Relaxation -- tips and tricks

[tayana]

So many of our posts here are about our pain and fear and frustration, and that's what this board is for.  But we also need to learn to smile and laugh and relax, learn to nurture the little child inside us.  So I thought I'd make a very different kind of thread, this one about positive things.  Answer the question, how do you relax?  Or try to relax, because I know not all of us are successful.

Here are some of mine:

Writing -- either journaling or fiction writing

Knitting

Reading

Watching a movie or TV show while reading a magazine or newspaper

Cooking

Making bread or other baked goods.

listening to soothing music  (i'd like to add practicing my music, but I haven't been able to get into that habit yet.

Ironically, clearing away clutter, whether it's trash or outgrown clothes, getting rid of it makes me feel good.  Just this weekend, I took the ironing board my mother gave me out to the dumpster.  I never iron, or very rarely.  I spent $8 for one of those little ones that will slide down the side of my dryer without a problem.  That way I can iron something if needed, and the big, bulky board isn't taking up valuable space in my closet.

So what are yours?

[lighter]

Lovely post, Tay: )

I like to read, for relaxation lately.

Now that it's Fall..... just feeling the change in wheather is a pleasure.

Clearing out clutter, once I get started... is a plrasure for sure.

[Poppy Seed]

I SOOO agree, Tayana!  I appreciate you posting this.

This is the person I used to be!  I always had a place for these things in my life.  It is part of the "me" I am trying to raise from the dead.

I think that these last two years I have been running around putting out fires....trying to solve the unsolveable.

Now there is quiet.  Lots of quiet.  I have my hurtful people outside the "circle of trust" and now I am moving towards the relaxing and the creativity of expression. 

Thanks for the added strength of this post.
 Poppy

[Hopalong]

Not saying I'm doing it, but when I can:

sit in the woods, listening to the trees talk
have a long complicated conversation with my dog, and when her attention strays blow in her ears
get an hour's massage ($30) at the massage school's student clinic
sit in a downtown outdoor cafe, and watch the people and dogs parade (dog comes too)
do anything with my hands that's not typing
putter around the plants outside, pinching and pruning
fill the birdfeeders and bath
plan where I'm going to string twinkly lights

xo
Hops

[axa]

I love to draw and paint
Breath
Meditate - very bad at it not enough discipline
watch movies
hang out with friends
walk fast
run slowly
kayak
look at trees


axa

[Hopalong]

Oh Shunned.
OBX is one of my favorite places on earth.
I didn't get there this year, so special thanks.

hugs
Hops

[Ami]

When I study Spanish with all the different tenses and "mixed up" sentence structure----I forget ALL my freakin  problems..

[Poppy Seed]

I kinda thought that my ability to relax was kinda broken.  Over the last two years, I would try to do something relaxing but my pain was right there following me everywhere.

Last night, we carved pumpkins with the kids and then decorated our little front porch with scary halloween stuff that the kids picked out.  I felt myself relax!  It happened.  I completely enjoyed myself and my kids.  It feels good to say honestly that I felt it completely.

poppy

[tayana]

Poppy,

I felt the same way, and then last week at camp, I stayed for the special night when the kids had their dance and campfire stuff.  For a little bit I just forgot about all of that other stuff, and I just enjoyed myself.    It was so much fun and the kids were neat.  I danced with them and listened to the campfire stories.  It was great.  I want to feel like that more.

Of course, when I got in the car, my nmom ruined it.

[Bella_French]

Thanks for this thread, Tanaya!

Lately I've been relaxing by getting into photography after work. Its spring here, so all the birds in the forest across the road have little babies squeaking out for food. They are so cute! So I like to go for long walks to the various nest-sites in the forest and take photos of the little ones being fed, and of some the more unusual birds we have in the forest, like owls and kingfishers.

Yesterday I found a hurt magpie in the forest, who looked stunned and was being attacked by some other birds. It was lying on its belly and I wasn't sure what to do, as it was very vulnerable to being attacked by other birds or a cat or dog. So i sat with it and talked to it for about half an hour. I had some food with me and hand fed him some little scraps of meat, and he eventually got back onto its feet and was able to fly away.

I love this form of relaxation because it takes me out of my world completely, and into the incredible  lives and dramas of the local critters.

Some other relaxing things I do include painting, taking ahot shower or bath, and reading.

Bella

[Hopalong]

Bella,

thank you

love,
Magpie

[Bella_French]

Giggle, Hops.

Thankyou for saying that, lol. I sometimes wonder about my relationship with animals; they never express gratitude, but the joy is in the trust they give, and letting a human know them and be around them. No wonder I am N-bait, lol. But animals never wound me emotionally (except when they die)

X Bella

[Ami]

Dear Bella,
  That post was very profound and very well said.My Yorkie, Mimi, is just like a little baby. She snuggles in to your lap and makes little baby "cooing" noises. Whenever I cry  she runs over and wants to get in my lap.
  She is like a "pelt". She conforms to your body.
  I never had a animal that is so"human' before.Animals allow us to be "real' without any fear.       Love   Ami

[Bella_French]

Dear Ami,

That is so incredibly cute! I have never had the pleasure of being close to puppy before; it must be such a wonderful feeling being so close to one!. Dogs share so many common needs with us, like the need to love and be loved, and to feel touch. Has it ever occurred to you that dogs are also codependent, lol? And yet we don't send them off to get therapy:) We just love them the way they are.

It is really so nice to `safe' outlet for our love, don't you think? Thankyou so much for sharing your stories about Mimi!

X Bella

[Ami]

What I really see in Mimi, Bella, is that she has a built -in need to bond. It has made me understand people's need of people more. My Standard Poodle. Henrietta(13) does not have the same need to be "close" all the time.
  Mimi  is just like a little baby wanting it's mother.
  I don't know if it is a Yorkie trait or just her.
  I had a special set of circumstances that seemed "Divine' in the way that I got her.So, sometimes I think that her traits( warmth,love and closeness) were what I needed.                       Love   Ami