"When we hold ourselves in the present, we're not forgetting the past; we're letting go of the past. We're not abandoning the future; we're making way for the future." —Andy Puddicombe

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One of the amazing gifts we possess as human beings is our mind and its myriad of capabilities. 

Two such capabilities certainly include our memory and our imagination, so our recollection of the past and our ability to look ahead to the future; however, without the knowledge of understanding how to put our mind in the passenger seat rather than passively letting it be the driver, these two capabilities can become hindrances to fully realizing all of the possibilities our life journey can experience.

I appreciate the quote above as it acknowledges a fear some may have when they begin to consider welcoming the practice of mindfulness into their lives. It acknowledges a common misconception that in order to be present we have to forget the past and no longer plan or have hope for the future. Both are entirely untrue. 

What we let go of is our attachment to both the past and present, because until we detach ourselves to either or both (depending upon the area of growth we need to work on), we are never fully able to be in the present moment. We are either setting limitations (based on past experiences) or setting expectations, both practices preventing the necessary component of living a fully life - having an open mind thus enabling us to dance with life and all its possibilities.

One of the many benefits of detaching ourselves from the past and the future is that we reduce our stress because the unnecessary stress we brought into our lives through the burden of expectations and energy draining worry due to past experiences no longer is a passenger with us for our life journey. 

Yes, there will be stress in our lives. If we embody a growth mindset as we navigate along our life journey, as we evolve and grow, challenges are faced which will cause temporary stress. This is necessary for the growth we desire to occur; however, as humans, if we are unaware of how to utilize the brain as our ally, it can usher in default practices, attachment, that increase our daily and lifetime stress unnecessarily. 

All of these topics and more will be taught and explored in-depth in the premiere online video course offered by TSLL this coming June 2024 - The Contentment Master Class, and after creating the curriculum over the past year and a half compiled over more than 10 years of research, exploration and personal experience of application, the filming began this past December. Now in the throes of both finishing filming and producing each lesson, I am excited to share with you that you can now learn a bit more about what to look forward to when the Contentment Master Class becomes available for enrollment five short months. Visit this page (the Courses page), scroll down to Contentment Master Class and then click 'learn more about this course' where you will find a list of answers to FAQs about this specific course's content.

I will be sharing more information as June approaches, but in the meantime, the links above will be the homebase for all things related to the course. 

But now we have a full monthly newsletter to get to! 

Complete with a detailed home tour of TSLL's Full Kitchen Reveal, now entirely complete with all of the décor details that took time to find and source, the beginning of the two-month series helping readers and listeners kick off the new year well (each post/episode is labeled below), two Style posts, and of course, an abundance of items to explore and peruse in the weekly This & That posts. 

Wishing you a wonderful conclusion to this first month of what I am confident is already unfolding into a wonderful new year. We've got this! Thank you for subscribing, and I do hope you enjoy. Until the final day, a leap day!, in February (Thursday), the 29th, 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 can only read two complimentary posts a month (it will reset on the first of each month - tomorrow!).