The Miss Elaine-ous Life

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Nurturing The Soul of Your Family

by

Do you have the perfect family?

Admittedly, I do not. 
On the outset we probably look that way. 
Three cute blonde kids, a Mom and a Dad.  Pretty photos, vacations, stories of love and time together.  
And we have all that, we do, but it’s FAR from perfect. 
We also have yelling and fighting and crying and slammed doors and bad days. 
We have too much screen time and too little spiritual time. 
Daily life seems to take some of the joy out of the family experience and I know that we are not the only ones. 
I just KNOW.  Because I see it and read about it every day.  
And we could all use a little help in this area, I am guessing. 
SO, when I received the book, Nurturing the Soul of Your Family, I was truly intrigued…

“What would it feel like to experience more ease, harmony and flow in the midst of navigating homework, squabbles, meetings, daily commutes and the challenges of everyday life? What if your family became your greatest joy?”
How could I refuse an idea like that?  Of course I want my family to be my greatest joy. And I want that for my husband and children too. 
The author, Renee Trudeau*, writes: 
“Each family has its own beautiful, unique essence or sacred connection.  Just as we need to tend to the emotional well-being of any relationship in order for it to thrive, we have to consciously nourish and nurture our family’s sweet, tender soul.”
She expands on this in the book by saying that she believes each family member is chosen to be a part of their particular family, in other words we are meant to be together. 
Trudeau offers up ten “paths of peace” for bringing more peace and harmony to family life, which mirror the chapters of her book.
*Tapping the transformative power of self-care: attune and respond to your needs and desires
* Healing from the inside out: peace begins with me
*Unplugging to plug in: crossing the digital divide
*Unleashing the healing power of nature: the ultimate antidepressant
*Making time for the spiritual renewal: return to the river within
*Loving the ones you’re with: spend time together (like you mean it!)
*Defining, celebrating, and honoring your family culture: what do you stand for?
*Slowing down: do less to experience more
*Exploring a new way of being: make hard choices, break free and do it differently
*Building your tribe: ask for and embrace help as you create your support network
I highlighted the third and fourth ones because they made THE most impact on me when I initially read the book.  ESPECIALLY the “unplugging part”.  
Trudeau talks about how we just need to hit the power button and even consider “media fasts” for our family.  She ask the question, “Is technology bringing your family together or driving you farther apart?”  Good question, huh?  She also writes that  “Any negative impact on your relationships is a problem”, and I can certainly attest to that. 
She further writes about the negative impact that media and technology overuse have on us, even physically, mentioning one client who says she became “so revved up from being plugged in all the time that, when she’s not online she finds it hard to slow down, be present with her family, and return to a relaxed state of being.”
I am sad to say I can relate. 
I could go on and on about just this one chapter but I also found greatness in the chapter about using nature as an antidepressant.  So, while you’re busy unplugging, hit the trail or the park or the campground!  And that is what we did the Sunday after I read this chapter and it was amazing.  Besides a little bit of complaining and  few “can we go home now”s, it was lovely to get out in nature, all five of us.

Trudeau lists a slew of ways that nature in beneficial to us but two of the main ones include helping to reduce stress and anxiety and supporting family connection and cohesiveness.  She is SO right.  I always feel so much better after even just our little walks around our neighborhood.

I encourage anyone looking for a little more peace and harmony in their family life to check out this book.  It can be life changing if put into practice.  We are certainly working on it over here.

Plus! I have a copy to give away to one super lucky reader!  Please leave a comment, telling me one of your favorite things about your unique family and for a bonus entry, please follow my Facebook page, The Miss Elaine-ous Life, and let me know that you did in a separate comment. 

*Renee Trudeau is a very sought after life balance coach and speaker and president of Career Strategists.  She leads life balance workshops and retreats for Fortune 500 companies and organizations worldwide. And thousands of women in ten countries are participating in Personal Renewal Groups based on her first book, The Mother’s Guide to Self Renewal.

I was sent one copy of Nurturing the Soul of Your Family for review purposes.  No other compensation was received for this post.  All opinions are my own, of course.  

U.S. Entries only. Giveaway closes Monday, March 18 at 11:59 p.m. central time.

Also linking up with #iPPP – join in! 

Comments

  1. Now that sounds like a book I’d enjoy! My current favorite thing about my family is our 15-minute party…every night after dinner, before we even clean up or do anything else, we do a 15-minute activity together. Tonight we built a fort and read books inside it. Other times we’ve done art projects or had dance parties…it is such a great part of my day! We all slow down and are totally present. 🙂

    Also, they have totally done studies showing that gardening is as effective as an anti-depressant in treating mild to moderate depression. Something that lives in the soil gets into you and makes you feel better! Crazy, huh?

  2. Reading your post has made me remember how much we enjoy spending time together outside as a family: walks, picnics, playing in the backyard, and camping. I am looking forward to spending more time outside now that spring is coming. 🙂

  3. I will definitely check out the book.
    I just finished Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin and enjoyed that very much as well.
    One can always strive to have more harmony in the family – I know we could use some for sure. We’re on our way and I’m happy for you that you’re going for it as well!

  4. So glad to see you have this review of the book! If I don’t win it, I will definitely be looking for it! I love that my family has our own inside jokes & routines that just we know, it makes me realize that for years to come some of these things will always be there with us.

  6. This sounds like a wonderful book! Our family is unique because we’re all so quirky in our own weird ways..and somehow, we make it work together!

