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A life lived grounded in contentment provides the foundation of fulfillment, enjoyment and an abundance of happiness to be experienced every single day all the while knowing you are contributing what you can uniquely give to the world and simultaneously equally nourishing yourself.
Take a look at the list below: Do any of these describe your current life chapter?
—You have consciously lived a thoughtful life, but even with the decisions you have made during your life journey thus far, something feels like it is missing. Not a physical thing, per se, because you are someone who does their homework when it comes to finding and investing well – taking time to curate your wardrobe, carefully planning the best vacation, building the ‘perfect’ relationships, etc., etc., but rather a feeling, a deep feeling of peace that seems elusive no matter what you do.
—If you are trying to find your true self, or return to your true self, this course will familiarize, or refamiliarize, you with who you have always been at the core of you.
—By constantly trying to make life ‘happier’ you have tried to control outcomes, even forcing things to happen before they were ready. This is realized in hindsight that because of the rush and push, the foundation wasn’t strong and either it cracked and fell apart, or you found yourself in a place that you realized was not where you actually wanted to be, even though either you convinced yourself, or society convinced you, it would be.
—If you are a perfectionist or are a recovering perfectionist, you have perfected being perfect, but it never brings the inner peace and steady calm you thought would arrive.
—Nights are restless because you may wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to turn your mind off. You may fall asleep exhausted, but when you wake up before the alarm clock, your mind is racing before you even fully open your eyes. You are mentally exhausted before the day has already begun.
—If you have been wise enough to not pursue what doesn’t sit well with your being, have bravely chosen a different path and tried to align with your curiosities, but still haven’t found the calm and deep ease and contentment you thought you would find by doing so and perhaps you are struggling to shut out the outside world that is trying to shame or guilt you into doing something differently, please know, you are so very close to what you seek and I am happy you are here. You will find the tools in this course that will help you reach what you have nearly attained: Deep True Contentment, experienced in every day of your life regardless of what the outside world says, does or wants you to believe.
—Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, if you are a reader and/or listener of TSLL: If you have read or listened to one of the many posts of TSLL blog or episodes of the podcast, The Simple Sophisticate over the past 14+ years focused on living simply luxuriously, a life that is grounded in cultivating true contentment, or read one or all of my three books, and so you understand what contentment is, and you are ready, you are and have been wanting to welcome true contentment into your life, but feel overwhelmed with all of the content and want help trying to connect the dots, and are seeking clear, step-by-step instruction about how to put into practice these skills into your life, this course was made for you.
Let’s take a look at the introductory video to the course:
How Your Life Will Change Following Completion of the Course:
* You will stop getting in your own way (and understand how you were unconsciously doing so).
* Your mind will become your sage, your best friend, your dependable go-to.
* You will begin to sleep well, deeply, through the entire night, and if you do happen to wake up in the middle of the night, you will have the knowledge of your mind to fall back to sleep with ease.
* You will enjoy your own company and respect yourself to know whose company to keep when you are with others.
* You will have a keen antennae for constructive or negative energy from others and make wise decision for your best path forward in both your business and personal life.
* You will find your unique path for what and how to live (including making a living – i.e. your career) and discover how to give where both the recipient and the giver (you) are enriched and your lives each benefit.
* You will no longer wait for ‘tomorrow’, but rather will genuinely enjoy your now, having hopes for the future, putting into place the right habits and efforts, but then holding and savoring fully the present.
* The expectations and the waiting for life to finally ‘happen’ will no longer be part of your modus operandi.
* Serendipity will become a frequent visitor into your days.
* Opportunities will arise that align with your hopes and passions, and you will have the trust in yourself to seize them.
* You will know how to nourish healthy, loving and secure relationships of all kinds.
* Your life will begin to take shape in a unique way, beyond the image you previously had in your head prior to living in contentment, and you will be overjoyed to let it be what it will be.
* You will discover (or rediscover) your true self and begin living outwardly as who you truly are.
Course Curriculum:
8 Key Lessons
1st: Introduction & Welcome
2nd: Where to Begin? Choose TO Begin.
3rd: Understanding the Cycle of Transformation
4th: Understand the Language of the Universe
5th: The Power of Presence
6th: Cultivating the Habit of Mindfulness
7th: Navigating the Unwanted
8th: Living A Contented Life Every Day
Within these eight over-arching lessons, you will find 60 mini-lessons, a total of 15+ hours of detailed content. Let’s take a look at the syllabus . . .
