I’ll be the first to admit, my life in Lubbock hasn’t exactly been a silent retreat. Working the night shift as a nurse means I’m constantly navigating controlled chaos. My brain is always three steps ahead, triaging, anticipating. A few years ago, I spent my downtime reading through clinical mindfulness research on how tactile and olfactory cues can downregulate the sympathetic nervous system, and it clicked. I started keeping oranges at the nurses’ station. Not for the vitamin C, though that helps. I’d peel one between patients. The sharp citrus hit, the sticky pith, the way the segments naturally separate—it’s a forced reset. You literally can’t rush it. Your fingers are busy, your nose is flooded, and for sixty seconds, the noise just stops.

I know a lot of people toss around terms like “Dzogchen” or “pure awareness” without really tracking the lineage, and yeah, that can be frustrating to watch. But the core practice here isn’t about appropriation; it’s about resting in what’s already present. That’s basically what Longchenpa was pointing to with rigpa—recognizing awareness itself without adding or subtracting anything. An orange doesn’t care about your spiritual resume. It just asks you to meet it where it is.

From a psychological angle, this works because sensory grounding interrupts the default mode network. I remember reading some of Marcus Raichle's early work on how the brain’s autopilot rumbles when we’re not anchored, and honestly, the data tracks with what my nervous system feels. I’ve always liked how Carl Jung talked about symbols acting as bridges between the conscious and unconscious. The orange functions like a living symbol. It reminds me of The Sun card in the tarot—uncomplicated vitality, clarity, and the quiet joy of just being here, now. No hidden meanings, no shadow work, just pure presence. I usually keep a rough tumbled citrine nearby just to hold that grounded earth frequency, but honestly, the fruit does all the heavy lifting.

If you’ve been feeling scattered lately, try it. Buy a cheap orange. Peel it slowly. Notice how the scent changes as the oils hit the air. I’d love to hear if it shifts anything for you

(There's a deeper dive on this in our wiki: Using the I Ching for Meditation and Decision-Making | Mystic Wiki.)