Lately I am looking for something when I sit, and I confess it. This morning I sat at 3:30 am because the smoke alarms went off (for no apparent reason), and I looked for three things: 1) a sense of location in space; 2) a sense of pitch, yaw, and roll at the location of my awareness that extends and receives the ability to feel; 3) an inclusion in awareness of the feeling of inhalation or exhalation, and of the feeling of the length of the inhalation or exhalation.
I went back to bed, and when I got up again I sat the same way; then we took the dog for a final trip to the vet, and brought her body home and buried it.
When I look for the same practice in the daytime, I notice that it is a practice of necessity, especially in a cross-legged posture; it’s not something that is second-nature to me yet, maybe it never will be, but something about the passing of my canine friend makes it feel more appropriate in the daytime at the moment. There’s nothing special there, just the necessity of mind and bones and breath at the moment.