Hey y’all!
Welcome. Thanks for stoppin’ in.
To help you make the most of your time in my little online home, I thought I’d offer a few tips, gleaned from my own experience on the Internets. If they work for you, great! If not, feel free to leave ’em aside.
Here we go!
- Relax. Starting now. Relax your neck and shoulders. Relax your forehead, your eyes. Relax your fingers. Be at ease. Repeat as necessary.
- Stay Conscious. Yeah, try not to pass out, hehe. Naw, but seriously, it’s hard enough to maintain awareness (awareness of space, of stillness, of our bodies, of our thoughts) in everyday life, but in my experience it’s particularly challenging to stay present when I’m surfing online. The Internet evaporates my mindfulness, if I’m not careful. So while you’re here, try to really be here. Don’t just think about what you see; notice how it makes you feel. Notice if your heart starts beating harder (often happens to me when I’m about to publish something, like a post or a comment), if your breathing quickens, if you get chills, if you’re fidgeting. Notice if your posture has slumped. If it has, do your best to sit in a way that is best for your body: for your own sake and the sake of all the people who love you. Nothing online, no matter how fascinating or irritating or absorbing, is worth ruining your back. :) Repeat as necessary.
- Go Slow. Take your own sweet time. Just because the collective online world moves super-fast, doesn’t mean you have to. This stuff ain’t goin’ nowhere: that’s what archives are for! And when you’re done reading, shut the tab or window, close your eyes, and breathe for a moment. Just a few seconds. Then move on with your day.
- Use It. Just as you would when reading a book, whether it’s a novel or non-fiction or poetry, look for ideas — spoken or unspoken — that might help you live your life better. Then test them out. If they work, keep ’em up; if not, revise them or leave them aside.
- Smile. Why not? Repeat as necessary.
Everything I offer here, I offer because it does help me live better. And because I hope it might do the same for you. Some of the enhancement is straightforward, like a recipe that has upped my Life Deliciousness Total. Or a useful concept, like the idea of the Beginner’s Mind. On another level, though, especially with the photographs, the rewards are also very subtle. It wasn’t just the subject that made me happy, but also my own sense of wonder as I photographed it. So you could say that it brings me joy, and you could also say that I bring joy to it. And through it, to you. As an expression of love, and as encouragement to keep generating joy and wonder for yourself.
That’s the hope, anyway. :)
Thanks for joining me, friends. Take care. Be happy! Why not? Repeat as necessary.
love,
katie
Kloncke 
So Katie, how do I talk to you through this blog thing? Steve
Haha. Hi Steve! Well, if you want to share your thoughts on something I write here, you can leave a comment underneath that particular entry, or “post.” Then we can have a conversation, and sometimes other folks join in — when a post has multiple comments, the collection of them is called a “thread,” or “comment thread.”
But if you just want to say hi and catch up (which I would love to do, too — it’s been so long!), prob’ly the best way is to just shoot me an email at katie (dot) loncke (at) gmail (dot) com. Maybe I’ll start it off by emailing you this morning. :)
Great to see you here, though — hope you’re enjoying the space!
love,
katie
Hey sis!!! I love your webpage :) Misss you so much! Muah
Thanks a lot! This is so wise and touching… :-) I’ll do my best to use your wonderful “Friendly User Guide” on every blog or website I visit from now on.
With Gassho, Rupert
hi!!!!!
i’d like to subscribe to your blog.
(and am wondering why-how i didn’t before)
what do i gotta do to do that. and see you tomor!
metta :)
s
Thank you for generating joy and love. It’s why we’re here, innit? I am so grateful to have found your online home, and I love, love, love your user guide. ;> Yes, why not be happy?
Thanks, Heather! I’m so glad you stopped by and said hello. And that you’re feelin’ the user guide. Take care!
picked up on your blog through friend Austin Kelly. Not sure how he found you, unknown number of degrees of separation. I like your content a lot. Keep up the good work, live well. I pick up on your doubts about slipping into a bourgie existence. I have been in and out of that kind of stuff for decades. I have come to conclusion that there are times in our lives when we can be engaged and times when our lives run us and our lack of engagement is a challenge. I am steeped in buddhist stuff, tend to fall back on 8 fold path. Right thinking, right livelihood, right speech, etc. Warm regards to you.
thank you, mike! good to know it resonates, and we can support each other. thanks for yr kindness and insight. yep, accepting the times when “our lives run us,” while still taking responsibility … it’s a doozy for me. :) warm hellos back atcha.
Hi~
I’m really glad to have your perspective to connect with. I tried to leave what I think of as my public website when I commented, but wordpress made me sign in with an address that may have linked you to a blog that is of a different genre. Anyway, in case you didn’t see it and want to, my website is michellebillies.org.
Be well,
Michelle
Hi there! Thanks for saying hello; glad you’re feelin the little musings. Looking forward to checking out your stuff! I feel you on the multiple and sometimes confusing internet selves, hehe.
take good care,
katie
Hi, Katie!
Whoever you are, this kind of Blog is rarely met in internet…Your reply sounds exactly like what you are trying to show people with your blog.
Today I have learned a new word “gleaned” and it really fits my work I’m doing since years – “gleaning” in internet – knowing more and more, wondering where could be an end, but there is none (good for me – :-)).
I will keep you in mind as well as a saved link to look at your blog once in a while.
I wish to have more time to read…
One little question – maybe just misinterpreted…One wrote sis and muah – but probably it was just said by a deeper concern of this person’s feelings or else you are Filipina…smile.
Hope you will mostly meet nice people here and outside – TC E r n s t
sounds like a real understanding of the process : )