Your Most Peaceful Experience?

[Old_Newby]

Title edited for caps and brevity. Original: "What is the most peaceful experience you have ever had?"​

I am on vacation this week and getting to smoke and contemplate in some great weather. I was smoking this morning and I remembered a moment in my early years that I had forgotten about. I am 59 years old and live in suburbs with airplanes and cars and noises all the time. I remembered when I was about 29 years old I went hunting with some friends (I wont kill animals but love the outdoors and just go for the enjoyment). My friend directed me to a pine thicket. Huge tall pines and the forest floor was covered with pine needles. No undergrowth due to pine needles so i could easily see 50 yards. I sat against a huge pine and it started drizzling rain. I was dry but it became so quiet. No planes or cars and no wind and the rain was soft and made the pine needles so quiet. I just sat there in absolute silence and watched squirrels, birds, and occasional deer walk past…. I wish i could experience that again….

 

[jpmcwjr]

You could! Maybe not in a walk from your house, but a short drive?

Thanks; it reminds me of doing the same.

 

[The Libertine]

My parents live outside the city of Paris. They have a pond that I usually sit by and just take in the nature while smoking a pipe. Sometimes I take a fishing pole with me to catch lunch. Nothing more relaxing for me. Don't get that here in NYC.

 

[jpmcwjr]

My parents live outside the city of Paris. They have a pond that I usually sit by and just take in the nature while smoking a pipe. Sometimes I take a fishing pole with me to catch lunch. Nothing more relaxing for me. Don't get that here in NYC.

Yeah, you need to drive down to the Pine Barrens! Or maybe near the Delaware Water Gap. Lots of place along the Delaware River. Good luck!

 

[jackattack]

After unexpectedly losing my career in the military after 11 years (sequestration budget cuts) the financial strain was too much for my already rocky marriage. My wife took everything I owned including my kids and dogs and left me with a pile of bills and no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. Saying I was low is an understatement.

A couple of years later I started to figure out how to be happy again and I took a hike up to Lake 22 near Granite Falls, WA. It was early in the Spring and there was still snow near the top of the trail so I had the whole place to myself.

I sat at the edge of that lake looking at the mountains when an eagle flew over my head just as an avalanche fell. It was cinematic and magical and gave me peace like nothing else ever has. I knew everything was going to be ok.

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

After unexpectedly losing my career in the military after 11 years (sequestration budget cuts) the financial strain was too much for my already rocky marriage. My wife took everything I owned including my kids and dogs and left me with a pile of bills and no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. Saying I was low is an understatement.

A couple of years later I started to figure out how to be happy again and I took a hike up to Lake 22 near Granite Falls, WA. It was early in the Spring and there was still snow near the top of the trail so I had the whole place to myself.

I sat at the edge of that lake looking at the mountains when an eagle flew over my head just as an avalanche fell. It was cinematic and magical and gave me peace like nothing else ever has. I knew everything was going to be ok.

Hey man that sucks, but my story is similar. My ex and I were in the process of moving to WA where I had gotten a job with the state in Olympia. In the matter of less than two months the marriage was over (there were already cracks) and found myself 2000 miles from home with pretty much nothing. I didn’t have much to begin with but the loss was huge. I was a stepdad and lost the kids I had raised for years. I spent months in depression until one day I said enough, I’m living in one of the most beautiful places in the country so let’s go and see if we can enjoy it.

That’s when I started hiking. Just being in the arms of nature with no other sounds from the city had a very calming and healing affect on me.

Eventually I made it back home to Wisconsin. My life is pretty much back in order and though I prefer to cycle these days, I still enjoy hiking and will continue to do both until I no longer can.

 

[Pipke]

My most peaceful (even transcendent) experiences have almost all been in nature (i.e. the real world). Times like going out in the woods when it was still dark and silently observing the woods wake up as the sun rose. You see things that you can hardly put into words.

 

[Sig]

I believe I take your experience for granted. This is my daily life.....quiet, nature, no traffic, no sounds....except nature.
I go to cities occasionally for work, but cannot wait to get home to the boonies. Here is my current view in my back yard...it's not much....but that's the point.

 

[warren]

Every night just before I drift off to sleep with the dawg tucked up tight against my back. I live in the Chugach Mountains so most every day I find a peaceful moment, or six, in God's cathedral. Most wonderful place in the world, in my opinion.

 

[telescopes]

When I visit my dad who lives on Table Rock Lake, we smoke our pipes on his front porch. For hours at a time. Or, we get in the boat and fish. For hours at a time, just fishing and smoking our pipes.

 

[FLDRD]

Like everyone else, it has revolved around connecting with the natural creation.

 

[solideogloria86]

It is the most awesome thing to just sit still and quiet in nature. It only takes about 30 minutes for the birds to forget you're there and go about their normal day, and then about an hour or two for everything else come alive. Some of the best experiences can be had by sitting down, being quiet, and moving as little as possible.

 

[BingBong]

Those psilocybin days of yore, oh, 45 years ago. Being out in nature was blissful. Certain shades of blue resonated. I had a Falcon which I used occasionally.

 

[sablebrush52]

One is a "white light" experience that I won't share, except with a very few people. Another was last year when the technician looking at an angiogram came into the room where I was still lying on the scanner bed to tell me that they wanted to rush me to to St Joseph's because they had found blood clots in my lungs that could kill me at any moment. I felt incredibly peaceful after hearing this because everything was out of my hands.

Funny, I always get dead calm in emergencies. Always have.

 

[VDL_Piper]

Every day of my life is like this..............and I never ever take it for granted

 

[fireground_piper]

Any morning I wake up before the sun and everything else on my own accord.

 

[Chasing Embers]

The quiet of being alone when I was still employed.

 

[bullet08]

Back in junior high. We had this baseball field off the school. Run down, but the bleachers were good. Few of friends and I get a bottle of vodka, and some orange juice with Funyuns. Fairly peaceful afternoon that was.

 

[daveinlax]

Some of my most relaxing times are in crowed, smoke filled rooms with friends. I live a quiet life but crave a crowded, anonymous big city to calm me.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Sometimes I sit out in the yard, in the dark of the morning, and watch the yard chickens wake up. That's a very peaceful scene... Until somebody lays an egg.