TRANSITIONS

Something's off about my blog. You may have noticed I've missed posting for much of the past week. I've been mulling instead, trying to figure out what's wrong. This is supposed to be a blog about Exploration, begun as an attempt to help me weather the trauma of my return to "normalcy" after six months traveling the world. The original idea, inspired by the movie "Julia and Julie" and Ross from "Friends" was to explore new things daily and to write about them. But it feels shallow and stale to me, as I ponder blog posts, to tell you about my new salad spinner and how I had to call Genevieve to figure out how to use it, or to talk about "Avatar", the latest movie I saw. (It was excellent, by the way.)

My real explorations are going on inside. And it's pretty intense, which is more normal than not for me. The conundrum this presents is this: 1)the most intense and interesting things are often too sacred to share with you, and 2) I'm not sure you'd care to hear about it, anyway. As my son-in-law, Scott, commented to Genevieve, as he prepared to come spend Christmas with us, "I like spending time with your family, but I hope we don't spend all our time discussing deep stuff." I'm afraid you may feel that way, too. But maybe not. Maybe you, too, hunger for some deep stuff, something soul-satisfying, something to remind you that what is Real is invisible to the eye.

Here's where I am now. I don't want this to be just a recounting of the new things I do or read or eat or encounter. I want it to be more meaningful, perhaps even of service to you. I know things. Some of those things I can share, and maybe it will be helpful. Maybe it will inspire you a little. I hope so. Or maybe you'll wander off to less "deep" blogs, and that's fine, too.

I can't be deep all the time, though. It takes a lot of effort to write about the kinds of things I want to talk to you about, things you might term "spiritual." So I'm getting rid of my self-imposed goal of posting five times a week. It's too much for me, for now.

We're still exploring. But we're going to head inland for a while, inside the soul. That's where the most interesting and valuable discoveries are. I hope you'll stick with me. I have lots of questions and few answers, so I hope you'll chime in with your own discoveries, insights, and questions on the Comment board.

This is a risk for me, because to write Real means to bare myself. But I sincerely believe that the personal is always universal, that what is Real for me is Real for you, too. I'm willing to get Real. How about you?