Simplicity is a Guide

6:30 am
Toast and tea.

12:00 pm
Today was a special lunch: the STM graduate luncheon at Seattle University where I go to graduate school. The faculty and staff honored those of us graduating with love, a lunch, and a beautiful rose. It was really lovely. Chicken was on the menu as well as mashed sweet potatoes and asparagus. I debated whether or not to have the chicken but I decided to. It was wonderful. I appreciated it so much because I haven't been eating meat at all in the past couple of weeks. Back in the years when I tried vegetarianism, I realized that my body is happier when I am eating meat. That brings up lots of moral issues for me about eating meat, but today I was grateful for it. I even had some bites of cake! Mmmmm.

7:50 pm
Cheese, bread, apple. When I eat alone, I find myself looking around a lot. I look at the clutter on the table, look at a book, look outside, look at my food. The Carthusian monks eat most of their meals in their cells. They can look out their window, but there is really nothing else to look at inside. This must make eating more focused, intentional, or -- guided, that's the word, guided. The simplicity of the situation is the guide. It is a gentle, non-violent way, not forced. North Americans today seem to be always doing something. Now that cell phones/digital photo albums/music players, have become the norm; no one is without one in hand. In a waiting room, in an airport, at a cross walk; typing or talking.

I feel this pull at the grocery store too. I walk in to a big chain store and there is food everywhere! It is difficult to focus on what I am there for. Wait, was it chips, juice, nail polish, a coffee, a magazine? Oh I forgot the milk I came for, but my bag is full stuff I hadn't thought to want! I like this prayerful, quiet, focused way that the monks eat. Farmers' Markets are much more like that too. Smaller, more full of stuff that you went to the market for in the first place. Simple.