Course Syllabus:
Lesson #1:
-What is Contentment and Why Cultivate It?
-Change Your Approach
Lesson #2:
-Choose TO Begin: Cultivating Contentment, Choice is Freedom
-How to Give Yourself the Gift of Contentment Everyday (it is possible)
-How to Discover Your True Self
-The Importance of Solitude
-Inspiration to Discover What Brings You to Life
-The Value of Curiosity
-Nourishing Healthy Relationships: With Others and Ourselves
-How to Be Brave: And WHY it is Important
-Experience More Aha Moments in Your Life
-How to Reset and the Value of Doing So
-Setting Boundaries
-Understanding How to Become Comfortable with Temporary Discomfort
-What is Your Enough and How Will You Know?
Lesson #3:
-How to Thwart the Negative/Unhelpful Defaults/Habits
-The Self-Sabotage Cycle
-Understanding Negativity: Its Origins
-Learn How to Think Critically
-How to Change Your Brain, So Your Mind Can Thrive
-How to Master Your Mind
-Self-Awareness
-Meditation
-How to Meditate
-Guided Meditation with Shannon
-Simple Awareness
Lesson #4:
-Making the Choice to Cultivate Contentment
-Begin by Investing in Cultivating Tranquility
-How to Recognize and Utilize the Treasures Found Along the Way
-How to See the Treasures in the Unwanted Moments
-Letting go of Controlling, Forcing and Manipulating
Lesson #5:
-How to Be Fully Present in Our Daily Lives
-What to do When the Now is Not What We Want It to Be
-Letting Go of Waiting and Wanting
-What Presence is Not
-What Presence Is
-How Do We Change our Mind that is Not Able to Hold Itself in the Present Moment?
-The Benefits of Living Fully in the Present Moment
-The Truth about Being Present in Your Everyday Life
-How Presence Cultivates Contentment
Lesson #6:
-A Fundamental Skill to Learn to Live a Life of True Contentment
-What We Gain When We Acquire and Exercise the Skill of Mindfulness
-What Mindfulness Looks Like in Our Everyday Lives
-Begin to See Your Life Change
-Discover Your Dharma
-So, You’ve Found Your Contentment. Now What?
-How to Live More Mindfully Each Day
-Practice Regular Self-Care: Give Yourself What You Need
-How to Be Self-Actualized: Living a Truly Fulfilled Life
Lesson #7:
-Navigating Unwanted Moments
-Six Ways to Handle Unwanted Change Well
-How to Navigate Positively Through and Past Six Unwanted Life Scenarios
-Five Simple Changes for Significant and Immediate Contentment
Lesson #8:
-A Life Lived in True Contentment is Actually a Simple Way to Live
-How We Improve the Quality of Our Days
-The Art and Gift of Simplifying Our Days: More Contentment
-Contentment is the Antithesis of Complacency
-Dharma: How You Will Know that You Have Found It
-The Journey to Becoming a Butterfly, the Journey to Experiencing Contentment
-The Paradox of Contentment
-The Final (and forever) Part: Savor, Savor, Savor
Why I Created This Course for You:
First, I want you to feel this amazing feeling of inner peace every single day.
I want you to discover what you can uniquely give the world and to trust and honor that knowledge even if the world doesn’t understand, and conversely, if it does support you, to understand why it works for you so that you too can nurture those you love as they journey forward and figure out how to fall in love with living their unique one and only life.
And lastly, I know that the only way to find peace in our world is if the people of the world are at peace with themselves and are able to be fully themselves. So if we each discover what we can offer the world that also nourishes us individually, both constructively and does not impede on others’ rights to do the same, then the world begins to find its way to peace.
Such an outcome prompted simply by each of us individually investing in honoring our true selves and learning the skills to navigate well in and with the world might seem too much, too big, or impossible to achieve, but that’s why you don’t focus on what you cannot change. You focus on you and how to live with true contentment in your life. This isn’t a selfish approach, but rather a choice to nourish yourself to fullness so that you can then give without depletion, savoring your life while also enriching the world around you.
This change within yourself is a powerful change. So powerful, it will change your life, every single day of your life, in wonderful ways that you never truly believed could be possible. Living with Contentment will change your life for the rest of your life, as you discover how to experience inner peace, and that peace radiates out in into the world in ways you cannot predict and may never know.
