This deepened absorption in everyday sensations can change your consciousness dramatically. Birdsong can sound surreally pretty. Textures of all kinds—the surface of bricks, of asphalt, of wood—can be enthralling. During a mid-retreat walk in the forest, I once found myself caressing—yes, pretty literally caressing—the intricately sculpted trunk of a tree. And believe me when I tell you I’m not the tree-hugging type.
