This was a project I was working on a while ago...never really having done "boudoir" I was curious. To be honest, I'd never seen much boudoir that I liked. Usually cheesy and unnatural. I wanted something that embraced fun, sexy...real. Honest.
Last night...4:42am
Thanks creativity for disturbing my slumber. Typing the words into my Blackberry...

Naked.
A state of mind.
A way of being.
That's honest.
Geniune...revealing.
Your true nature.
You.
Without all the stuff.
The layers.
Free from things that bind you, hold you back.

It has nothing to do with clothes 'off'...it's more.
Fully expressed.
Rockin vulnerability.
Transparency.
The real...You.
What you see is what you get.

In a world where the drive for 'more' has become standard.
And exhausting.
The simplicity of naked will save us.
There is so much 'more' to less...
Bearing all.
Who are you really?

Can you undress yourself to the world, show up and not give a shit?
They're going to criticize you anyways.
Can you speak up, stand out...express yourself?

Strip away the...
Distractions.
Expectations.
Ideas, wants and desires.

To expose...
Authenticity.
Truth...
and more love than you've ever known.

The only UN-dress code ever required is...
That you be radically...YOU.
- jodi renée 2012

And thanks Courtney for being vulnerable, being awesomely confidently...You.
xo

As a creative entrepreneur admittedly one of the toughest obstacles for "me" has been distractions. I constantly have to remind myself...what REALLY matters.
The delusion that 'checking facebook or twitter' a few times a day...or replying back to every blackberry message...looking at other blogs...surfing, reading, looking, chatting, checking, doesn't make a difference...
It does.
Tabs. For me...it's tabs. Convincing myself I'm just a visual junkie and I need to have things to look at to be inspired. The philosophy being "If I don't see it, I'll forget about it." And a never-ending obsession to 'do it right' or 'keep up to speed'...(which is a Thief! Joy sucker...time consumer!)
Several people have zeroed in on this uh...addiction (that's the first step to the 12 steps right?)
Them: You're addicted to the computer.
Me: I need inspiration! I find inspiration.
Them: ...it's in you, it's around you.
Me: oh. yea. 
Focusing on the things that don't matter...I severely compromise the things that do. Not to mention my computer slows down...ironically I get stuck and slow...work becomes harder. Too much time in front of the computer doing the things that don't matter keeps me from doing the work that does, eventually impeding on...
The ONLY thing that does matter.
The people I love.
My dreams, goals and achievements.
My happiness.
...and my gifts.
The ones I've been blessed with that GIVE to so many.


I've said it before that one of the most amazing and precious gifts we can give to others is...time.
And it's the one thing I hear that people wish they had more of.
Yet, we're all given the same amount.
I look at some of the most successful and inspirational people I know who are SO busy "making things happen" and wonder where on Earth they get the TIME?? To build their businesses on so many levels, to travel, and most importantly to spend quality time with their families. CLARITY + FOCUS.
Knowing what you want. And letting absolutely nothing get in your way.

So in an effort to eliminate the unnecessary distractions from my life...
I just turned off all the notifications from twitter and Facebook to my phone.
Have committed to checking and updating Facebook only twice a day...because is everyone else's life updates more important than MY TIME? ...absolutely not.
Will implement a one-tab-at-a-time rule. (ok, this will be my toughest. please hold me accountable! This is probably a serious game changer for me = getting shit done.)
And am still figuring out a way to manage my Blackberry...while I'd love to shut it off at night it's still my only method to connect to some people. Any suggestions? 
Remember...there is NO TIME to find. We have enough. Finding time is more about eliminating the things that WASTE OUR TIME, then about actually creating more of it. 

