Finding Peaceful Moments

I was thinking about Peace this morning.  Added a John Lennon quote to another thread.  Then, I went onto my chores with Peace in the back of my mind.  As I grabbed my tea and went to sit down to take a break, I looked out the window and saw a most spectacular sunrise.   I sat on the floor in front of the window and enjoyed the sunrise as I rested.

Oh, I saw a double circle rainbow while fishing with my son a couple months ago!  Amazing!

I guess any moment enjoying nature in all its glory.  

What brings you Peace?

I have an overwhelming calm take over me when I take a moment and sit in my chicken run with my hens.

I have an old folding chair that I leave propped up in there. My routine after work is to come to the coop after taking care of my dogs and alert the girls with "Here chook, chook, chooks!" They all come run/waddling along and wait for me to enter the run. I usually give them any kitchen scraps that I have or perhaps a treat at this time. I'll refill water/food/minerals as well as take a moment to look over the hens for anything off. Once that is done, I unfold the chair and sit for five or so minutes. Those five minutes usually is just observation and appreciation. Everything else leaves my mind and I'm in a peaceful state. It is hard to put into words why this happens?

My yoga practice gives me immense peace, particularly chanting.  It makes it possible for me to go out into the world grounded and easy.  

Chanting with Deva Premal a lot lately with tracks from her YT channel or on my music app on the phone.  She's amazing, if that's your sort of thing.

Blessings,

I like walking in the woods.

Just walking of any kind has always given me a satisfying feeling.

Years ago I posted a picture here on the forum that looked like where I used to live.  That was the most peaceful place.

I also like walking where there are flowers like in botanical gardens.

I like walking in museums and looking at the pretty pictures.  The most peaceful are the impressionist painters like Claude Monet or Vincent Van Gogh, especially the ones with flowers.

A great many things bring me peace, primarily because they're reminders of my faith. When I open my eyes to see and open my ears to hear, it's obvious. A quiet walk in the woods; snuggle time with John &/or my critters; reading quietly in front of the glass-doored woodstove after everyone else has gone to bed; watching the baby critters play, suckle, or snuggle their dams; watching the deer drinking in or by the pond; kayaking on the lake; the chance to laugh with loved ones; watching a beautiful sunset... so many more things remind me that I'm loved, cared for, and have real purpose. All are gifts from my beloved Provider, and therein lies my peace.

I was thinking of this thread last night as I was doing some of my knitting. As well as the situations that have been mentioned above - communing with nature in a green quiet setting - I find some of my best inner peace when I'm doing simple repetitive tasks like knitting. Something about the fact that you are busy, yet your mind cannot worry about much else than the next stitch is very calming. I quite enjoy cross stitch too for a similar reason.

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I am building a log home and to allow me to keep working on it through the winter I wrapped the enter house in a tent of clear plastic.  On sunny days the plastic on the south acts as a greenhouse and warms up the logs on the south side of the house.  And standing in that little space with the sun shining on me and the heat radiating back at me from the logs while being somewhere between inside and outside it is my favorite place to be.  I will go out there to work and end up standing there all afternoon not doing anything, just enjoying the heat.

Nancy, I notice that you have the working end of your yarn over your left thumb whereas when I knit, I have it over my right forefinger. Are you using the "continental" method? I have heard it said that this method is faster but I have never tried it.
As to where I find peace: my favourite place is watching the sea in all its moods. My perfect home would overlook the sea but have shelter so I could still grow my own food. I am feeling peaceful and relaxed just thinking about it.

One of my favorite activities is spinning. I fortunately have access to locally grown hemp fiber this year, and this has been a very peaceful preoccupation.

Another is whenever I am with other people, working to make a better world—whether bringing seeds to donate for the library, introducing people to new foods, spreading mushroom spores and fruit tree seeds. Or even alone or partly alone, sharing experiments here, like the sunken cold frame.

In the current situation and season, it is a bit difficult, but just sitting down in a beautiful forest or meadow for a long time, especially near water, is enough. Or walking out at night. Or gathering nuts and berries in a place of great abundance.

Leaving the phone behind to go for a walk and sit in the pasture with my dogs. Being able to sit and do nothing with no distractions is essential for me.

Ara Murray wrote:Nancy, I notice that you have the working end of your yarn over your left thumb whereas when I knit, I have it over my right forefinger. Are you using the "continental" method? I have heard it said that this method is faster but I have never tried it.

