what calms you

Me too gfp?
SirChenjin quite bravly brings medication into the conversation

jura what is hang music please?

Having 24 hours without a family alarm
The DGSs being well
DS being able to sleep

Music
A good book
Deep breathes
Rescue Remedy!

A walk in the fresh air.

I've just come across this on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRdQsv65jtc

'Out of Town' theme tune.

Took me right back and so calming

I love jigsaws, and fortunately our library, where I volunteer, has an endless supply which I am encouraged to borrow. I introduced my Mum to patchwork when she was caring for my Dad: she found it so soothing, and if she couldn't sleep, would pop down and add a square or two to the quilt she was making.

Cycling even in rain, wind and snow it’s my favourite place to be especially reservoirs cycling around them. I hate going home.

I watch old episodes of QI. I love the questions on pointless trivia, answered by clever comedians and the calming tones of Stephen Fry. Love Sandi Toksvig but she hasn't got the voice.

My mum always used to move the furniture around when she was feeling stressed we would come home from school and everything was changed round, I guess everyone has their own way of coping.

I’m a quilter... so I go into my sewing room , put radio on and get lost in my stitching?

I created a Circle of Peace. It took a while. I put my hands up palm out and gradually pushed stress mentally away. It took a while. Eventually the stress was beyond my finger tips.. I had my circle of peace. I do this regularly in my mind when I can't use my hands...at work being an example.

I knit, paint and to get to sleep I sometimes think about what I am going to wear the next day. Just mentally going through my wardrobe seems to be very relaxing somehow. I also walk and watch birds. And cooking can be relaxing too.

Catsmother - my mother would do that too!

I miss it. My husband can;t cope with anything being moved so I live with furniture in the same place. I'd love a change from time to time.

Watching wildlife, whether in reality or on television, calms me down and helps get things in perspective.

I love calming, relaxing smells (as opposed to other odours!!). I try always to have a reed diffuser for each season. Currently I've got an M&S Christmas one and I'm very pleased with it. Much cheaper than most too. After Christmas I like a Hyacinth one. Rose for summertime etc.
Good ones can fill the place with such pleasing scents that it's a pleasure to arrive home. Its the little things!

Colouring. Time goes really fast and I feel so calm. You don't need any artistic talent and there are closed groups on Facebook you can join with like-minded, kind people that encourage you. I suffer from Anxiety and it really helps.

Quick fixes: Dressing gown morning (like Grapefruitpip), listening to Brian Eno's first track on Music for Airports (immediate transportation to calm place), looking at art books (esp. Matisse ).

Deeper restoration: Cheap first class rail ticket to London, lunch out with son, afternoon at Tate Modern, walk along the Embankment.

Next time, might also invite myself to GabriellaG54 for some of those delicious-sounding cakes and buns.

I find reading is the best. Getting absorbed in a good book always calms me.
If I find I can't sleep in the early hours I take a walk in my mind through a place where I used to live. Walking around each room remembering what it looked like, where the furniture was, etc.
As I've lived in many places during my life I don't run out of those memories.

Grannyknot
I pick up my knitting too. Also have circulation problems so it keeps my hands warmer with the constant movement.

Like walking as well, but prefer level surfaces and have recently had trochanteric bursitis so had to rest!

I also don’t think it’s helpful to say that you’re never stressed. Well, you are blessed indeed. Sometimes,feeling stressed is down to temperament, sometimes life events, and sometimes, past events, which can leave their mark...Its awful to be really anxious and not to be able to find relief. Personally, I have found one or two guided online meditations of about 15 mins long, that seem to hit the spot. I like Bach rescue remedy.I also do tai chi and have a class once a week. Being out in the fresh air feels nice. A really good book, or film, can help. Chamomile tea settles me a bit. And pathetic as it sounds, YouTube clips of funny cats, really make me laugh and ease the tension. In fact, maybe we shouldn’t underestimate laughter as being therapeutic. It can be an uphill struggle and some things just seem like short term diversions...but you can only do your best. If it’s nightime, and all else fails, I get a hot water bottle, curl up in bed for an early night. Mentally,zip myself up in a kind of safe bubble, and usually drift off to sleep.

When I am stressed I look at the webcam from my favourite place in Cornwall,and watch the tide, and other activities in the harbour,it is so calming.

I have some success in balancing out stressful situations by attempting to learn something challenging. Usually the situation passes over or changes shape and I come through with an extra useful skill.

Knitting is my Prozac it calms me right down in stressful times.

Above all else my darling dog, and listening to music. In particular Bach's concerto in D for two violins - that would calm and soothe any frenzy in my view!