See Sit Spot Challenge at Kamana.org for more about the challenge.
Time of sit: 11:45-12:15am
I was fairly drowsy during this sit and dozed off for a bit – probably close to the last half. I was awakened by the arrival of a truck to the neighbor’s place across the drive.
Conditions were apparently good for hearing the whistle buoy tonight, as it was the most consistently clear of any sit so far. I imagine part of it may have to do with sea conditions (I don’t think it makes sound unless there is wave action), but I suspect it is more than just that.
When I began my sit it had obviously been raining recently, but little or none was falling. After a few minutes, a light rain had started, and by the time the sit ended, it was into a rain shower.
Given there was little to see, I tried to focus more on my other senses (at least until I dozed off). I noticed that the least steady of them seems to be my sense of smell. That is, smells seem to come and go much more readily. I’m unsure whether this is due to the smells being that transient in the air, or if my ability to notice the smells is what’s limiting. It may be some of both, but currently my suspicion is that it’s more the latter. For example, there were a few moments where I could smell the yellow cedar while I was sitting this evening, but only briefly. I know the source, and it was right there close to me, so it seems odd that the odor wouldn’t be more consistent. In contrast, sounds and tactile sensations were not prone to disappearing from my awareness – and even if I stopped noticing them briefly, all it took was thinking of them again, and I could feel them. It didn’t seem to work this way for my sense of smell.