Dear Friend:

In 1996 after a life changing trip to Europe, I returned to my international corporate PR job, a sea of grey cubes (read more) and the most beautiful sensation, I now refer to as “healthy detachment.”

I was embued with a calm focus: I could clearly see what mattered most and what held no import.

My team and I call this way of being “surfing the waves.” It’s a place where you operate from ease, trust and a heightened sense of discernment (defined as keen insight and judgment).

As a life balance teacher, I’m passionate about enhancing equilibrium in all areas of our lives (read more). And I believe that the ability to cultivate discernment, is one of the keys to heightening emotional well-being.

I recently led a teleclass called Going with the Flow: Balancing Being vs. Doing While Still Getting Things Done! (listen now) where we explored 7 ways to cultivate discernment and the ability to “surf the waves.”

Seven Strategies that Help Me Go With the Flow at Work and in Life:

1. Cultivate awareness: Realize that I’m creating my experience through my thoughts and how I choose to see things. Being mindful about how often I hear “shoulds and have tos” and how I choose to respond to these frequent visitors (will I challenge, ignore or succumb to them?) can have a big impact on my well-being.
2. Enter the day intentionally: Whether it’s choosing a word for the day, building in time for stillness, meditation/prayer, journaling, taking tea on the back porch or a walking around the lake—starting my day intentionally has an enormous impact on how the next 8-10 hours flow.
3. Challenge how I set up my day/work/life: Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we have chosen how, when and where we work and live. Try to “do it different”—maybe that means not getting on email until you arrive at work in the morning, working a four day work week or unplugging all weekend.
4. Break free from the seduction of productivity: We’re human beings not human doings! Break free from the productivity=worthiness cycle. The other day my yoga teacher asked, “Are we here to be productive or to give/receive love?” You could have heard a pin drop after this comment (learn more about our fall I CHOOSE LOVE public service announcement).
5. Pay attention to how you use your yin/yang energies (read more): Both of these ways of operating in the world are essential, but many of us are out of balance: either always driving for results or defaulting to an automatic “wait and do nothing” setting. This teaching has had a huge impact on my life, my marriage, my friendships and how I parent.
6. Live more in the present moment: Stress comes from living in the future (anxiety, worry) or dwelling on the past (fear). The more I learn to “be here now,” (and not in next week!) the more I’m able to access my innate sense of peace and well-being.
7. Come from a foundation of self-care: Consciously taking time to tune into and respond to my daily physical/emotional/spiritual needs and desires helps me to feel more calm, relaxed and keep a big picture perspective (we’re always more effective and wise when our well is overflowing rather than dry and dusty!).
   

Do you, like me, desire to “surf the waves” and experience a successful/robust life while also embracing a New Way of Being™?

Then grab your surfboard and join me! I’m very excited and passionate about embracing more freedom, space and simplicity in my life and the best way for me to practice this approach is to teach it!

I encourage you to:

• Sign up for my exciting, new Oct. 20-Nov. 17 New Way of Being™ global telecourse. Only $99; bring a friend special, too. For men and women at all life stages. Details and register here.
• Read more in What Are You Ready to Be Free From? on what inspired me to create this new program.
• Listen to a FREE sample teleclass on Going with the Flow: Balancing Being vs. Doing, to get a taste for a couple of the insights we’ll be exploring in the new telecourse.
• Join us at Kripalu Yoga & Wellness Center, MA Oct. 14-16 for a nourishing women’s retreat where we’ll explore how to integrate many of the New Way of Being™ principles into our daily lives while exploring the transformative power of self-care.
  
  

Let us know how we can help you experience more freedom and spaciousness in your career and life this fall. We look forward to connecting soon.

Take good care--Renee and the RTA Team info@reneetrudeau.com 512-459-6700

P.S. Interested in hearing weekly tips on how to live more intentionally? Want to connect with Renee and other like-minds? Subscribe to and share your thoughts on Renee’s blog, The Journey and join our tribe on the Live Inside Out Facebook page! Also, watch a new video exploring these themes: “A Conversation with Renee on Living Inside Out.”

