45. New Home (2) Finding Don Juan's Happiness Spots.

"Are you sitting comfortably?

Then I'll begin."

At the end of a blog last year [8. A Place to Stand, a Place to Sit] I wrote of my particular obsession with finding the best seat in various locations. Now, with a new property, I am trying to find the places to sit where I feel most comfortable. Not just physically comfortable but happy and content, at ease with myself. At home in other words.

I recalled that there was a segment in Carlos Castenada's The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968) that addressed this issue at some length:

'He [don Juan] pointed out that I was very tired sitting on the floor, and that the proper thing to do was to find a 'spot' (sitio) on the floor where I could sit without fatigue. I had been sitting with my knees up against my chest and my arms locked around my calves. When he said I was tired, I realized that my back ached and that I was quite exhausted...

I have not followed Castenada's hallucinogenic route to finding such happiness spots. Just trial and feel, visual and physical.

I have a particular sweet spot in the study. It is the custom built chair that sits in the corner next to the bookshelves. From this chair I can access, without getting up, my photo albums and a bunch of files that contain jottings, scribbles and ideas for written pieces of one kind or another.

... [he] explained to me that not every place was good to sit on or be on, and that within the confines of the porch there was one spot that was unique, a spot where I could be at my very best. It was my task to distinguish it from all the other places.'

 

Following in Mr Diderot's footsteps [blog 42], we have recently bought new furniture for the lounge. This includes two lazy-boy recliners. One sits in the corner of the room with a view out to the deck, the other in the centre of the room facing the television. For me the sweeter of these is the one in the corner of the room.

The deck is a moveable feast of good spots, which vary with the sun and the wind.

So I have plenty of sweet spots to relax in and be happy. What do they have in common? They are all places where I can (a) sit in contemplation, (b) be totally idle, (c) read, and (4) fall asleep. Hope you have at least one such happiness spot of your own.

Lazyboy, Kindle, Chocs - A Picture of Bliss