Love...xo
jodi renée

I'm almost finished editing my Puerto Vallarta vacation photos.
Amazing how going away...you realize how wound up you are.
I think too much. Have always been a thinker.
(insert brooding, worrying, over-analyzing, anxiety...stressss)
Often thinking it's my nature, it's who I am...yea nooo.
Then I realize I'm thinking too much.
We're not really thinking beings.
Our thoughts aren't who we are.
We're actually just constantly regurgitating garbage.
It would be different if we were recycling good thoughts, re-using and renewing, making for a better planet.
Nope. Pure waste.
Did you know that almost all of the stuff we think about is the same repetitious garbage as yesterday?...and the day before that...and the day before that?
If it IS motivational and inspiring on repeat about how awesome you are, grateful and propels you to the life of your dreams then...
You're one of a kind.

At some point in time, we just started filling our heads. With thoughts. And too many of them.
I don't believe we're here to 'think' at all.
I believe we're here to feel.
Experience doesn't require to use your head...it's as simple as tapping into your feelings. Using all of your senses.
We recollect a person by the scent of something that reminds us...
A song propelling us to a 'certain time'.
Sunsets fill us with peace.
The ocean soothes and calms.
There's a reason why we go away and relax. Unwind.
Getting out of our head is the ticket to our own freedom.
Sadly we all can't afford to jet set to the Island of Inner Peace nor do we have enough airmiles to cash in.
The funny thing about inner peace and stillness is...
It's not something you look to find or get.
We have it always.
And it's available at any time.

Thinking it was 2007.
I was visiting my brother.
Lots of people, lots of conversation.
The loudest however?
Was the conversation going on in my head.
Like a movie where everything is sorta blurry and in slow motion. Yet the words around me...spinning so fast.
Madness.
I tell people that that was the moment I was convinced I was 'losing it'. Curious if all straight jackets were the same style or could I find something a little less bulky, more tailored? Perhaps it came in a different shade? And what about those padded rooms...I mean that could be fun no? Apparently trampolines have multi benefits so flinging yourself around 4 walls that was covered in Sealy Mattress (hopefully with a eurotop) might even keep me...svelte?
I had no idea why this was happening.
And the anxiety over the worry that...
I really am going to go crazy.
Unless...?
I went back home that day and remember standing in front of my bookshelf.
Let me remind you that I"m a bookaholic so I often have books that I've purchased a LONG time before I even begin to read them.
I grabbed the Untethered Soul (a book recommended by Yoga Journal).
I flipped open to the very first chapter..."The Voice Inside Your Head".
Sold.
How timely.
...game changer.

...Your thoughts have no effect on anything or anybody, except you. They are simply going to make you feel better or worse about what is going on now, what has gone on in the past, or what might go on in the future. If you spend your time hoping that it doesn't rain tomorrow, you are wasting your time. Your thoughts don't change the rain. You will someday come to see that there is no use for that incessant internal chatter, and there is no reason to constantly attempt to figure everything out. Eventually you will see that the real cause of problems is not life itself. It's the commotion the mind makes about life that really causes the problems. - Michael A. Singer.

I have read this book several times since then.
It's not an easy read. And it's an amazing read.
This is a constant practice for me. Still.
However my anxiety is rare.
Moments of peace and pure joy more frequent.
I notice a total correlation to these moments of peace when I'm really not thinking about anything...just doing my thing...and being me.
So often I here desires for more time, less anxiety.
And I want you to know that if I can do it...so can you.
It's not our true nature to worry or think so much.
Because take it from me...you'll waste your life.
The narrative of that 'chatter' or monkey mind as they call it in Yoga...is only a narrative in attempt to control the world around you...
In the name of attempting to hold the world together, you're really just trying to hold yourself together.
And true living is...complete surrender to the unknown.
This life is a mystery.
Live it as such...

When I can free up the space in my head. I'm clear and open in my heart.
Which changes EVERYTHING.
My relationships...the work that I do.
This place of stillness and silence is where all our inspiration and creativity brews.

