Date: 11/6/2020
Time Entered: 1:47 p.m.
Time Left: 3:03 p.m.
As I tuned into my spot today, the first thing that caught my attention was how beautiful of a day it was outside! I was outside for a long time today and for the first time I noticed how the sky so beautiful and blue. The sun was extremely bright, and it was actually blinding me. Some activities that were happening around the spot were a couple of squirrels that were playing, running, and climbing after each other up and down the trees. There were a ton of leaves falling and twirling in the air. The bugs were pretty calm today! However, I did notice quite a few bees buzzing and zipping around in the air. It was actually really cool to see, considering it had been so long since had seen a bee! There weren’t too many sounds going on in my little spot, aside from the leaves falling, the bees zooming, and the whistling of the wind as if breezed through the trees! This sit spot day, so far, had been the most beautiful and peaceful out of all of them. The colors in the spot today were so vivid and clear. In this tune in, I mainly focused on the wind and the leaves that were dancing in the air as they fell to the ground. Altogether this was my favorite tune in and favorite part of my sit spot.
My three objects that I have been following are a massive tree, a bush, and a shrub. The tree was missing a significant amount of leaves, compared to last week. The bush’s colors were darker and the bush itself was beginning to lean over. The shrub was completely dead, and it had basically collapsed onto the ground. My objects didn’t have any dramatic changes, but there were definitely some things that had slight differences compared to last weeks pictures.
The day that I did this sit spot was on one when there was absolutely nothing in the sky. There were ZERO clouds! I walked around my spot in hopes of spotting a cloud, but the sky was extremely blue. I was sad that I couldn’t use my newfound knowledge from the cloud video, but I was able to do some more observations on the wind! There was a significant amount of wind today! It was coming from the East direction. Each wave of wind came through was like a burst of cold and refreshing air. The wind picked up several leaves within its path and dispersed them around my sit spot, a couple even hitting me in the face.
For the focusing exercise, I chose to close my eyes and listen. At first, it was difficult to tune into my spot and keep my mind focused, but after a minute or two, I was able to completely get in the zone! I heard birds quietly chirping behind me. I also heard the bees buzzing all around. I heard the wind winding its way through the maze of limbs on the trees. The difference in the exercise was that after the ten minutes were up and I opened my eyes, my mind was very calmed and relaxed. I found it ironic that when I focus on the noises going on around me in my spot, that my head actually got quieter. Meaning my thoughts and stresses were gone, and I was able to better tune into my spot.
After just enjoying my spot for a couple of minutes, I realized how fond I had become of it. During my first assignment, I was struggling to focus and relax while writing the journal. I was just trying to DO the assignment, instead of enjoying the assignment (if that makes any kind of sense). Now after I finish my journal, I actually stay in my spot sometimes and just do other homework. I feel as though my connection as gotten deeper. My sit spot is a little nature getaway that is conveniently placed within Hollins campus!
Nice work Rachel – I love your sky picture – for even if it was only blue – there were so many shades of blue – interesting to think about refraction of light generating that color which can be soothing to us!