• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • 0Shopping Cart
Renee Trudeau
  • About
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Self Renewal Groups
  • Books & Audio
  • Contact
  • Menu Menu

Are you living your life (or someone else’s)?

Self-Care
Monk's Pond at Kripalu Yoga & Wellness Center, Berkshire Mountains, MA.

Monk’s Pond at Kripalu Yoga & Wellness Center, Berkshire Mountains, MA.

“It is 1976, and my dad has left his booming medical practice in San Antonio. We have abandoned our comfortable, sprawling ranch-style home on two acres and have moved into a twelve-hundred-square-foot home with a wood-burning stove on fifty acres set back on a red dirt road in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada. When I am older, my parents will tell me they made the move in order to support a simpler life, to be more connected to nature, and to be near an active spiritual community. But right now, I am furious. I hate leaving my friends. I hate the idea of moving to a “yoga community.” I’m sure I will never see another Hostess Ding Dong again! Also, I’m nervous and anxious because I have no idea what the future holds. But slowly, as the first year unfolds, I become excited about our new adventure. At school I meet kids from all over whose parents are just as weird as — if not weirder than — mine, and I get to enjoy a tremendous amount of freedom. I study pottery and other arts, and I write short stories while roaming the hundred-acre grounds of our school. Every day, my siblings and I ride horses through undiscovered forests and explore crashing rivers and forgotten trails nestled in tall, inviting Ponderosa pine trees. I find, like my dad, I’m a risk taker. Part of me gets why he is doing this. He — in his own way — is trying to create a new way of being for his family.

Years later, as an adult, I will often joke that all I remember doing during our six years in California is riding horses, reading the Bhagavad Gita, writing poetry, and making stained-glass windows. Yet this period of my life — when I am given the time, space, freedom, and encourage- ment to really explore who I am — will have a profound and lasting impact on who I become.

My family did what many people say they dream of doing: escaping to a quieter rural life — away from electronics, traffic, overwork, and too many choices. It sounds appealing, but the truth is we don’t need to go anywhere to experience what we desire. We are given the opportunity daily to make choices that support a simpler, more harmonious way of living.

How have you chosen to set up your life? What choices have you made that impact how and where you work, play, live, eat, spend, and move through your day and life? Ultimately, the question for all of us becomes: What does the life we desire look like, and are we willing to make the choices necessary to experience a new way of being — to embrace greater freedom and joy?

There ’s a difference between not having a choice and having to make a hard choice. Sometimes we forget that we create our vision for how we want to live. We do. Not our parents, not our kids, pets, friends, school or community. We do.”  (This excerpt is from Ch.9 Breaking Free: Making Hard Choices from Nurturing the Soul of Your Family.)

Interestingly, my husband and I are now asking some of the same questions my parents did 38 years ago. What do we want the second half of our life to look and feel like? How can we simplify our routine, shorten commutes, create more space for downtime and creative pursuits, and what lifestyle, financial and values-based decisions should we be considering now in order to keep moving in this direction?  (If you’re asking the same questions, pick up a copy of my newest life balance book where in Ch. 9, I  guide you through exercises to help you come into greater alignment with the life you desire. Or consider working with one of our career/life strategists for high-level support.)

JOIN ME! I’m in the home stretch of my book  launch. I’ll be leading a New Way of Being Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at Kripalu Yoga & Wellness Center June 21-23 (sorry, it’s sold out, but join us Oct. 18-20 at Kripalu), a free “sampler” mini retreat at Kripalu June 22 at 7:30 p.m. and a mini self-renewal retreat and book signing at The TreeHouse school in Asheville, NC on June 30th. Details on all events here.  I’d love to have some “belly time” with you–come meet me in person!

P.S. Interested in the work we do and live in Central Texas? We’re interviewing people now for two very part-time positions (ideal for SAHM or a self-employed mom). Learn more and apply today.

Subscribe here to Live Inside Out, a weekly blog written by life balance teachers/speaker author Renée Peterson Trudeau. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping and numerous media outlets. Thousands of women in ten countries are participating in Personal Renewal Groups based on her first book, the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and son. More on her background here.

 

 

June 17, 2013/by renee
Tags: Bhagavad Gita, kripalu, new way of being, Newsletter, nurturing the sou of your family, Simplify, slow family, The TreeHouse in Asheville
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
https://reneetrudeau.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/kripaluandtxswimpics-300x2251-e1371503113830.jpg 225 300 renee https://reneetrudeau.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/renee_trudeau_logo_tagline.png renee2013-06-17 21:13:312019-05-13 11:24:04Are you living your life (or someone else’s)?

Subscribe to my blog

 

 

Archives

Categories

Popular Blog Posts

Self-Care 101: Three Ways to Begin

This Is The Time to Take a Retreat (Here’s How)

6 Things to Do When The Going Gets Tough

Self-care is Not About Improving Yourself

Connection = Medicine. Are You Getting Your Daily Dose?

Pause. Are You Honoring Your Journey?

Feeling Out of Sorts? Start with Self-Compassion

Are You Nurturing Your Friendships (+Why You Should)?

Sign up and receive my meditation on How To Start Your Day Intentionally.

My inspiring Tuesday emails provide timely life balance tools to help you soar through your week, plus receive pre-invites to our sell-out events.

Sign up and receive my meditation on How To Start Your Day Intentionally.

My inspiring Tuesday emails provide timely life balance tools to help you soar through your week, plus receive pre-invites to our sell-out events.

Get In Touch

info@reneetrudeau.com

512-459-6700

Popular Blog Posts

Self-Care 101: Three Ways to Begin

This Is The Time to Take a Retreat (Here’s How)

6 Things to Do When The Going Gets Tough

Self-care is Not About Improving Yourself

Connection = Medicine. Are You Getting Your Daily Dose?

Pause. Are You Honoring Your Journey?

Feeling Out of Sorts? Start with Self-Compassion

Are You Nurturing Your Friendships (+Why You Should)?

Upcoming Events

March 1-31st ~ Wild Souls Nature Adventures (Blue Ridge Mountains, NC). New experiences are posted each week; keep checking back! Learn more.

April 14-16 ~ Awakening Your Wild Soul: A Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health (Berkshire Mountains, MA). Learn more/register.

May 2023 ~ FREE Self-Care Global Summit with Renee and other self-care authors, teachers, coaches, and experts in relationships, spirituality, health & wellness and more. Registration coming soon.

May – June ~ Spring 2023 Women’s Self-Renewal Group  Small group/in person. Brevard, NC. Email us at info at reneetrudeau dot com to receive an invitation.

October 13-15th ~ Awakening Your Wild Soul: A Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health (Berkshire Mountains, MA). Registration coming soon!

© 2023 Renée Trudeau. Privacy Policy + Terms of Use
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • About
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Self Renewal Groups
  • Books & Audio
  • Contact
  • Facilitator Login
  • My Account
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

OKLearn more

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Accept settingsHide notification only