What Relaxes You?

[Padwolf]

Quite a few things relax me. Classical music often does, such as this:

Sitting and reading a book on my bed relaxes me
Rain and looking out the window and watching the rain
Walking the dogs in the forest behind my house
Hugging the dogs
Getting a really nice message
Sitting near a fire and just thinking
Writing stories
Listening to the Lake Hylia theme from Twilight Princess and just lying on my bed thinking.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

Drinking coffee and walking my dog. (Warm drinks in general will relax me, coffee is just the one I choose most frequently)

I also find old cartoons from my childhood to be relaxing. Thank God for Netflix and Boomerang

 

[Kreett]

Heavy Metal, especially progressive metal.

"It's not repulsive; it's soothing." to quote Cowboy Bebop.

This! So much this! I actually listen to metal when I have trouble sleeping

 

[Kordie]

Like others have mentioned, rain or ocean sounds help me sleep at night.

My way to relax at the end of the day is cooking. I like the smell of it and the enjoyment I get afterwards with a tastey treat, but the most relaxing aspect of it is taking my time and working at a slow pace. Everything set and cut in advance, then its just me adding ingredients to the pan and giving everything the time it needs to cook. Whether its turkey dinner, or caramel popcorn, it forces me to work slower and take my time. How to translate this into a game, I am not sure.

Personally from a gaming point of view, I like puzzles to unwind. I just played through Limbo, and it was great for a relaxing point of view. Simple controls, looks great visually, and there was a feeling of sucess when I solved an area, and not a huge punishment. Granted the aesthetic of the game might not be what your looking for aiming at depressed people (or maybe it fits better?).

Only things I would stay away from is any form of multiplayer or competition. While fun, those are rarely conducive to relax me.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Listening to Frankie Goes to Hollywood, of course.

 

[lobster1077]

Scotch on the rocks and rainfall. Fortunately I currently abode in Limerick so the rainfall never ceases.

 

[Meatspinner]

80s synth drone. I've yet to meet others that feel the same so I don't know how common it is.

Otherwise if I'm feeling anxiety or stress I usually go for a jog just to get it out of my system.

 

[cambamuniverse]

Thank you for all of your opinions. A lot of people seem to enjoy rain and thunder. And only one person has said masturbation. Alrighty.

 

[Bertylicious]

Single Malt Scotch and a blow job.

I've always found blowjobs a bit like bacon; the idea is better than the reality.

I'm going to go with thinking about blowjobs.

Fair point. I would recommend a good scotch to go with your "thinking about blowjobs" though.

Whisky makes me pass out and shit myself so I dunno.

Thinking about it though, that is just hardcore relaxing for pros. I'm going to go buy some single malt and some man-nappies.

 

[BENZOOKA]

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Blowjobs, or orgasms in general

Few beers

Workout, sports

Friendly conversation with a close person

Solving a thought-consuming problem

Making a girl laugh

Showers, baths

Sauna

Massage

Giving and receiving love

Kissing

Confirmation, approval, respect etc. from mother or authoritative figures

 

[sextus the crazy]

Heavy Metal, especially progressive metal.

"It's not repulsive; it's soothing." to quote Cowboy Bebop.

This! So much this! I actually listen to metal when I have trouble sleeping

One of my friends actually feel asleep listening to dragonforce on his ipod at a loud volume.

 

[Screamarie]

Good music.

The hum of a fan nearby.
Cool weather.
A nice time spent petting my dog.
While it's a rarity, getting a good massage.
Lying perfectly still before I drift off to sleep. Of course, for my goals, that's counter productive, but still.

I do not know you but you are a wonderful person. I have never heard that song before but I reallly, really like it. Thank you for sharing. ^-^

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Stabbing a hooker and then eating their flesh.

 

[Phasmal]

Why would I ever need drugs or alcohol when kittens exist?


Whenever I'm mad or stressed, I look for videos of kittens and I am calm.

 

[ultrachicken]

Rain, dense woodlands, night, quiet, and being alone make me relaxed.

 

[orangeban]

Whenever I get stressed out or upset (which is happening more and more recently), I tend to suck my thumb. It's a security blanket thing, just a habit, but I find it very relaxing. If the situation gets worse, I flee, put on some relaxing music (something gentle, piano or something), curl into a ball under something warm and suck my thumb till I calm down. Yeah, I act like a baby when I need to calm down, sure, but I've seen some fucking relaxed babies in my time. Some of those kids just don't give a shit.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Well I have been watching this anime which is quite relaxing to watch after I come back home from work. It's called Shirokuma Cake aka Polarbear Cafe-

It's a mudane but surreal sort of anime since it's involve talking animals that are equal to human. The anime itself is just talking and take place in normal setting. Normally this sort of anime is something I would never watch but this one appeal to me.

One of the reason why it's so relaxing is the soundtrack as the one played in that trailer is heard in the episode and played again during the preview scene after the credit.

 

[shrekfan246]

I do not know you but you are a wonderful person. I have never heard that song before but I reallly, really like it. Thank you for sharing. ^-^

It's a combination of three songs actually, numbers 10, 11, and 12 from the album "Lateralus". "Reflection" kicks in at about 4:48, and "Triad" should start at about 15:56.

OT: It depends on how I'm feeling, really, but usually anything by this guy is enough to relax me:
The ambient sounds and soft plinking of the instruments are a wonderfully stark contrast to the other things I listen to.

Spoiler: Other things I listen to, which nobody will care about and most people probably won't like, but do a fair job of putting me at ease.

Okay, that one isn't really... er... relaxing, but this one is!

 

[likalaruku]

*White sand beaches with crying seagulls, palm trees, seashells, ferns, ukulele & pan drum music. (You put this in the game & you can just go ahead & send me a link to your progress blog. I'm onboard).

*Smashing crates & barrels in games.

*Other music: Harp, syrinx, other foreign instruments never used in American music, Bigband, Swing, Ragtime, The Andrews Sisters, Chiptunes, Connet Project, organ, Gregorian chants, Enya-like music, Tchaikovsky, Japanese & Korean pop ballads, the Swan Lake Overture (public domain), the Leopold Stokowski rendition of Tocatta & Fugue in D Minor (which should never take less than 10 minutes to play).

*Other visuals: Forest trails, flower gardens, lakes, waterfalls, fountains, baby animals playing with their parents, Wonderland visuals (giant mushrooms, checkerboard lawns, card suit themes, bizarre animals, things colored only in red-white-black & sometimes grey), nostalgia of anything from 1983-1994.

*Art & architecture: Art deco, art nouveau, arabesque, rococo, baroque, victorian, edwardian.

*Other sounds: Thunder storms, roaring rivers, chirping birds.

Scents won't translate into games, but I love the way concrete smells when it starts raining, ground coffee beans, grapefruit, patchouli, sandalwood, lilac.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Listening to music, especially acoustic guitar music. Also a nice cup of tea, the cure for all life's ills.