Pause. Are You Honoring Your Sacred Journey?
“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.” – Rumi
Every Sunday morning I facilitate a movement experience I created during COVID called Wild Souls Authentic Movement. Women of all ages from throughout Western North Carolina gather in a 100 year-old schoolhouse with dark, weathered wood floors in the forest near where I live. At the start of our class, I play this piece and invite each person to pause, breathe, look out the window at the tall trees and connect with the natural world. I invite my friends to honor their journey and, I offer up the question, “What if we entered each day as if it were sacred?”
I’m 58 and I have much to toast and many exciting adventures I’m looking forward to in the years to come. The media continually calls us to focus on how to be a better, shinier version of ourselves. But, personally, I want to cheer Renee on for making it through the last four years—not only intact, but hopefully a bit wiser and kinder.
We are not self-improvement projects. Can we remember to meet ourselves where we are with kindness, respect and to revere our journey (read self-care is not self-improvement)?
Is it time for you to pause and honor your journey? Here are 3 suggestions for getting started:
- Carefully choose friends/mentors who have the emotional and spiritual maturity to hold the space for what you are sharing; they should both allow you to show up “warts and all” while also seeing the highest and best in you. Be choosy.
- Remember one of my favorite mantras: many things are true at once. When looking at big life stuff, it’s easy to get in an all-or-nothing mindset. This rarely serves us; try to cultivate the ability to see more than one perspective (read how to become comfortable with polarities)
- Journaling can become a great tool for self-awareness and insight. Even just taking a few minutes each morning to reflect and write your answers to: How do I feel? What do I need? What do I want? (read about other tools for self-awareness). Writing is invaluable to helping me access the 30,000 foot view.
Your journey is sacred. It’s unique and provides you with opportunities for enormous transformation. Our greatest growth comes from staying awake, alert and present to what is unfolding moment to moment while standing in allegiance to ourselves and inviting in self-compassion.
Warmly,
I’D LOVE TO SUPPORT YOU! NEW/UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SELF-RENEWAL:
- June 21st, 1-6 p.m. ~ Sun & Moon Self-Care Retreat~ A Summer Solstice, Full Moon Experience on Lake Jocassee (photo above), Salem, SC ~90 minutes from Asheville, NC. Join like-hearted women on the Summer Solstice (the first day of summer and a strawberry full moon) on the gorgeous aquamarine waters of Lake Jocassee for a nature-based, self-renewal retreat. Optional: full moon, sunset cruise to follow. Early bird rate: $225 (ask about our bring-a-friend discount). Almost sold out! Details here.
- *NEW OFFERING!* Secrets to Facilitating Life-Changing Women’s Groups/Retreats in Uncertain Times ~ the course. Are you passionate about empowering other women in your area? Would you love to lead women’s groups/retreats? Connection = medicine. Created by Renee, this beautiful, self-paced video course–based on our wildly popular, now retired 18-year-old Facilitator Training Program–offers everything you need to start facilitating women’s circles/retreats. Download today; available 24/7. Only $195 for a limited time. Learn more.
- Wild Souls Nature Adventures (based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western NC): authentic movement classes, community song circles, full moon hikes, meditation workshops, women’s circles & more. New offerings listed each week; have me design a custom experience for your team/friends. Join us Sunday, June 16th for our next Wild Souls Authentic Movement Class near Asheville, NC. Learn more.
- October 25 – 27th ~ Soul Tending: Cultivating Grace, Power and Intuition ~ A Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health (Berkshire Mountains, Western MA). From stillness comes discernment. Your soul is calling, are you listening? Join me for connection, replenishing rest, divine natural foods cuisine, song/movement, restorative yoga and more. Packages start at just $635 for this soul-nurturing weekend. Learn more and register.
Subscribe here to Live Inside Out, a weekly blog written by mindfulness coach/author/speaker and catalyst Renée Peterson Trudeau. Passionate about helping men and women find balance through the art/science of self-care, Renee has been facilitating high-impact, interactive workshops for Fortune 500 companies, national nonprofits/conferences and organizations/teams worldwide for 25 years. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Fast Company, Good Housekeeping, Yoga Journal, AARP Magazine, Spirituality & Health and more. She and her team have certified more than 450 facilitators in 10 countries around the globe to lead self-renewal groups/retreats based on her pioneering self-care curriculum. She’s the author of two books on life balance including the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life. She and her husband live in Western North Carolina and their son is a senior in college; her latest venture is Wild Souls Nature Adventures. More on Renee here.
