Surrendering

This past week I participated in an amazing one-day conference for 2000 women.  It was an inaugural event and I was delivering the closing keynote, a workshop session to 300 women, my organization was staffing/working a booth and I was signed up to do two book signings (I know, too much …next year I’ll scale back!).

Everything was cruising along fine. The afternoon before the conference began, I was at the convention center unloading boxes and setting up our booth with my assistant, coordinating details for the next day, preparing for sound/AV checks and getting ready to go home, wrap up work and change for a speaker event that evening. Then, my phone rang.  

“Your son has lice, you need to come get him from school,” said his sweet teacher. Ugh! I could feel my chest tighten and body stiffen as my mind raced to all I had yet to accomplish by 7:30 a.m. the following day.

The next morning, after a late night of helping my husband de-louse our son (and doing preventative treatments on myself), working late to catch up from losing the afternoon and four hours sleep, I awoke and thought, “There is no way I’m going to be able to physically pull off this ten-hour day and be ‘on’ at this level for this long.”

So, I surrendered. This is not a new concept for me. I’ve surrendered before and like to think I “surrender” all the time (surrender meaning not giving up, but releasing something to a higher power), but if I’m really honest with myself, I find there are some areas of my life I surrender more easily than others. Interestingly, when this blog post came to me, I thought,  “Oh I’ll just go pull up all the posts and newsletter articles I’ve written on surrendering—I talk about this all the time. But I couldn’t find a single one with surrendering in the title.

After a sleepy early morning meditation session with my husband, we held hands and I asked him to say a prayer with me that I would be able to take my hands off the wheel and surrender this day to the Divine. And by the time I got out of the shower, my perspective had gone from complete stress and overwhelm to seeing what a gift and opportunity this day could be.

Yes, I was exhausted beyond belief and scared about whether or not I would have the stamina to function—let alone be energized--for the closing keynote to 2000 women at the end of the day, but I also felt this unshakable calm and kept hearing a kind reassuring voice whisper, “All is well.”

So I took a lot of deep breaths that day, kept acknowledging and thanking God for being present with me physically, emotionally and mentally and for guiding every thought, word and action, I practiced self-care, conserved my energy, and embraced “good is good enough.” 

Guess what happened? Everything flowed and went phenomenally well (so I’m told!).

This morning when I awoke I thought about the wonderful women and men that are participating in the New Way of Being tele-course I’m leading. Together, we’re releasing old habitual ways of being and stepping into new ways of thinking, being and seeing.  We began this program by challenging each person to define what a New Way of Being feels …and then looks like …for them.

For me, I articulated early on that a New Way of Being feels like FREEDOM. A “have to” free zone. And this week, I got that what a New Way of Being looks like to me is SURRENDERING.

This past 24-hours taught me that I’m finally ready to open up to experiencing “surrendering” at a whole new level. Wednesday was life-changing and if this is what is possible when I surrender and let go, I’m headed back to the buffet line for another serving.

Interested in a New Way of Being? Read 7 Ways to Embrace a New Way of Being and join me and like-minded men/women for my 4-week New Way of Being Telecourse . Registration is ongoing through Nov. 30^th. Learn more.

Have you heard about the I CHOOSE LOVE public service campaign? It's 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).

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• Find Your Tribe: Join or become trained to lead Self- Renewal Groups
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• Empower Others: Schedule Renee for a private workshop or retreat for your company or organization

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Photo: Carly Daniel Photography. May we all allow ourselves to surrender and let go at this level. I'm so excited! Two of my brothers are expecting babies next year. I've got babies on the brain and can't wait to welcome these beautiful sweet souls to our family.

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.

It Is What It Is

This morning I woke up around 5:00 a.m. with a tight chest and my mind was whirring like a hamster on a wheel.

Late last month, my two amazing support team members both shared they are moving on to new opportunities—which I’m totally supportive of, but it’s still a huge transition. We’re in the middle of organizing 4 upcoming national events (one of them is on an international scale), I am training/hiring new interns and like many businesses, spring is typically our busiest time of year.

Then, my little one came in this morning and said “I can’t go to school mom, I’m sick.”

So I did what all busy entrepreneurs should do when overwhelm comes knocking at their door. I made my husband stay home with our child while I went to yoga. And I practiced being with my breath and accepting “What is.”

Spiritual teacher/author Byron Katie talks about the idea that suffering is optional.

She says suffering, pain, discomfort come from resisting “What is.”

I really resonate with the concept that our thinking—and I believe language—dictate our emotional state. So rather than feeling like I have mountains of work to do, I have the option of being grateful for the opportunity to do what I love, to help others and to have an amazing support network that steps forward time and time again to help out.

Hmm. Can we really change how we feel by changing how we see a situation?

I’m sure I’m going to move in/out of numerous emotional states over the next several weeks, but I’m going to be more vigilant about my thoughts and words. And, of course, keep being gentle with myself.

Resources: Check out my tips on 6 Ways to Tap Into Inner Peace for some ideas on how to anchor during these times of uncertainty. Or learn more about my Spring Self-Renewal Retreat for Women—we only have a few spots left. What an awesome Mother’s Day gift!

Video: While hiking in the Boquillas Canyon on my recent trip to Big Bend National Park with my son and husband, I was mesmerized by this tree branch stuck in the middle of the Rio Grande River, which divides Mexico and the U.S. It immediately made me think about the idea of resisting life, resisting “what is,” and how we can get stuck when we don't go with the flow.

LIVE INSIDE OUT Mother’s Day Celebration May 8-10th
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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.