I'm trying to understand investigation of The Three Characteristics of the various senses.

My experience/background: I've spent years doing what I call Engaged Presence practice. On our feet, in group of 2-10 people we practice equanimous awareness of distractions in the context of goal oriented social interactions. Think of intense beach-ball combined with endowing each pass of the ball with emotional and cognitive factors that demand attention and responses mindful of group goals. It think it was impactful and those results led me to an interest in meditation. I attended a December 2013 Goenka 10-day and since have been sitting once or twice a day, generally for an hour each time. I've read MCTB in recent weeks and am trying to make sense of the book with respect to what I've experienced since I started meditating.

My investigation of the impermanence of bodily sensations:

I've noticed that, indeed, lots of sensations just come and go willy nilly, even painful ones that I'd have assumed would persist. This experience of come/go, after hundreds/thousands of repetitions simply uproots my deep seated expectations of the permanence of real-life events. Seems helpful. I don't really need anything more, but is there more to 'realize' about the impermanence of existence?

I've also noticed that my perception of many sensations, while sitting and often in 'real life' have evolved such that many bodily sensations come across as tingling, as opposed to solidified perceptions like pressure or temperature. In a sense, once solidified, static sensations have become very high-frequency and non-static events. Does this have anything to do with MCTB's discussion of 'frequency'?

I have yet to see a further breakdown of a sensation. MCTB talks about sensations breaking down into brief segments, each followed by a thought object. I guess I don't have sufficient concentration to be aware of a deeper layer, the impermanence of sensations?

My investigation into the impermanence of audio sensations:

Surprised by a nearby clicking sound (room temperature changes causing the thermostat to *snap*), I have a very clear sensation of *hearing* the sound that seems to come from *outside* of my head, and then *feeling* an impulse of electrical activity in the *middle* of my head. Is this second sensation, the one inside my head, a thought object that follows a physical sensation?

Another take on sounds: when I hear an object hit the floor in the room above me, I experience a clear delineation between the experience of the sound (outside of my head) and an obviously *internal* *interpretation* of the sound ("that must be my son dropping his water bottle"). This seems to me more of what I read in MCTB interpretation of a physical sensation followed by a thought sensation.

But neither of the above experiences of sound seem like the very clear MCTB description of sensations that are very brief and separated by thought object. Comments welcome!

My investigation into no-self:

Long story short, I noticed a distinct, sharp buzzing sensation on my face. Upon closer, equanimous examination of the sensations my sense of observer simply falls into, merges *with* the buzzing sensation. I have an immediate strong sense that my observing self is 'one with' the observed object, that there is no space between sensation and awareness. I imagine this is just my egoistic interpretation of the experience of the truth of no-self?

MCTB uses the phrase 'frequency of' a lot. I don't have a clue of what's being clocked, is it the rate of noting? Coming from Goenka, I'm only just starting to feel around the technique of noting.

Any comments and clarifying questions welcomed!