This is his spot. He plays here. He thinks here. He snacks here. He spots the first muskrat of the season here. He reads here. He feeds the ducks from here. He pouts here. He watches an osprey build its nest from here. He draws here. He dreams here.
Without consciously seeking to create it, my boy has a sitspot. In outdoor education a sitspot is a critical piece of the puzzle when it comes to connecting to the natural world, but it's also a way of connecting to yourself.
From the Coyote's Guide to Connection with Nature by John Young ~ "Find one place in our natural world that you visit all the time and get to know it as your best friend. Let this be a place where you learn to sit still - alone, often, and quietly - This will become your place of intimate connection with nature."
(You can read about it
here and
here too.)
Zach is learning about and using sitspots in his wilderness school each week, but forming one at home has been a long evolution and a totally unconscious one. It was a natural process all his own. I can see him needing that pause between busy parts of our day, scrambling up on deck and perching his in swing. Quite, sometimes still, sometimes in motion, but his core is quiet.
He chatters to himself, sings, giggles, and much of the time simply stared and stares and stares at the great big world around him. It's his sacred space.