Ah, they aren't my hands Ara, I just found a picture to illustrate knitting! I'm trying to teach myself knitting like Hazel Tindall (see here: https://permies.com/t/214347/knitting-sticks-sheaths#1807146) but I haven't actually got a sheath for my double ended needles and am still only about 2 seconds a stitch at the moment. I've bought my husband a gansay knitting kit for Christmas. He's not a knitter and I've never made anything as big as a jumper, so plenty of time to get my speed up and have some peaceful moments! Maybe I can get him to make/buy me a knitting sheath though.

Nancy, I see. I haven't used knitting sheaths but tuck the right hand needle under my arm. I am quite a fast knitter but not as fast as Hazel Tindall although my style is similar and I don't think my speed has increased in the last 40 years. I think knitters must reach an "optimum" speed. Whenever I am knitting now (a frequent occurrence) I will be thinking of peace.

It's that time of year when the chickens and geese will get fed around 3 pm.....about 1 hr prior to sunset.  I find it a very peaceful time after they have all pecked around and begin their movement back into the buildings for the night's roost.  The geese will mill around a bit longer, then gather after dusk in front of an outbuilding door waiting to be let in.  As the sun begins to set, the long shadows across the snow just bring on such a peaceful feeling. It's the perfect time for a short walk alone through some wooded areas on the property. Knowing that the firewood is already in place by the stove and having a plan for dinner just make the stroll in the waning light that much more calming.  It may well be due to the fixation in youth on the cover of a paperbook I much enjoyed....Thomas Hardy's "Far from the Madding Crowd"....and the Penguin Paperback edition had the photo below, painted by the Scottish painter Joseph Farquharson.  Living in the city at that time, the photo evoked such a contrasting life and the scene and story combined for fantastic escape.... (photo below from Art.com website from search on his name)

Ara Murray wrote:Are you using the "continental" method?

Hey Ara, feel free to start a "how do you do it" thread in the textile forum! I for one love hearing how I'm knitting/crocheting wrong (left handed dyslectic who taught herself to knit, lol, apparently I knit backwards in Russian...) and we have some pretty cool crafters here.

J Hillman wrote:...standing in that little space with the sun shining on me and the heat radiating back at me from the logs while being somewhere between inside and outside it is my favorite place to be.  I will go out there to work and end up standing there all afternoon not doing anything, just enjoying the heat.

You brought back some happy memories of a renovation I did. The stairs were in, the 2 storey covered entrance had a roof on and one wall in, supporting some recycled stairs, and the sun would radiate down on a winter's day, and I felt peaceful in the middle of chaos no wonder many ancients worshipped the sun... Thank you

I find great peace in nature...I love being outside in the gardens...all of the day-to-day stresses just get put aside and out of mind.  I can get out of my head and instead let my five senses take over: listening to the birds, smelling the earth, seeing the plants and being able to help them through pruning or mulching or weeding and appreciating how much they give me in return, both in beauty and in bounty.  It reminds me of The Giving Tree--a children's book that always makes me cry--not because it's sad, but because of the gratitude it inspires.  It's cold out now, and the gardens are resting, as am I.  I find great peace looking out at them, especially when it's snowed and all of the branches are blanketed and all of the sharp edges are rounded and cozy.  I can see various tracks here and there, and it makes me smile knowing that wildlife can always find safe haven here.  I find awe in the circle of life that I witness, and it makes my heart sing.

I always found I could recharge when alone, quiet, and surrounded by the beauty of nature.

About 20 years ago, I learned yoga, and through that to meditate, pray prayerfully, and in the process I found myself, my joy, and how to move through pain and trauma.

Around 2005, I bought a very modest little shack on an acre for 20K in real money (USD) and dropped out of society, the internet, tv, stores, and people, and began to learn how to grow my own food, through lurking with temporary Internet access to permies (this is a great solution for those not plugged in), e-books by mollison, holzer, and library books in general, and accidentally built my self esteem by learning that there are things I can do, and do well:

cultivate abundance in nature:
shovel dirt,
saving a bee here and a salamander there,
weeding (targeted weeding),
transplanting my non invasive / non prickly weeds on top of new compost rather than killing them,
transplanting wild plants one might consider weeds but give them a home where they aren't in the way,
moving pigeon manure to my planting projects,
successfully transplanting a few common wild orchids from a trail to a safe place,

forgiveness for those who are unable to face their criminal acts because they are so damaged they can only be forgiven in their absence and sincerely pray for them

and then in my serenity, just standing barefoot stretching in the sun, not a care in the world.

Life is short on the scale of things where time is an illusion and having an old bod is just a blink of the eye.

