What relaxes you?

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There are degrees of relaxation; my list is not in order of degree.

In southwest, I found sp. relaxation, though I remain unaffiliated in my beliefs.
It's what a place, a painting/sculpture, a piece of furniture, what a person holds and communicates by state of being, and how that is received by me. Cumulatively.
There is a constant that remains though, at least for me. I'm looking for something, for connections, and when I find them, when I'm received as when my vision is filled with something wonderful and a raven cackles nearby, when there is a mutual, allowing in between people, even with healthy wariness, a special relaxation occurs and might remain.

1. The rock formations, flora, sky, colors, the special, undefinable, type of quiet I experienced in the high desert areas of Arizona and New Mexico. I carry this in my heart.
I lived in NM for close to a year. It was time to wander. There were many reasons for my move to the NYC building where I had spent most of my childhood. Far from relaxation, but a temporary necessity, which has been met and finished.

2. The relaxation that precedes and accompanies focussing that is central to my work, when I'm able to do it. This relaxation is based on self-trust.

3. Mutual, nonverbal communication in general, especially that between myself and a dog, with a wild animal, and, as of late, some very young children. Also, the relaxed silences that exist naturally when spending time with a good friend.

4. Some of Mark Rothko's paintings. For instance, in the small calendar (2013) out of the National Gallery of Art, Rothko. The June and December pages, in particular. August is fun.

5. Some paintings by John Singer Sargent.

6. A few Asian (likely to be in the prayer rug category) and Native American rugs I've seen.

7. A quiet and comfortable church, where I can think and maybe take a nap in peace.

8. TV series, Heartland. The manic trip, in attitude and expectations, of modern living is slowed. This one hour show seems longer, and that relaxes me. People look at each other, are influenced by peers or elders to do so. There's an attempt to see what is in a person. Seems to be room for correction and acceptance, at least some of the time, as long as a person is trying. I like the horse whisperer part, and the occasional entrance of First Nation ways. Something in me is awakened and relaxed by all of it.

9. Memory of the presence of someone I met on a trip, before things got messed up by another, and by my own fear. Those few moments brought me relaxed happiness, and led me on a trek back to my true, inborn, heart. Like a trail of breadcrumbs, which I've followed.

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