and fiercely guard this unscheduled weekend to make it happen; our only "have to" was an hour-long soccer game on Saturday.)

The break illuminated for me how essential it is for all of us to have expanses of time to do nothing. To do less so we can experience more (the title of one of the chapters in my new book Nurturing the Soul of Your Family: 10 Ways to Reconnect and Experience Peace in Everyday Life-New World Library 2013).

It seems crazy that we would have to fight off invitations, obligations, family and friend requests and distractions in order to "claim" this downtime for our family-- which we so desperately needed in order to "reset." To recalibrate. To pull back and remember what matters most.

Shouldn't it be a given that we have time to rest? Isn't this the most important thing we should be doing during our weekends, anyway (my yoga teacher says our job is to "do nothing--and then rest")?

I have a cellular memory for how it felt as an eleven year-old to languish outdoors with my brothers in nature during our California sojourn. Now the question is how do I gift that same feeling to my son and reclaim it for myself?

Invitation: One of the biggest "resets" for me is to attend a beautiful guided retreat with someone who is masterful at creating an experience that offers group time, nature time AND solo time. I'd love to have you join me April 27-29 at Esalen in Big Sur, CA or June 22-24 at Kripalu in the MA Berkshire mountains. The retreats are almost full; learn more here.

P.S. In honor of Mother's Day, we're giving away a Yummy Mummy Year of Self-Care package, which includes an all expenses paid trip to my Kripalu retreat (a $2500 value). Learn more.


I love to hear from, connect with and meet The Journey readers at our events. I invite you to:  

• Find Your Tribe: Join or become trained to lead Personal Renewal Groups for women
• Attend a retreat/event including my April 27-29  Esalen and June 22-24 Kripalu retreats and check out all upcoming events
• Learn about Live Inside Out and receive weekly inspiration on our Live Inside Out Facebook Community
• Pick up my life balance title The Mother's Guide to Self-Renewal from the library or buy it here
• Read past issues of my Life Balance newsletter
• Take Action: Contact one of our career or life balance coaches for 1-on-1 support; receive an initial complimentary consultation
• Empower Others: Schedule Renee for a private workshop or retreat for your company or organization
• I Choose Love PSA: a reminder that when we come from love--one of the most powerful yet underutilized forces on the planet--we have the ability to transcend fear and remember what we're really hear to do: give and receive love. Learn more.

Subscribe to The Journey, a weekly blog about coach/author/entrepreneur ReneeTrudeau’s personal journey to creating balance from the inside out. 
 
Photo: One of the places I reset or recalibrate is Barton Springs in Austin. This photo was taken last summer; I can't wait for my annual baptism-into-summer dive this May!

A New Simplicity

I attended an awesome women’s retreat yesterday with the fabulous Anita Johnson and the divine Elissa Shapiro.

What came through loud and clear for me at the retreat was a desire to yes, simplify and do less (read more), but also to use less energy in all that I do. 

I feel a calling for what I’m terming “A New Simplicity.” Not a fluffy, this-would-be-a-nice-way-to-live where we purge our closets and garages, but a New Way of Being that is coming from necessity. The necessity to purge and streamline our thinking, our doing, our giving and receiving, and of course, our stuff.  We’re entering a time of the unknown—a whole new frontier—that I believe requires us to have more space to breathe, think, dream and digest.
 

Daphne Rose Kingma, author of the beautiful The Ten Things To Do When Your Life Falls Apart says, “When we live simply we are able to rest in the peace that simple living brings: a quieting of the endless mental chatter and the agitation to have more, a simplicity of movement and action in the passage of each day. Time to sit still, to talk with your children, to stare into your lover’s eyes, to read a book, to water a tree, to pray.”   And, I would add, to just be--so we can  actually integrate into our hearts and souls what we’re experiencing moment to moment.

So this week simplicity may look like calling a friend and changing a previous “yes” to a “no,” to create more space and flow, voicing clear boundaries to my clients around my time, consciously building in “unscheduled” weekends and evenings on our family calendar, reviewing February commitments and seeing if any course corrections are needed, skipping my regular Sunday yoga class so I can be rest in stillness for a precious hour, standing up for what I need in the moment, and serving black beans and tortillas for dinner.

As part of my book research I keep running across studies that share our level of happiness and contentment takes a nose dive when we have too many choices OR are faced with making too many decisions in one day.

Here’s to a week imbued with simplicity. I’ll let you know how it goes and would love to hear how you keep it simple.

P.S.  Are you a parent and looking for some top-notch, high level support and inspiration this year?  I love to partner with other entrepreneurs and expand their success and am excited to be involved in Carrie Contey's new Evolve 2012 program and Lisa Byrne's wonderful free MAPP spring series.

Join us and CHOOSE LOVE in 2012: The I Choose Love public service campaign is a reminder that when we come from love--one of the most powerful yet underutilized forces on the planet--we have the ability to transcend fear and remember what we're really hear to do: give and receive love. Learn more and order a tshirt (at cost).