I feel I have made friends on here who can see beauty in a pile of compost

Permies has helped me to feel whole and I thank you all for that

It doesn't happen often, but reading a book about a loved topic. I get really immersed and before I know it, the whole house is peaceful. No noise, anything. Even if their are other people home. For a few precious minutes, I am at peace. Their is nothing to distract me from that Zen. Also, animals ♥️

being in nature - walking in the woods, gardening, planting seeds/preparing for our growing season.  Being with my dogs - and hanging with my quail (I need a chair in their aviary still).

As for other permies, for me it is taking a walk out in nature.
Looking at nature. Right now where I sit at my table I look into the end of my (small) garden and see the huge cherry tree of my neighbour, which also bothers me as it shades our terrace - but it is like an opera stage for all birds small and bigger, sometimes a squirrel.
And near my own terrace the chickens in their coop, scratching, tending their feathers or taking in the sun.

Then I also love knitting in winter. It is like meditation (plus it gets me some nice garments).

When I rattle along in the kitchen with time I will switch on the classical music channel of my radio and I love to listen to sacred music like Monteverdi although I am not religious myself. But it has so much dedication and focus that it moves me. Sorry if that sounds clumsy, but I hope you get it: it has purpose, it channels the energy of so many people from composer to performers and it is just a good feeling to know that humans together can achieve beautiful things.

When I've come across the suggestion that I choose an image for calm, I've had trouble deciding between "rain on a tin roof" and "falling snow." At the moment I'm going with the latter.
As for activities that calm, gardening wins. One reason winter is now my unfavorite season--there is plenty to do in the garden from March to November--in February there is also maple tapping and starting seedlings.
As a homesteader, I'm safe from the causes of much uncalm--traffic, being surrounded by strangers and concrete. And my personal life has few sources of distress. I do have one thing, though, that keeps me riled, fills me with outrage, anxiety, rage, frustration--what's going on in the world, the many crises converging on humanity and the world's leaders consistently choosing to make them worse. I think part of the problem is that wisdom and power repel each other. So, this being the primary source of stress that calls for a way to calming, an obvious answer is "stop reading news and political opinion." I won't go that far, as I feel an obligation to do my part to try to help. But I did stop Facebook, as that is a rather toxic site--as with AI, the good it can do is outweighed by the harm.
I keep looking for mantras, things I can say to myself that put it in perspective and allow me to simultaneously be aware of the current frightening reality and still enjoy life. Like, some people look at a starry sky and say to themselves "We are such a tiny piece of an immense universe, how much does any of this matter?" That doesn't work for me--but a pair of science fiction novels by Connie Willis made a remarkable difference, Blackout and All Clear, featuring historical researchers from the 2060s who get stuck in World War II England. The ending hit me with great force, a realization that great wins in history don't come about because of a Great Man. Too many novels focus on "one man (or woman) can save the human race..." That makes for drama but it's false. Martin Luther King did not win the civil rights struggle--tens of thousands of people did. Some individuals make an outsize difference, yes, but history changes because of the efforts of millions working in obscurity--and we don't get to know what the ultimate effect of our efforts is. So--we just have to do our part, and accept that.
Oh, one more thing--playing with dogs. That gets me right out of the overly-verbal, adultish space and into a sensory, childish, in-the-moment mode.

Other readers might be interested in the definition of peace from perennial philosophy (Philosophia Perennis is also known as Greek philosophy in its earlier period and as scholastic philosophy in its medieval development): "Peace is the tranquility of order." It is no wonder so many of us find peace in nature.

My "new" unwanted dog. "Our" (read mine, Irish Wolfhound dies 4 months ago). NO! DO NOT feel for me please. I miss her terribly but as time goes on, I (we) know there are so many dogs that need forever homes. Especially the large breed.  Our home is like that.
I don't really like people, crowds, stupid TV shows and so on.
I am the walker in my tiny family, so anytime, anywhere, everyday, any day, sharing anything and everything every single day, is THE best day, and PEACEFUL time.
Walking through trails, watching and observing the new 4 legged  member is the most beautiful thing ever. To me. The discovery, the sometimes "pain in ass"  is still  wonderful.
Keeps me grounded, appreciative of life and how lucky I am to live where I live. What more can I ask for?
Thank you

I feel at peace when I walk in our pantry,
I’ve worked hard on it for many years.
It gives me peace knowing that I could survive in desperate times.
Any thing I do to fill the pantry gives me peace, growing food, preserving it and
Getting a good value for buying in bulk.
Otherwise, knitting, mending and quilting also give me peace.