Talk about your favourite spot in your house to make yourself feel relaxed.
The most honest-to-god comfortable and real estate in my entire home is a corner of my bedroom that I have, over time and with some hint of purposefulness, slowly turned into what I snobbishly refer to as my reading and thinking corner. It occupies the space to the right of my desk, which is next to a window facing east — where the brightest morning light pours in most generously — and consists of an armchair purchased secondhand from a university colleague, a small side table, warm lamp for reading, and a quaint but overstuffed collection of novels on a low shelf within reaching distance.
Why this is a pleasurable space in the physical sense includes its natural light in days of early sun, somewhat soundproofed from the more active sections of their flat, and the specific kind of warmth it absorbs on bright days when sunlight pours straight across the chair. These physiological characteristics generate a sense atmosphere that my body and mind have learned to associate with calm and openness — just sitting in the chair appears to elicit an immediate detectable relaxation response.
It is primarily reading — non-fiction mostly, essays sporadically and poetry sometimes — interleaved with bouts of nothing to think about. It is completely intentional that there is no screen in that corner, and I believe this is one of the most important parts to how well it accomplishes the relaxation. There is no desk, there is no laptop, and I try very hard not to bring my phone — which means it really does feel free from the ambient stress of connectivity that defines so much of contemporary home life.
It relaxes me so well for this reason, the physical comfort and natural light combined with intellectual engagement of good books and purposeful disengagement from digital compulsions. It is a space where nothing of me is required apart from whatever I choose to offer it and this gently chosen, rather than enforced, form of presence yields a restorative quality in my home that cannot quite be rivalled.