To be love.

In my daily meditation practice, I conclude each day's 5-10 minutes of sitting calmly with the verbally expressed intention: 

May you be content.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be love.
May your life be filled with peace.
Namaste.

Over the years this expression of intention has changed as I became more aware of what I wanted to extend to not only myself but to those in my life, and it is the inclusion of the phrase "May you be love" that reminds me to instead of seeking love, be the love I wish to feel in my life and the world. 

In other words, how am I showing up in the world? In my relationships? What energy do I bring to the space I enter when I am with others? Are my words and actions loving or defensive? I cannot control how either are received, but with thoughtful intention and a dedication to solely engaging with loving-kindness and integrity, I am being love.

​​​​​​​Admittedly, choosing to be love requires of each of us to be vulnerable, and that can be terribly scary especially when those we are engaging with take advantage of our chosen vulnerability. In such cases, we must be loving toward ourselves and find the strength to let go and step forward toward the potential for different and new connections. 

While the stepping forward toward new connections is often a long process, if we are being love, we will find those loving connections that support our choice to be vulnerable - in our daily lives, in our work, in our romantic life – and we will begin to see our lives change as we had only previously hoped had been possible. 

My own journey involved making this choice years ago, and in smaller ways, over the past ten years (many of these stories are included in TSLL’s new book – The Road to Le Papillon). Gradually, but out of respect toward what I believed intuitively was possible regarding feeling real love and connection, I made choices, let go of relationships, even moved to a new town and tasked myself to continue to grow, to bravely reach out and connect with new people, new activities and a life I love living. 

The moves and the letting go won't prompt the improvement. No. We must marry our choices to change our external world with a determination to change our inner world as well - to better understand ourselves, to learn the helpful 'soft' skills (many talked about in my 2nd book and often discussed on the podcast) and have patience with ourselves, perhaps even asking for help from a trusted counselor to better understand how to bravely be vulnerable while equally knowing what we need and how to communicate those needs lovingly.

Often being love is stopped in its tracks because the initial first step feels as though we are trying to move feet that have been set in nearly dry concrete. Change is hard . . . at the beginning. The weight of change, to step out of a habit or way of living we have done for so long, that worked to protect ourselves from pain, is initially heavy because we are doing it on our own and because we don't have all of the tools we will eventually gain to help us set aside what is no longer working. (I write more about this in this post regarding the breaking through the Pain Box that surrounds us.)

So long as you keep stepping toward the life, the mindset, the loving path, the steps will become lighter and more natural and you will be free from the old concrete that weighed you down where you did not want to remain, and only did so because you did not know you could move into something better. 

I would like to share with you a passage from a book written by the late and much beloved and respected Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh about how to express and be loving kindness in your everyday life:

"Loving Kindness

The first element of true love is loving kindness. The essence of loving kindness is being able to offer happiness. You can be the sunshine for another person. You can't offer happiness until you have it for yourself. So build a home inside by accepting yourself and learning to love and heal yourself. Learn how to practice mindfulness in such a way that you can create moments of happiness and joy for your own nourishment. Then you have something to offer the other person."

As we step into a new month. A month that while short reminds us to love, consider setting for your intention each day and every day throughout the year to be love. To do so may not be a shift at all in your life and perhaps all you need is a reminder to do so more intentionally, or it may be a significant and deeply brave shift as you begin the journey to live a life you love. Just know, you are not alone on the journey of being loving and discovering the positive changes your life will experience when you do. From my own experience as I am on this journey now, it will take great gumption and courage, but your investment will be wise, and your life will blossom and deepen in its quality more than you might have ever thought was possible. Bonne courage. Bon amour.

In this month's newsletter, January postings reveal a new TSLL in many shapes and forms. All hopefully to enhance your experience as a reader who is seeking tranquility and deeper fulfillment in their everyday life. 

There is much news, so I will save all of that for the box just below (the bulleted list). Be sure to check it out as there are multiple limited-time opportunities on a variety of topics. 

You may have noticed the newsletter's color themes have been updated to match the new colors on the blog. As well, I tried to delineate more clearly each section and category of posts below, so you can find exactly what you love to read that is posted regularly each month. 

Speaking of the new blog design, yep, TSLL has a new online home, and I am tickled beyond by the expertise my web tech team brought to this project (thank you Dash Creative!). If you haven't already, I encourage you to watch the short video I created that walks you through all that has been updated that will enable you to tailor your visits to how best enjoy the blog, where to find and save the content you love and interact how you prefer with me as well as other readers. 

Most excitedly, TSLL 3rd Book was revealed - the cover, the contents - and tomorrow, news about how to preorder The Road to Le Papillon: Daily Meditations on True Contentment will be shared on the blog. Without newsletter subscribers like yourself, the book would not have seen the light of day as you encouraged this format of book - a daily meditations book sharing an inspiring entry for each day of the year - sharing with me over the years such a book was exactly what you would enjoy reading. I listened, and I cannot wait to share all 490+ pages with you when it is released on March 22nd. 

Now to the newsletter! Full of posts to inspire your life, your wardrobe, your new year. Thank you for choosing to be a monthly subscriber, and I hope you have a wonderful start to the week and the new month. 

Until Monday February 28th, I will see you on the blog.

—Shannon

~To explore every post you wish to read, be sure to become a member to one of the two tiers - BASIC or TOP as non-members/subscribers can only read five posts a month (it will reset on the first of each month - tomorrow!).