  7. What I love about my family is that it’s well-timed. I waited a long time to find my wonderful husband and together, we had a son we adore more than anything in the world. We have so much happiness… and it’s always a work in progress. 🙂

  8. I want this Elaine! I want it so badly. I can relate too. Being so plugged in really revs me up and I definitely have a hard time slowing down. Something I love that my family does…most every Sunday we go to Lakeside. It’s a swim club we belong to. My husband swam there growing up. he was a competitive swimmer in high school and played water polo in college. It makes me feel so good, deep down good, to see him so happy to share that place and swim with our kids. It’s fun to watch him be in his element and teach them things. None of our kids have expressed interest in joining a swim team or anything and that’s okay. It’s not about pressuring them. we simply go and splash around and have a good time. I think I love him even more that he just wants the kids to have fun. it’s not about wanting them to follow in his footsteps 🙂

  9. Oh girl, this is the kind of book SO many of us need. I love that our family has family night every Monday. We learn about Jesus, sing a song, have a prayer and then have a fun activity. This week it was playing kickball as a family. We love to be outdoors together enjoying this beautiful world God has given us. I love love love it.

  11. Thank you for the book recommendation! Goodness knows I need to find some peace in the chaos! One of my favorite things about my family is seeing how much joy my kids bring each other – Although they’re both high energy, Austin is the silly one and Abby is more serious. They balance each other and bring giggles to each other like no one else can. 🙂

  13. In our family we try to sit down for dinner at the table every night and then we go around and tell each other our rose (good thing that happened) for the day, our thorn (not do great thing) and an act of kindness that we did that day. I didn’t really think it was making an impression until one night I had to leave for a meeting and Viv told me she was sad we weren’t “eating as a family!” I need this book though, and I think the chapters that impacted you would also be the most important for our family. I already like you FB page, but most importantly I like you!

  14. My favorite thing is going on adventures. And thankfully my kids are little enough that those “adventures” still count the library and local museums and walks to find acorns 🙂

  16. I love our fearlessly non-girly Annika and our sweet party dress wearing Mayzie. They are soo different, yet best friends, just like my husband and I.

  19. Sign me up!

    New favorite activity is listening to 7yro read a bedtime story to the 10yro – good practice and brother is the perfect cheerleader.

    Off to add this to my Goodreads, just in case I don’t win 😉

  21. Unplugging, YES!

    The one thing we do plugged in that brings us together as a family is play a couple of rounds of Family Feud on the phone every night. The kids really get into it and look forward to it. We all participate and we have fun.

  22. We love to go to the beach as a family, play outside in the yard and snuggle in bed on Sunday mornings.

  23. Oh wow, this book sounds great.
    One thing I love doing with the family is dressing up and going to the girls fave restaurant (not McD’s!). We call it Family Date Night.

  24. I totally agree with this, and we spend a ton of time outdoors. (All this rain has really hampered that lately!) I go for a walk/run everyday by myself, as well. It’s my God time. 🙂

    It’s not really unique, but we make an effort to get away a couple times a year. I think it’s really important for my hubby, which definitely benefits the rest of the family.

    P.S. I’m not on FB, so that’s the only reason I’m not following you!

  25. I am doing a media fast (and my family is too although they have no idea yet) next week! It seems like this book would fall right in line with that! 🙂

  26. That sounds incredibly awesome, and I agree that we are in the families that we are supposed to be in. We all have a part and a place.

  27. That sounds like an awesome book! I love that my kids all help each other, youngest to oldest and in between. They have fun in all combinations, and it’s great to watch as their mom.

  28. Well, if I don’t win, you know I’m going to have to buy a copy! Sounds fantastic and very much in keeping with my theme this year. My favorite thing about my family? I guess I like the fact that my kids are so close in age–I kind of like confusing people when we go places 🙂

  29. Yes…I think I need to read this book, also. And, I so agree with you about nature. Also, running is my antidepressant. I really think it is!
    One thing about our family that I love is we ALL LOVE being outside. We live outside in the summer.
    Thank you for sharing this. We are a far from perfect family as well.
    xo

  30. What an inspiring book! We are far from the perfect family! I easily get frustrated with my equally as stubborn as me child!

  31. We used to be SO good about Friday Family Fun night but have gotten away from it. We’ve already made the plan to get back to it before Friday nights become date night for our girls. (Loving the #ippp blogs I’m finding!!)

  36. I love the idea of this book. A family’s soul needs lots of nurturing and it sounds like these are wonderful suggestions! I’m glad

  38. every other Friday when the girls come back to me, we have movie night. Sometimes life and activities get in the way but then we do it Saturday. Time on the couch, snuggling in, enjoying each other.

  39. That sounds awesome – my favorite thing about my little family is that we all have the same sense of humor (mostly – the oldest is starting to think we’re unfunny) so we can really have fun and laugh together. We need to do more together outside though – I was just thinking last weekend that we need to do things like go to the park more often! Love your picture in this one too.

  46. Elaine, thanks so much for sharing this wisdom from Nurturing the Soul of Your Family with your readers. Families are really seeking fresh perspectives and tools right now. So many of us are ready to drop old habits and patterns that no longer work and explore new ways of being. It’s good to know we’re not alone and are all in this journey together! P.S. Every week we’re sharing excerpts, giveaways and articles from the book at http://www.facebook.com/nurturingthesoul if you’d like to check that out.