Make yourself a sit spot.

An insulated carafe of hot coffee was at the bar, ready for early risers. It was 6:30am, and breakfast wouldn’t be served for another two hours. I filled my cup and made my way down to the beach. The tide was low. The sunrise over the Salish Sea was lemon yellow and bright white. Salt-worn stones and smooth driftwood benches basked in the easy warmth.

It was my first day at Hollyhock.

My cell phone had crashed three days ago, on the first part of my multi-day journey to get to this remote island. “It’s the motherboard,” the guy at the Genius Bar told me that night. “It can go without warning, without reason.”

I had planned my trip so well! I was looking forward to relaxing and reflecting in transit! I was going to go over my lessons on the train, and make notes on the flight. Instead, I spent my entire journey angsting over fussy mobile networks, troubleshooting eSims and cell signals, resetting all of my apps and accessing lost comm threads.

I was leading a retreat called Writing with Intuition. By the time I arrived on Cortes Island, I was frazzled and wild-eyed, barely in my body.

Stillness is non-negotiable for intuition.

I knew this. This was the first lesson of the retreat: Before we expect to write down what comes to us, we need to be quiet enough to hear what’s there.

So that first morning, before I said a word, before I met my group, before I even made eye contact with another human being, I chose a spot to sit on the beach, and spent an hour hanging out with the sand.

I admired the bleached wood fibres I sat on. A heron flew a millimetre above the ocean, its wing tips almost-but-not-quite touching the surface. The huffing sound of a playful seal carried over the water and sweetly into the microphones of my ears.

I did not need my phone to work to receive strong signals.

The following is an exercise I led the writers who were on retreat with me this summer. It’s something you can do yourself, no matter where you live.

Make yourself a sit spot

Every day you will go to a place in nature where you will sit for 1 hour. This is a beautiful way for you to access wonder, and practice being in your perceiving mode. Going back to the same place day after day will deepen your relationship to the land, and to yourself, in the way you connect to that land.

Wander until you find a place that calls you. As you walk in silence, notice when you feel curious or interested, or cozy and safe, or mesmerized and enchanted, or loved and welcomed. Follow your heart, and find your place with care.

1. Cultivate a loving relationship with your place.
When you find your place, introduce yourself. Be respectful, and admire it, compliment it. Ask it if you may sit there. Treat it the way you would a person you respect.

2. As you sit in your chosen spot, do nothing.
Follow your breath until you feel settled. Stay connected to each of your five senses.

3. Then, experiment with your focus.
Choose one thing (a sensation) and focus intensely on that one thing. Notice how your perception narrows. Then soften your focus, release that intensity, and allow your perception to stretch and ripple out. Notice what you notice, including the thoughts and feelings that arise.

4. Now, write to the prompt: What I want to write about is…
You may notice that there are things that want to be written, right away. Write down those messages and insights, and keep writing. Listen for any answers that may arrive, and hold your pen loosely, like you’re holding a divining rod, scanning for water. Let your pen move freely across the page.

5. When you leave your sit spot, give it your gratitude in a way that feels right to you.
You may want to say a few words of thanks, or place your hands over it to bring loving energy to it, or leave it a subtle mark or an offering. Give your thanks from your heart, and say goodbye to your spot with care.