And then, once you know what it feels like – what being deeply at peace within yourself, grounded in true contentment, there is no other mode of travel through life that you will want to regress to as you will now be fully aware of why previously you had been discontent, and now have the skills to enrich the quality of your life each day. You have found your way and this way of travel is akin to an infinitely charged electric mode of transportation – capable of transporting you where you wish to go and how you most enjoy living as well as helping the world.
Class Resources You Receive:
With lifetime access to The Contentment Masterclass, meaning once you purchase it, whenever any updates or additions are made to the course, you will be able to access this content for free as you have already paid the price of the course once.
Each student receives:
—Detailed Notes for each mini-lesson to explore further each concept discussed in the video.
—Course notes are in pdf format and free to print out, upload (for writing on a tablet), save or revisit.
—Recommended books and material to further learning on specific topics addressed or experts and their studies quoted or introduced during the course videos.
—One Assignment is included for seven of the eight Key lessons designed to further the individual learner’s journey to experiencing true contentment in their lives.
—Unlimited and forever access to your course.
—Return to your course videos, notes and content at anytime to refresh, remind or review.
—As content is updated over the years, you will have access to the most updated lessons and videos forever.
Upon Completing the Course!
You will have an exclusive opportunity to welcome into your everyday a simple reminder of how the course teaches you to engage with each day.
Available for purchase only to those who have completed the course is TSLL’s custom canvas Savor, Savor, Savor market tote (seen below). These are not available in TSLL’s shop and are exclusive to TSLL special occasions such as the completion of the Contentment Masterclass.
I designed these bags in 2023 with consideration for comfort, ease & function, as well as chose a text for the bag that spoke to the modus operandi of living a simply luxurious life. Savor, Savor, Savor. Writing in triplet is intentional. Let me explain. As I have shared before, to savor living well involves multiple faucets of our conscious attention:
The verb savor is repeated three times as a reminder to (1) savor fully the Present moment, bringing our full attention and open mind to what is without expectation; to (2) savor and thereby slow down while enjoying meals, conversation and activities that involve our senses; and lastly, underscoring it all, to (3) savor where we find ourselves along our unique life journey whether our current location and self is desired or unwanted because both are offering a gift. How so? If unwanted hiccups arise, we are given an opportunity to learn a necessary piece of information that if accepted as such will enable us to travel well forward. These hiccups deepen appreciation, clarify our priorities and bestow upon us an opportunity to become more aware of our true capabilities. Contrarily, during moments where our hopes are answered, happiness abounds and we are filled with peace, we savor by letting go of wanting more and reveling in all that is.
As was shared above in the Syllabus for the Course, the final lesson centers around understanding this truth: when we savor, savor, savor, we are indeed living a life of true contentment.
Q: When can I purchase one?
The custom canvas totes will be made available exclusively to those who have enrolled in the course upon completion. The price will be $30 +shipping, and all details of how to purchase will be shared in the Curriculum Dashboard after the final lesson. Simply email me and share your interest in receiving a tote, and I will write up an invoice. We are stocked and excited to send one your way!
Q: Can I pace myself and take the course to fit my schedule?
Yes. All of TSLL’s online courses, including this one, the Contentment Masterclass, are self-paced, meaning once you purchase the course, you can move through each lesson as quickly or as gradually as you prefer or need to based on your best practices and/or life schedule for learning new content.
Shannon’s Journey to Living a Life of True Contentment
It began with feeling discontent.
If you too have oodles of or regularly occurring discontent or nigglings of discontent that won’t vanish, I know where you are, how it feels and it is why I wanted to change my approach to engaging and living life.
I have shared in all of my books how the creation of TSLL came out of discontent in the life that the outside world told me would bring me happiness. And because I tried to follow those ‘rules’, many pitfalls kept causing discontent no matter how hard I tried. Here are just a few coupled with how I eventually began to trust myself, learn the skills I was lacking, and live differently, no longer seeking approval from the zeitgeist:
—A feeling of not being enough, or complete, unless I was in a relationship, so pursuing romantic relationships and shrinking to fit into the box to make sure the relationship remained in tact was a priority. And then when I would be in a romantic relationship, when red flags would arise, instead of setting boundaries and honoring my needs, I assumed I had done something wrong, that I wasn’t enough, so I would worry constantly, doubt constantly and become a person I never was when I was in my own company. Finally, respecting myself due to a successful teaching career enough to speak up when a particular relationship and the actions of the person I was in the relationship with threatened my career, only to observe a reaction from them attempting to guilt me accusing me of being wrong for daring to speak up, I discovered a powerful aha. My strength and self-respect began to increase at this point as I ended that relationship promptly, and felt the quality and enjoyment of my life elevate and the trust in myself expand.
