A New Way of Being

(This morning I found this scribbled on the back of a page in my journal. It's from the first  week of my summer writing sabbatical. June 22, 2011. You can read more about my summer here.)

The deepest part of me desires to WAKE UP and evolve into a New Way of Being!!

I am done with "Just two more phone calls, ten more emails, if can just ..."  I'm done with having my worth tied to my productivity ... to serving ... to success. Done, done, "stick a fork in me" done!

I desire to live EVERY DAY more pleasure-full, play-full and present. 

I am a spirit, not a robot. I am a woman, not a manager. I am a creative, sensual amazing soul that wants to live a fully AWAKENED life. All the time, not just when I happen to be inspired to do so. 

I release, I let go. I'm ready. Bring it on.

Want to join me? What better way to embrace a New Way of Being than to teach it? 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 for all of us who are done with overwork and overwhelm. I’m so excited about this revolutionary new approach that was born from my summer writing sabbatical and I can’t wait to support you in creating the life you desire from the inside-out! Learn more.

P.S. Have you heard about the I CHOOSE LOVE public service campaign? It's a reminder to ourselves and our brothers and sisters 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 about how you can embrace this message in your daily life through being more mindful, sharing stories, ordering a tshirt (at cost) and 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 Self- Renewal Groups
• Attend a retreat/event
• Join the Dialogue on our Live Inside Out Facebook Community
• Pick up 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 blog about coach/author/entrepreneur Renee Trudeau’s personal journey and living life from the inside out, comes out weekly.

Choosing Love Over Fear

There are only ever two choices: love or fear. Which path will you take?

My writing sabbatical this past July/August was incredible. Incredibly intense that is. I told a friend the other day it was like 30 years of therapy in two months. I went far and deep and visited places I've never been before!

At the end the summer, I spent a divine day and night alone at a beautiful cabin, located on 20 acres about 20 minutes from downtown Austin (the cabin was specially created for personal retreats).

The message I kept hearing on my solo date (on the heels of a conversation with my publisher about how fearful many Americans are right now due to the election, economy, and natural disasters) was the reminder that we always have a choice in how we interact with one another and see the world.

We can come from fear (where we constrict, contract, shut down and cut ourselves off from others) or we can come from love (where we expand, open, connect and trust). Our daily interactions are a reflection of where we choose to hang out and live: the house of fear or the house of love.

So this fall we're introducing an I CHOOSE LOVE public service campaign as a reminder to ourselves and our brothers and sisters 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 about how you can embrace this message in your daily life through being more mindful, sharing stories, ordering a tshirt (at cost) and 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 Self- Renewal Groups
>Attend a retreat/event; join me Oct. 14-16 at Kripalu in the amazing cool Berkshire mountains for our Women's Self-Renewal Retreat.
>Join the Dialogue on our Live Inside Out Facebook Community
>Pick up 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 Trudeau for a private workshop or retreat for your company or organization
>Subscribe to my life balance blog The Journey for weekly inspiration

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

Logo design: www.highwirecreative.com and www.hidesigngraphics.com

Soulpod

(I'm out on a writing sabbatical through the summer working on a new project. During this time I'm only posting sporadically, when I'm moved to do so.)


Here we are. Again. Together. Sharing lentil soup. Legs tangled, snuggling under the warm blankets. Negotiating piano practice and chores. Telling stories from our day. Moving from asleep to awake and awake to asleep. Navigating being human.

When I stop, I see your curious eyes and your beautiful spirit. You remind me of who I want to be in the world … who I really am.

We have the gift of now. It’s a large, beautiful moment. It can expand into the skies and go on forever.

We don’t need to go to the mountains or the beach, plan an adventure, schedule an exciting evening out, wait for a birthday or create a moment to experience one another. This is it.

Screw calendars, to do lists, dirty dishes, overgrown grass and dark, busy inboxes.

We surrender to the moment, hold hands, jump in and swim through the cool, deep waters together …feeling our oneness and the unexplainable mystery of how and why we’re together. Without words, we honor the sacredness of this union.

This connection feels ancient … new … difficult … and easy. The hardest thing in the world and the most delicious. Above all, it’s unique and it’s ours.

When we stop everything. Every. Single. Thing. We find delicious comfort and respite in our three beautiful, interconnected hearts.

We feel the fleeting sweetness of being in each other’s presence. We relax, we remember. We breathe out the entire world.

And we know, this, this, is all we need. This is all there is.

P.S. I’m Surveying the Emotional and Spiritual Health of Families for my new writing project. If you have 5 minutes to tell me about your family culture, I’d love to get your input (and feel free to share with friends/lists): http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RXZ88GR

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 Self- Renewal Groups
>Attend a retreat/event or workshop, including our July 29th Career Strategy Workshop: Find a Fit, Create a Plan, Love Your Work in Austin
>Join the Dialogue on our Live Inside Out Facebook Community
>Pick up The Mother's Guide to Self-Renewal from the library or buy it here
>Download FREE Live Inside Out Teleclasses, join us for our Aug. 25 class on Going with the Flow While Still Getting Things Done! and 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 Trudeau for a private workshop or retreat for your company or organization
>Subscribe to my life balance blog The Journey for weekly inspiration

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

Photo: Barton Springs. June 28, 2011. 4:30 p.m.

Seasoning

I started a six-week writing sabbatical--basically dedicating 4 hours/day to writing about and exploring a theme that has been sitting with me for over a year--on Monday June 30th.

I have been planning since January--moving client appointments around, tightening our company overhead this summer, arranging for neat summer camp experiences for my son, making sure my staff were prepped and ready to step in for me--in order to make this time possible. (I am still running two businesses during these months, but did say "no" to a lot of new business/clients, events and speaking gigs so I could dedicate this time to my new writing project.)

I swore when I started that I was going to release any stuff around "goals" for this sabbatical (i.e. a book, a CD, a "product") and really just play with this theme--conducting some informal research, doing some interviews, playing with mind mapping and creativity exercises, selecting some new reading around my chosen topic and journaling, journaling, journaling. And, having a lot of fun with my family during my downtime.

I've been "goal-less" for the most part, but man, it can really be hard to release attachment to outcome. I guess I still have some overachiever tendencies lingering in my bones! (Ha ha)

One of the things that has become very clear is that now, less than two weeks into this, I'm discovering that this respite is more about me and my personal/spiritual growth and moving into a new way of being, than a writing project. It feels as if all of the stuff that I'm processing through intense nightly dreams, conversations with close friends and daily revelations are part of my seasoning--preparing me for my next big life stage. (I recently learned about the phrase "seasoning"--a term the Quakers use to describe a period of waiting, where action is not taken because the"way" has not yet "opened"--through Your Soul's Compass, a book I'm reading by http://www.joanborysenko.com/.

I couldn't stop laughing, I told my husband recently, as I envisioned the really powerful (yet humorous) image of myself standing in a tall high rise office building outside of a conference room filled with men and women in suits sitting around a table working very fervently on something that appeared to be very important. I knew I was not to enter and the sign on the door say "Renee's Life Purpose-Keep Out!" I'll know when I know and not before. :).

I'll share more later on the insights I've been having on work pace (mine and our collective), the price we are all paying by working at brake-neck speed AND the theme I'm exploring this month and next.

Marianne Williamson, author/teacher (http://www.marianne.com/) says "Every change is a challenge to become who we really are." I think that describes perfectly the metamorphosis that I'm experiencing right now.