Blog - Renee Trudeau

Three Ways to Have Your Own Back

The week before final exams my freshman year in college, my healthy, 44-year-old dad had a massive heart attack. I was devastated. But what saddens me as I look back on that rough time, is that I didn’t reach out for support. Other than sharing…

The Only New Year’s Resolution We Need

Newsletter, Self-Care

During a family holiday trip to Texas, we watched an apocalyptic thriller about cyber-attacks, survival and class/racial tension. As the story unfolds there are countless times when the two families who are thrown together to navigate numerous…

Want to Feel More Free? Do it Differently

Mindfulness, Newsletter

This past weekend my husband and I went to an exciting personal development workshop. Then, yesterday, we visited thermal hot springs and tried a new Greek restaurant. And today, I spontaneously decided to gather friends for a community song…

Why Kindness Matters and 3 Ways to Begin

Newsletter, Self-Care

One time while leading a workshop in California, my teaching assistant and I had a rude, jarring experience with another presenter. We later found out he had recently lost his partner. Consequently, our hearts softened and our perspective of…

8 Ways To Embrace Your Shadow

Mindfulness, Newsletter

While I love celebrating Christmas as a season of light and time of spiritual renewal, sometimes the days before and after this sacred holiday can be a bit dark for me. Between the cold, grey weather, honoring my deceased mother's Dec. 20th…

5 Ways to Find Rest & Renewal This Month

Newsletter, Self-Care

Last week I spent an hour with my December calendar—not penciling things in, but revisiting pending events and making intentional choices that support a more open, spacious, restorative winter schedule. Does the thought of hanging lights…

Reminder: You Are Not a Self-Improvement Project

Newsletter, Self-Care

One rainy, Sunday morning, I was lying in bed reading from author Anne Lamott's beautiful little book Small Victories. In one of her stories about parenting, she shares with a little self-deprecation, but mostly tenderness, how she doesn't bake…

Want to Feel Good Fast? Get Grateful (here’s how)!

Mindfulness, Newsletter

Growing up, our overachiever family placed a high value on competency. Often that translated into a critical mindset toward self and others, where we frequently saw the bad before the good. This way of being, like all patterns, became habitual…

Six Tips For A More Mindful Holiday Season

Mindfulness, Newsletter

Recently, my extended family all hopped on a Zoom call to pause, check-in and share our intentions for this holiday season: what's most important to us during our time together and what we each need right now when it comes to self-care. We decided…

Sisterhood: How Do You Affirm Women?

Newsletter, Women's Empowerment

I once spoke at a statewide girls’ empowerment conference to a group of 300 ten to thirteen-year-olds. As I was waiting to go on stage, I overheard a small group of girls talking about their day. One of them was on fire after learning about…