Love's gift, one of the many, is that it changes us forever and for the better. 

As many of you may already know, as I posted earlier this week, my sweet Mr. Oscar passed away. I know that death can trigger a wide variety of emotions, so I will let you read my post in memoriam if you so choose, and in this month's newsletter Letter from the Editor I would like to do my best to share what goodness I have found and write a few thoughts to uplift you wherever your life finds you along your journey.

I will admit, there are only a handful of hearts of humans I have loved deeply, and very few, thankfully have passed away. Conversely, there have been many animals, pets and furry companions, and as we know, their lives are destined to be far shorter than our own, but perhaps we can learn how to be more fully present, savor our time in every moment and let go of any habit to take for granted what we've been given. I am not sure how to learn the lessons love teaches without experiencing real love personally, but I do know, the only way to feel love is to be love.

Being love can often be misunderstood, too narrowly defined. One necessity to embody the 'being' is to express your sincere and true self. Take off the façade, remove the figurative masks and false selves and courageously, without guarantee, share yourself with the world around you. 

As I continue to grow, learn and become more courageous in sharing my true self in my daily life, I find the relationships, the connections, the exchanges, I encounter have more depth, more beauty and thus more love (of any kind - love for community, love for the beauty of the day, platonic or romantic). All of that is to say, when such connections and any relationship that may grow over time emerges (without expectation, but wonderfully organically), if it should end - someone moves away, someone passes away, someone leaves the place of work which brought you together - the loss felt pains us more deeply. 

For many reasons, when we give of ourselves, a piece of us feels as though it has left us when a relationship changes in ways unwanted, but when that happens, I speak from experience, that our heart, ourselves, our being, whatever it is that breaks upon the departure, has grown far more than it would have ever done without the connection shared because we shared a piece of ourselves truly and they themselves with us. 

I encourage you today to choose to love and to be love in your daily life. Be open to the potentiality of whatever may cross your path without assumption or expectation. Simply be love - in your words, your thoughts, your actions, hopes and your handling of your emotions as you navigate pain as well as exuberance. I don't know what will unfold when you choose to be love in your daily life, but I know, it will bring a life full of many moments of joy to savor in the moment and after their passing. 

As we move in to this month's newsletter, you will have noticed, it arrived on the final day of the month as opposed to the last Friday of the month. As shared last week in a short email, this shift in delivery will be the new schedule moving forward. As a way to ensure you receive all of the content from the current month, and to not compete with the Weekly Newsletter which arrives every Friday, I felt this was a positive change. 

I want to thank you for choosing to subscribe to TSLL's newsletter. So many of the past Letters from the Editor are being considered for TSLL's 3rd book of Daily Meditations, and I am excited to share we only have one more chapter to edit before we begin polishing the final manuscript up and putting it together. We are so close, and I am incredibly excited, proud and admittedly the littlest bit nervous sharing far more personal moments and memories, but that is also why I cannot wait to bring it to you in the Spring 2022. 

Now to the newsletter which is FULL of content from style (three Outfits of the Month), an entire Fall Seasonal Shopping Guide, three new episodes of The Simply Luxurious Kitchen cooking show, seasonal inspiration posts, the latest season of The Simple Sophisticate podcast, and so much more. 

To explore every post you wish to read, be sure to become a member/subscriber 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!). 

Until Sunday October 31st, I will see you on the blog.

—Shannon