Finding a Relaxing Environment

On the importance of securing a place of solitude in your day

In the course of going through the snail mail, where it is 99% junk, I happened to find a local magazine marketing real estate and realtors. It was a full colored, glossy, eye-catching ad, one of those things you can’t help but open.

Really, I have no need to move. After moving both my family and my in-laws in the span of three months two years ago, I have no desire to pack a box again. But the curiosity was too much, so I took a few minutes to thumb through it.

The most interesting thing in the magazine wasn’t the photos of property, or homes for sale. It wasn’t even looking at the photos of perfectly coiffed and made-up realtors, complete with snappy slogans designed to convince you that they are the best choice for helping you buy or sell your real estate.

What I found interesting was a statement from some realtor who specializes in rural property:

The simple act of sitting in a relaxing environment has the ability to help our brains function better.

Now this realtor was selling the value of being in a place “far from the madding crowd” of city-dwellers. What better way to relax than to be out absorbing the natural goodness of the country? How much better is it for mental health than to be away from the continual pounding our brains take when living in the city, bombarded by traffic, noise, people?