I love to hear from, connect with and meet The Journey readers at our events. I invite you to:

• Find Your Tribe: Join or become trained to lead Personal Renewal Groups for women
• Attend a retreat/event including my Feb. 10th Empowered Entrepreneur Retreat and my April Esalen and June Kripalu retreats
• Learn about Live Inside Out and receive weekly inspiration on our Live Inside Out Facebook Community
• Pick up my life balance title The Mother's Guide to Self-Renewal from the library or buy it here
• Read past issues of my Life Balance newsletter
• Take Action: Contact one of our career or life balance coaches for 1-on-1 support; receive an initial complimentary consultation
• Empower Others: Schedule Renee for a private workshop or retreat for your company or organization

Subscribe to The Journey,  a weekly blog about coach/author/entrepreneur Renee Trudeau’s personal journey to creating balance from the inside out.  

Photo: Black beans--simple goodness and highly nutritious! What my family will be eating this week.

Less is More

I work with a wonderful woman (a mom to two young kids) who is very clear that less is more.

Often on Fridays, we touch base before we head into the weekend and discuss our upcoming plans. She never says, “Oh, this weekend is a doozie, we have so much going on,” or “my plate is so full, I’ll need a vacation come Monday.” After hearing my plans—which are often busier than I'd like--she usually replies, “We don't have much going on, we're keeping it simple. We like it that way.” And, she does.

I remember years ago hearing life coach Cheryl Richardson say that our quality of life is directly enhanced not by what we put into it, but by what we remove.

Almost everyone I know --even those of us who don’t watch TV, limit online time and frequently say “no” to requests for our time that pull us away from our priorities—describe their lives as varying stages of feeling overcommitted, overscheduled and overworked

If life balance is having enough time, energy and resources for those things that are most important to us (my definition), then as a rule, in today’s overzealous, 24/7, fast-paced environment, we’ll challenged to be vigilant in order to keep things simple. To remember what really matters and to be clear that adding more things to our schedule typically makes us grumpy, not happier.

At the end of your weekend do you ever say “Gosh, I just wish I had done more. The weekend was too unscheduled. Too relaxing. Too easy. I had too much time with my sweet family.” Probably not.

If you’re like me, the best weekends are the ones where I didn’t do much of anything but pull weeds with my family, pop some popcorn, swing in the hammock and visit a bit with our neighbors as we watched the kids play and dusk settle in.

Looking forward to some expanses of unscheduled time this summer. And maybe, if I'm lucky, visiting my old childhood friend, boredom.

JOIN US FOR A RETREAT: Take a mini-career retreat on Saturday, April 10th to learn how to integrate who you are with what you do. And, we have a few spots left for our April 23-25 Refresh, Reclaim, Re-Balance: Women's Self-Renewal Retreat at The Crossings Spa & Resort in Austin, TX, but sign up today to ensure your spot. Or, escape to the cool mountains in August and join us at the beautiful Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in the MA Berkshires Aug. 13-15. One of my favorite spots on the planet!

Also, visit Live Inside Out to register for our April 15 FREE teleclass from 7:30-8:30 p.m. CST on Unleashing Your Creativity. And sign up to receive weekly tips on how to live more intentionally through our Live Inside Out Facebook Community.

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: My one year-old nephew reaches for a flower behind East Side Cafe after a family dinner. A relaxing stroll through their gardens after our delicious meal was one of the simple pleasures of our day.

Simplicity

One of our favorite family activities is to visit the Sunset Valley Farmer’s Market each Saturday morning, choose some yummy things to eat for the day/week and come home and enjoy a wonderful leisurely lunch together.

This past Saturday, we feasted on a marinated, slow roasted free range chicken from an amazing German chef (my friend Kate calls it ‘crack chicken” it’s so seductively good), a jar of Hairston Creek’s delicious sweetly marinated bread and butter pickles, some fabulous organic, pasture raised eggs from Ringger Farm which we hard-boiled, a loaf of chewy Ciabatta bread from Sweetish Hill Bakery, some crisp gala apples and some organic winter greens from Gundermann farms which we sauteed in lemon zest and olive oil. Yum.

Life coach/author Cheryl Richardson says our quality of life is enhanced not by what we add to, but what we remove from our plates.

Each Monday, I start the day—no matter how busy I am—by attending this amazingly nourishing Hatha yoga class near my home. Often I see friends there and they ask, "So, how was your weekend?” I like this question, because it make me pause.

The weekends that are the most fun, the most soulful, the most satisfying, are those where didn’t do much. Where we allowed for expanses of time, to enjoy the simple things—a impromptu walk with neighbors, a family game of scrabble, hiking and exploring a new natural spot, sharing good food together, lying around lazily reading, etc.

My family is finding that we are enjoying the “challenge” of experiencing more on less (like most, we’re on a tight budget and are looking at creative ways to make our dollars go farther; read more from my recent newsletter on how this unique time in history is challenging us all).

What are the simple things that you find deeply nourishing? When was the last time you enjoyed these activities? I’d love to hear what simple things feed you and yours.

P.S. Thanks for all the great stories you emailed me about your personal spiritual journeys. Writer/intuitive consultant Jennifer Hill Robenalt recently launched an interesting spiritually-focused blog called Current Living; we sat down recently to discuss my path. Read more.

And, considering joining me April 24-26th at The Crossings for my Spring Women's Self-Renewal Retreat--a wonderful opportunity to nurture yourself, enjoy expanses of stillness and really explore how and where you find meaning in life.