I want to write about my own experiences in using CW in DX contests, as a follow-up to what K8ZT talked about in the podcast I linked to in my previous posting. I have experienced fantastic moments with CW in contests. It is the best way I know of to get fully into the present, which I'm pretty sure is one of the major benefits that Buddhist monks are seeking to achieve with their meditations. At times it can get pretty fast and furious in making contacts with CW in a busy CW contest. One's attention gets very focused with listening for the next station and copying their callsign and exchange to be able to be the next station to work them. To succeed in this, especially if the code speed is on the high end of the speed you can copy, one cannot let one's mind wander. One must become laser focused on copying that CW and ignoring the QRM from other stations nearby in the contest. And many hours into a CW contest I've found that my ability to copy CW improves and I begin to relax, as my attention gets more focused. The effect of this can be quite dramatic, a major high from being in the moment. I've never seen this mentioned in discussions of the benefits of contesting, but it is something I have experienced myself many times. I have had a number of peak experiences in my life, life changing moments, stemming from various epiphanies, but it can be years between such experiences and you never know when you might have the good fortune of achieving one. But the perception of such an experience is much like what I have experienced through contesting. The moment in a contest may not be as dramatic and life changing as a great epiphany, but the quality of the experiences, how they feel, are similiar.