—Not knowing how to communicate lovingly but with strength that honored my needs in all types of relationships. And then simulataneously not knowing how to feel at peace regardless of the others’ response and not falling prey to feeling guilty or shameful for choosing myself. I didn’t know what a constructive argument or discussion was, nor did I understand that both participants while disagreeing could be respected and respectful with and for one another. So, I did my homework and through counseling as well as learning through courses and much reading of books by experts in sociology and psychology, I learned how to have a constructive unwanted conversation. That it can be loving yet include integrity in communicating needs and feelings, and even if the outcome is not what I prefer, I will have gained information about how I will precede forward that is best for me. The route forward may have changed, but I am no longer forcing. And I nourished the courage to stop staying on the wrong path and instead choose the path that honored my true self and teach others how to treat me through how I let myself be treated.
—Making financial superficial choices to try and fit in – clothing predominately as this occurred during my twenties. The sway of fashion trends and seasons. Nothing sensational, but to me, unsettling in how ‘want’ never let me rest settled and secure in the now. Why was I making these decisions? With my learned self-awareness, I knew financial steadiness brought me calm and these purchases in retrospect, disrupted that. And so I began to find a balance of honoring self-respect to look and feel good in my clothing choices, but understanding that my clothing choices are not more important than what I have to offer through my actions, my engagement, through my presence.
—Working in a career that I loved but not feeling my full capabilities were being tapped, but at the same time not fully motivated to go beyond or up the ladder. As I detailed in my 3rd book, The Road to Le Papillon, something else was calling me that gave me energy as opposed to my career in teaching was draining me regularly no matter how much I enjoyed the students and content I taught. However, I thought that was just what a job did, drained you. So I accepted that until I realized something wonderful . . .
Q: Why Do I Consider Myself an Expert in the area of living a Life of Contentment?
Let’s start with the beginning of this blog, The Simply Luxurious Life, back in 2009.
Honoring my curiosity eight years into my teaching career, I began to blog, something I detail in my first book. I had no expectations of what would result in doing so. I had no expectations of making money doing this. I just needed an outlet that excited me and gave me a space to share what I loved and connect with others with similar interests and passions.
I found energy in blogging, an energy I never found in teaching. I never knew you could be energized in such a way, but I was entirely, and eagerly sat down at my laptop for two- years straight every single day, posting sometimes twice a day and everyday, working until 1 am in the morning on some nights, more often than not. I loved it.
I began to finally be able to seek out resources and books that taught me the tools and skills I was lacking but eagerly wanted to learn – emotional intelligence, non-violent communication, what introversion was, what being HSP meant. Light-bulb after light-bulb went off, and I began to find inner strength and security, and respecting my voice, my intuition, even more.
I began to create the conditions externally and internally that cultivated peace of mind even if others didn’t agree, understand or support.
I first started with my home, a place I always found to be a sanctuary, even as a young girl. I reveled in living in my own home, a house I owned even though in the town I lived in many people questioned why I lived by myself, students I taught and adults. With my newly found inner awareness and self-respect, this bothered me far less than it would have in previous years.
I began to go out on my own to movies, events I loved, cafés, restaurants, doing things with my pups as my companions that I loved, not waiting for others to come with me or invite me to join them.
I began to realize the town I lived in at that time was not a place that would be best for my well-being if I wanted to grow and explore further so while it took multiple attempts, I began applying for teaching positions in Bend.
Prior to the opportunity to move to Bend, I took calculated risks by investing in projects that I didn’t know if they would reap a reward – a high quality editor for my first book, renovations in my garden and kitchen so that I could resell for a profit when (note the confidence), and even though I didn’t get the job I applied for in Bend the first go-round, with determination and clarity, I applied again the next year and received a job offer in the town of Bend, Oregon, and moving my life, while perhaps daunting to the outside world, was exhilarating me with its possibilities.
