Honestly when I’m out solo hiking deep in the woods that’s where it happens the most for me.
It’s bliss when I can lay there with silence in my mind while watching clouds float by.
I really need to go hiking again.
Cycling does this for me sometimes. Highly recommended.
Cycling is another great one for sure but unfortunately in my local community most of the bicycle infrastructure is best described as an afterthought at best so I’m playing frogger with my life and staying absolutely focused on my surroundings.
It’s physically and mentally exhausting.
It’s a different kind of bliss but still bliss for sure as if I do it enough during the week my sleep schedule is so much better.
I don’t know where you live but in most places you can find quiet back roads with little traffic as soon as you get out of the city. I try to avoid cycling in car traffic as much as possible.
There is a road about 10 miles from my house that is just rural and empty, has a huge shoulder to ride on, and no major elevation changes. My perfect Saturday morning was riding 20-30 miles on that road.
…And then the county went and put chipseal down. It created so much resistance on my tires that it felt like pedaling in mud. And it only got worse overtime because all the loose chipseal the cars kick up piles up on the shoulder. It just breaks my heart.
Of course we Germans have a word for that, here you go 💖
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210314-waldeinsamkeit-germanys-cherished-forest-tradition
Somewhere I’ve read that it takes at least 45 minutes to mentally detach from work. For me, that usually just means having different thoughts, but to stop all thoughts, I’ll have to exercise my body rather furiously.
I used to clear my mind when running. Unfortunately I can’t do it anymore due to disabilities.
I hope I can get back to running after more surgeries.
I wish you the best of luck on those surgeries, one of my friends is currently going through the same shitty situation after he got hit by a car last year while out running.
He’s hoping he’ll be able to run again before the year is out.
He just had another surgery back in July and he’s doing damn good after that one.
Thank you very much! I also got hit by a car last december :/
I wish a good recovery for your friend! Soon we all will be running again I hope.
If you didn’t think about not thinking, you could continue not having a thought
People can’t just turn it off? Seriously here. If I don’t want thoughts in my head, I just… don’t have them.
What? How? For me it’s like when someone says “Don’t think of an elephant!”. If I try to not think I’d only be thinking about not thinking. And then I’d be thinking about how I’m thinking about not thinking and then… until it’s thinking about thinking all the way down.
Which is weird to think about actually…
That’s so unfair :(
For me basically if I can my blood pumping hard and my heartrate up then my mind gets clearer and clearer.
Not to mention the massive boost in sleep quality that night.
Not if I’m awake. It can be brutal.
No. Are you trolling?
I don’t know if they’re trolling, but I do know that some people apparently have this ability. It’s baffling to me
My boyfriend can just ‘turn his head off’. I don’t get it. I have a constant stream of thoughts / music / whatever going on in my brain. Only once I got to experience what its like to ‘not have a thought’ and that’s after taking medication to deal with a panic attack. The next 30 minutes after it was just quiet. It was a very bizzare experience.
That’s how I feel swimming. Best part of summer.
I call it a “perfect moment” and I try to make a mental note when ever I experience one so that I’ll be more likely to notice the next time it happens. It’s most often in the nature for me as well.
I require substances to get there. I’ve experimented extensively with meditation techniques as well and they just don’t work on me.
This reminds me of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
That’s the reason why I loved semi-blacking out while stretching. This stopped happening after puberty, but it was always a short enjoyable moment of silence and absence of worries. I kind of miss it.
