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.

Letter to Luca

From the time I was a little, I always felt babies were special (being the oldest of seven children, I got lots of practice welcoming newborns into the world). I always believed they were much more than blobs growing into themselves (check out What Babies Want or teachings from my friend/author and prenatal/perinatal expert Carrie Contey).

They seem to hold so much wisdom—maybe it’s because they’re fresh from God. And even though it was annoying to hear from my mother time and time again (especially when I was a hormonal, frustrated 13-year old)—I do believe we choose our families … our pods.

So, it’s especially touching to me to welcome my baby sister’s child to our tribe. And, his arrival has brought up a lot of emotions, insights and revelations for me. Riding this wave, these are the things I most want to share with my one-week old nephew as he adjusts to life on planet Earth:

Dear Luca:

• Be gentle with yourself, this is a big transition. It’s kind of like moving from Mars to Venus—it will take a while to unpack your bags and adjust to this crazy world (things are a bit wacky out there right now!)
• Always ask for help—you’re surrounded by people who are here to support you. We’re meant to be inter-dependent; you don’t have to go it alone!
• I’m so excited to learn what you’re here to teach us—we look forward to benefiting from all your wisdom and the lessons you’ll be calling forth.
• Thank you for reminding me about how I truly *desire* to be with my son Jonah and for giving me the opportunity to re-examine how I communicate with and raise my son.
• We can’t wait to see and experience all the gifts you’ll be bringing forth into the world and we look forward to supporting you in sharing your talents.
• Keep your sense of humor—we’re all doing the best we can and we all mess up a lot.
• Keep cultivating compassion—towards yourself, your family and all those you come in contact with. The world needs more of this.
• Great news!! You landed with a really fun, interesting, creative group of people. We’re a little zany, but we’re all excited to share our worlds with you!
• Thank you for reminding all of us about the power of being present—and all the gifts that come from being “right here, right now.”
• Know your cousin Jonah is over-the-moon excited that you’ve arrived and he loves you so much (yesterday he wrote a list of all the things he wants to teach you when you get older).
• And deep gratitude for reminding us that “Life is not a thing to be managed, it’s a mystery to be lived”; your arrival into our family is one of the best examples of this.

You picked the best mama and dad ever—they are soooo excited you’re here (they’re fighting over who gets to hold you). They love you like the breadth and depth of the sea.

Know that I am holding the highest/best for your journey here on earth and look forward to always being here for you. The song I would sing to you tonight is the Gayatri Mantra--the "mother of all mantras"--which is very famous, calming and harmonizing. It is said to unify body, mind and spirit when you chant it; Deva Premal says her mother sang this to her while she was in utero and as an infant.

Much love and deep appreciation---Auntie Renee

Photo: My son and his new cousin Luca at one day-old. Luca which means “bringer of light,” is a derivative of my sister’s middle name “Lucia” (light).

FIND YOUR TRIBE, ATTEND A RETREAT/WORKSHOP OR JOIN THE DIALOGUE: Would you like support for focusing on self-care and learning to slow down and be more present in your everyday life? Join or become trained to facilitate a Personal Renewal Group, or visit our calendar to learn more about upcoming retreats, workshops and events.

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.