P.S.S. Heard about our I CHOOSE LOVE Public Service Announcement? A nonprofit movement, we’re encouraging men, women and families worldwide to choose love over fear this fall. Read more and order your I CHOOSE LOVE tshirt here.

Upcoming Events and Training:

• September 1-30     Personal Renewal Group Online Facilitator Training  Are you a therapist, coach, parent or birth educator, women’s empowerment advocate, leadership consultant, or perhaps you just love to support women in nurturing their emotional well-being? Join an international community and facilitate self-renewal groups/retreats for women based on the award-winning The Mother's Guide to Self-Renewal. Learn more.
  
  

• FALL 2011: I CHOOSE LOVE Global PSA You’re invited and encouraged to take part in the I CHOOSE LOVE global Public Service Announcement. Learn more about how to get involved in this free, grassroots initiative and why choosing love over fear could radically transform your life! Learn more.

• September 27 noon-1:00 p.m. CST
  Your Ordinary Self is Enough: The Transformative Power of Self-Care with Renee Trudeau. Learn how to release, let go and embrace self-care as a spiritual practice. Hear why focusing on self-renewal has the capacity to radically change your life and how you can begin to embrace the truth that you don’t have to “do” to be worthy—your ordinary self is enough. FREE—register here:Global Sufficiency Network radio program, host Nogie King.

  
  

• October 14 - 16 , Friday-Sunday:  Reflect, Reclaim, Re-Balance: A Women's Self-Renewal Retreat, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, The Berkshires, MA.  Nurture and nourish yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually. Tap the Transformative Power of Self-Care. Led by nationally-recognized career/life balance expert, coach and author Renee Trudeau at beautiful Kripalu. Ideal for women in career/life transition.  Details here. Our last Kripalu retreat sold out; register today!
  
  
  
• Oct 20-Nov 17 (four Thursdays, noon-1:00 p.m. CST).
  New Way of Being™: Let Go, Embrace Flow and Love Your Life,  A national telecourse for men and women led by Renee Trudeau. Are you done with overwork, overwhelm and ready to discard your old habitual ways of working and being? Would you like to de-clutter, simplify, learn to leverage the power of self-care and step into a more spacious, free work/life flow? Join Renee as she supports, guides and coaches you into a new way of being and helps you access greater peace and harmony in your everyday life. Space is limited, register by Oct.6 to ensure your spot. REGISTER HERE
  
  

• November 2  Austin Women’s Conference, Austin, TX: Renee presents Creating Balance in an Unbalanced World and provides the closing keynote/wrap-up. A daylong event designed to inspire and empower, motivate, encourage you to take action, experience change, and transform. The Austin Women’s Conference & Show is the opportunity of the year for you to join other women in the Austin area for an exhilarating day exploring what success means to you in your professional and personal lives. Learn more.

  
  
• December 16 Friday 9:00-1:00 p.m.   Envision, Create and Expand: A Business Planning Retreat for Empowered Entrepreneurs. Casa de Artistas, south Austin. Are you ready to shift your relationship to your business? Gain clarity and focus on how/where to direct your energy, receive laser coaching/feedback, tap Renee’s most powerful exercises and tools, enjoy guided support and leave inspired, focused and ready to move into the new year with renewed passion and clarity. Led by small business coach Renee Trudeau at a small, quiet, private retreat center in Austin. Limited to 8 people. Cost: $249. Details/register. Email info@careerstrategists.net with questions.
  
  
• Private Customized Retreats: Renee is masterful at creating/facilitating empowering half, full day or weekend workshops or retreats for companies, organizations and groups. You can learn more about private retreats here or about her speaking/workshop topics, here. Email Sara Bogan, events manager at sara@reneetrudeau.com or call 512-459-6700 to check Renee’s availability.
  
  You may reprint this newsletter in its entirety provided you include at the end: Renee Peterson Trudeau is a life balance coach/speaker and author of The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life. You can download free book chapters, receive life balance tips or learn about upcoming events at www.ReneeTrudeau.com. Facebook: LiveInsideOut.
  
  

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