Then, fast-forward to March 2020. When one of the most difficult times in history arrived for the world with the pandemic, I listened closely to what would be the best decisions for my life journey. I took the time with the advantage of being home and in my own company to listen closely. Then, after a year and a half of seriously considering a decision I knew would be the biggest and most significant for my life journey thus far, I honored my intuition and true self and stepped into an unknown that had and has continued to energize me and fill the void I felt as far back as my late teens.
Detailed in my third book, this journey to a life that brings me contentment each and everyday, was a journey that involved many years, but I didn’t know it was contentment I was seeking initially. I figured that out through the journey my intuition kept guiding me to be on which is why I want to bring you this course.
While I cannot tell you how long it will take to feel contentment each day moving forward, I know that when it is contentment you nurture, you will find your unique way of living with contentment much sooner. As soon as I let go of pursuing happiness and stopped listening to the outside voices of the world, and instead began understanding what contentment was and listening to what my inner compass was telling me, the speed ratcheted up as to being able to live a life of contentment every single day.
Was/Is every day a delight and stress-free? No, of course not. Because I and we all live in a world with many external forces we have no control over, but it is how we dance with these forces that will determine whether or not we experience contentment each day, because that, that is absolutely possible.
I speak from experience of feeling despair, doubt and worry for many of my years in my twenties, followed by waking up and worrying incessantly in the middle of the night during my early thirties wondering if all of my risk taking would be worth it – if my intuition was correct, crying on the phone and in person with those close to me with exhausted frustration, yet oddly, I refused to believe that this was how life had to be and I just had to ‘fit in’ and go along.
Finally, as I write in my third book and now in my detail in this course, my trust in my journey to have the good fortune to live this life grounded in contentment, and my ability to trust the unknown and let go to just live life, giving to the world what I uniquely can, is strong and stable as I practice and exercise the skills and tools you will learn in this course.
Along with my life journey paired with my professional experience as a public high school teacher for 20 years, not only have I lived the content offered in this course, but the course is designed to be a welcoming, intimate learning environment structured with tools for learning that help students apply the knowledge that is necessary to see their lives transform as they welcome in the skills of how to cultivate contentment and live their unique simply luxurious life.
Q: How much does the course cost?
The course is priced at $300. This is the introductory price for all enrollees.
The price was determined based on the course’s length (15+ hours of video content), the depth of research included sourced from leading experts in the fields of study discussed throughout the course – mindfulness, neurology, positive psychology, and more, paired with Shannon Ables’ expertise and experience with the content as well as 20 years of professional teaching experience, along with the length projected it will take students to complete the course – 3-6 weeks, and comparing to prices of similar offerings and their hourly rate of video and coursework provided.
Remember, if you are an Active TOP Tier Member, whenever a new online video course premieres, you will receive a promo code to save 20% off the price for the first month of the enrollment. One of the many benefits of being a TOP Tier Member (learn more about membership here).
Q: Have you click on ‘Courses’ but aren’t able to find the Curriculum to begin taking the course?
Make sure you are clicking on “COURSES” in your Account Dashboard and not the “CLASSES” in the general blog menu bar, as they are different – one in the blog header menu bar, and the one in the Dashboard of your Account (accessible once you login). You want the latter – the ‘Courses’ in your Dashboard. See the screenshot below:
Instead, once you are on your Dashboard (click on Account in the upper left-hand corner), you will see your Dashboard with the “COURSES” in the menu. See below and follow the instructions in the yellow box.
Q: I don’t see any of the lessons once I arrive on the Course Overview page.
Good news! You are in the right spot. Now all you have to do is scroll down and all of the lessons will be listed in order. See the screenshot below:
Q: What are students saying about the course after having completing it (i.e. Reviews)?
Take a look at reviews that have been shared so far here on this page.
Q: Do you have more questions about the course?
Rest assured! I have a FAQ page that will answer many other questions you might have. Click here to explore.
Q: Where can I find/purchase the music that plays during the course?
The American jazz band The Hot Sardines provided TSLL one of their instrumental tracks from their album C’est La Vie. You can purchase the album here. The lead singer Elizabeth Bougerol has been a frequent guest on The Simple Sophisticate podcast. Take a listen to each of the episodes here. Episode #363 and episode #157.
Let’s Get Started!