Table in Transition: From Online Journal to Abbey Mailbox

Been contemplating maybe not having internet at home...which would cut down posting considerably, since i dont go out in public much becuase of the chemical sensitivity. Really, it looks like this blog may simply become a combination of the archives (better organized eventually) and just perodlic additions, more like an occasional "letter in the mail". Have been inspired too by Leslie of Small Meadow Press' idea of the mailbox in the hedge (see here, here).... "a blog can be a sort of post-office-in-the-hedge....like me leaving something for you to find if you pass by and lift the lid...and sometimes you leaving something for me to find. Really lovely!". The mailbox image has drawn before....and it draws even stronger now.

As someone whose "'re-energizing" comes from turning to the world of ideas, blogging has been very sweet. And yet maybe its almost too sweet in its way....and i've gotten in the habit of overindulging. Its funny, in real life here, ever since the new year, ive eaten very little refined sugar, finally admitting how much my body has been rejecting it all these years. Maybe its time to apply that to the inner life now. More and more, am just realizing i need things very simple and definitely not overstimulating. Been looking at my outer life that way for awhile now, but the inner life has stayed as bombarded as ever. Think its come to the point where that simply has to change.

Been remembering too something some missionaries shared awhile back. They had spent time in the Third World and were surprised that their bodies rebelled the most not when they went over there and had to live so simply, but rather when they came back and were surrounded again by so many ads and choices and "new needs", and so much stimulation and noise and speed. It really surprised them, the impact of materialism, that their very bodies rebelled. But i think it makes perfect sense. And i think it applies not just to our body and the material world but also to our spirit and the world of ideas.

I remember last summer too, when having more abundance of money for a short bit led to suddenly feeling obligated and burdened to get more things (believing i "needed" to try a bunch of supplements now, and get techno doo dads and the like) rather than living more simply as i actually needed to be doing deep down. Well, been realizing that may be what is happening now with my online time and the world of expression and ideas as well. I get so inspired there but also burdened there, feeling obligated to "sort through it all"...and feeling so far from simplicty. With material things, seems the solution isnt to go just cold turkey without money becuase in my secular station in life some money is sure needed, thats just the reality. The solution seems to be, to simply become content with living with very little of it as thats what i have, of becoming more content with less. So... have been thinking of applying that same principle to being online as well.

So as of now, at least at this point, i think this blog will stop being a journal. It will be more like the occasional letter...and there will be a little mailbox on the front page to go to them. As for content, it will probably be on what seems to be the focus right now: simple living. There may be some nutsy boltsy type stuff (off grid exploring, getting away from products, ideas for cooking etc), and/or the more spiritual side. Especially regarding the home as cloister. Each day that goes by i'm just more drawn to that concept. This little trailer, i truly do see it as a little "abbey" as many of you know. A more cloistered life is a natural extension, for many reasons long building. And cloisters were originally created so that folks could come together to protect one another's peace and solitude. I just love that idea...supporting each other in living a deeply quiet prayerful peaceful life. It can be done. Truly, in this case it has to be done somehow. And i have to admit some real excitement there.... wondering how that will unfold, praying. And some of this "adventure in Providence" will likely be shared here....as the Spirit moves, as they say.

Well dear ones, prayers would be cherished for sure. And you definitely have mine as well. I so much apreciate the wonderful souls who visit here... may you be deeply blessed!

Peaceful wishes.....till the next letter in the mailbox : ) Wendy

(Image adapted from here)