Whether you're an artist, entrepreneur, or maybe a stay at home mom and whatever your goals and dreams are...
I would love to hear from you and if this is something you struggle with, then I want to help.
I will be offering 30 minutes of FREE phone coaching/consultations for a select few that email me at: jodi@jodirenee.com.
You MUST also send me a brief bio of yourself, what you do, where you're at, what you struggle with and a goal/dream you currently have.
Please note that any changes in life must first be met with real honesty. I'm raw...and don't sugar coat anything. Unless it's the rim of a margarita of course...

let's do this! ...love jodi renée

It's light I'm after.
The gorgeous, radiant and magical light around us...
And even more so, the gorgeous, radiant and magical light...'within'.
Sometimes I get emails to this effect:
...these look magic.
I'm not photogenic and I know you'll work your magic...Your confidence is great! and while that may come in handy whilst ever I succumb to the straight jacket.
I'm here to break it to ya.
I am not Houdini.
Or Copperfield.
No Blaine! Sadly I'm even bad at manufacturing coins from behind the ears.

The secret to magic images?
While I'm a BIG fan to that huge ball of light in the sky. Yep Sun, that's you.
And location. I prefer somewhere that is meaningful...and au natural.
The biggest secret to magical images however, is:
You.
And everything...Kinda everywhere. It's all magic really.
But we miss it. We forget it.
We give up on it...
and then give up on ourselves.
We do not see things as they are, we see things as WE are. Anais Nin
Remember your imagination as a child? Making things up that weren't even there. Seeing everything out of nothing. Serving up food from an Easy Bake Oven. Creating lives and stories with Lego and Barbies? Traveling to the moon and Neverland in your mind.
And you believed it. That's what made life fun and interesting.
Being a ninja or a superhero. You could be anything, anywhere.
Now imagine NOT believing in any of that...and how dreadfully boring growing up would have been. We were actually more curious and imaginative with boxes then we were with what was inside of them.
Sooooo less 'stuff'...more space. More freedom. More possibility?
Interesting.
Limited by 'things' and without the 'things' we had to create something...invent something.
Dream and imagine.
This doesn't have to end at age 5...7...22...or even...ever.

Admittedly...dream conquering is a very challenging feat (hi. if it was easy we'd all be doing it!)
And despite the fears and obstacles that hold me hostage some times.
Okay, often. Alright...a lot.
(Ransom is currently set at a cool 1 million that is ALL...all donations are welcome howeva.)
Admittedly if it's one thing that runs through the course of my veins it's...that I BELIEVE that anything is possible. For anyone.
Yea...that means you.
Which is why I'm a tad crazy and out there at times.

Probably why I land in an open field with amazing (just as crazy people) in a dress and a killer suit, with a cute-as-hell-little-boy...also in a suit! And then the moon just happens to be awesomely and magicaly it's full moon self.
There was an air guitar. Geese flying overhead at...just the right time...
Seems pretty out there and oh so acid...riiiiight.
Just pure good Ol fashion magic.
And...Courtney, Andrew and Kingston.
Just being themselves.
We DID have a purpose for this time together, which is different then any expectations.
But it was important to me that nothing was fake or contrived.
Balloons and all. This is...WHO THEY ARE.
And they...trust me.
They let go...(the secret to this is...scuse my french is: not giving a f#ck to what you're doing, who's seeing this, how you look etc.)
We literally had an empty and barren space which was a beautiful canvas for light...
Love.
To just be our silly and creative selves. 
And what happens is there is no separation. The purpose of the shoot becomes one thread woven from the tapestry of their already magical, amazing life. It's all the same...

And then we all just laugh at how crazy we are.
How crazy life is.
= amazing.
My kinda Magic.
Once you see the magic that's already in you,
it never ceases to unfold...
love xo
jodi renée

For more information on the custom suits in the above images, please contact Andrew HERE.
And don't forget to connect on my Facebook Fanpage! I'd love to hear from you!
FYI...The balloons were remnants from Kingston's birthday hoorah just in case you're wondering how it's real to have balloons with you in the random field. Which makes me wonder why we don't just have more balloons "because"...
Why do we need to wait? like cake?
Every day should be a celebration.
So have your balloons and eat your cake too! ...

Labels: balloons, creative, fall, family, Kitchener, life, lifestyle, love, magic