This has been my problem: I’m a writer by profession.  I’ve spent the last 30 plus years earning my living through my ability to string words together.  Yet, strangely enough, when it comes to writing for YOU, sharing spiritual insight and setting the theme for each edition of the magazine, I do not feel qualified to say anything other than to point out highlights of the current edition.  After six and a half years of agonizing over this every month, I’ve finally decided to do something about it.

PLW was originally conceived as a platform for those who believe they have something important to share that might possibly provide you with some guidance.   Now, as it happens, I have a great deal to say, but you know what?  It’s just my opinion… my perception… my take on the world as it appears to me, here, now today, in this specific moment.   Tomorrow that opinion or perception might (and very often does) change. 

The older I get, the less confident I feel about saying that I know anything with any degree of certainty.  Never has this been clearer to me than it is this month, which, being February is all about love; a topic which  confounds me just as much today as it has throughout all my yesterdays. 

There’s only one thing I feel I know about love… and that is that we cannot truly love anyone until we love ourselves.  The 'love of our life', the one that we spend a lifetime on earth seeking... is none other than ourselves.  As of today, I really cannot say that I have shown up for myself yet. Have you?  And if I’m still working on such a fundamental truth as this, I feel that your time and mine would be better used in other ways.

So here’s what I’m going to do, my friends…

I am going to retire this “Editor’s Letter.”  In its place,  we are working on something special. It will involve a slight redesign of the upper part of the contents page, in which we will publish our team’s collective “Picks of This Month’s Issue”… so that those of you who don’t have the time to read every single article can get a ‘heads up’ on which articles, columns, series, or artists' showcases that we think are an absolute ‘must’ in any given month. 

I shall, of course, reserve the right to produce the occasional editor’s letter in those moments when I really feel I have something to say.  But for the most part, I’m going to get out of the way, invent something new, meet my own needs, and simultaneously leave you with what you really come here for – the wisdom, insight and guidance of a whole host of remarkable contributors who really do have something timely or important to share with you.

Please know that even though I’m removing myself from the front page, I have no intention of stepping back from my real job – which is to continue to steer a steady course for PLW, and to honor our pledge to bring you  the best, the most passionate, the liveliest, the most intriguing, compelling, informative, interesting, talented writers and gifted artists that we can find each month.

Have a wonderful month,