Surroundings have a great deal to do with relaxation. Just what environment is best for a given individual depends upon many different factors. However, there are a few suggestions that should be of help to you in finding a good place for relaxing. Generally, quiet places are more restful than noisy ones. This fact should be kept in mind if you are ever looking for a place in which to live. It is quite true that the human organism is very good at adjusting itself to many different conditions, but we have reason to believe that quiet surroundings, in the long run, make it easier to relax.

It is an excellent idea to have some retreat to which you can go when you wish to relax. It may be your own room, a spot in the corner of the garden, or any other place that seems to suit you. If you go there regularly at a certain time of day for relaxation, you will find that after a while it will not be the least bit difficult to gain the needed rest in a short time.

A good sleep and a good yawning stretch put new life into most of us.

When thinking of places to relax at home, two spots come to mind immediately, bed and bathtub. Yes, these are two excellent places for a person who wants to forget about the savages in the underbrush. It is quite essential when you wish to relax that you get into a restful position. A good comfortable bed in a quiet room is about the best thing you can find for resting.

Speaking of bed, and you may laugh at this but it is true, there are many people who have trouble relaxing in bed! To most of us this may seem absurd, because we go to sleep the minute we hit the pillow and do not wake up until an alarm clock routs us out in the morning. If you are one of these heavy sleepers, you do not know how lucky you are; and take care, for as you grow older you may become so highstrung that you, too, will have to take to the unpleasant sport of counting sheep in order to go to sleep.

If you enjoy sleep, it is good for you to continue to do so and to be careful of any activity or any habits that will spoil that enjoyment. Sleep is one of the most valuable things in life. People have spent fortunes trying to find out how to sleep after they have lost the art through carelessness.

Now, let's turn to that second place of rest, the bathtub. It is not our purpose to advocate that you become a tub-sitter to the annoyance of other members of the family. You will find, however, when things arc crowding in on you and it is difficult to rest, that a good soaking in a tub of warm water is about the best thing in the world to take out the kinks. If you are overtired and unable to go to sleep quickly, a warm bath before dropping into bed will relax you completely. If a bathtub is not available at the moment, just a warm soaking of your feet is a good substitute.

So far we have discussed relaxing at home. Let us now consider one or two other places that seem to aid relaxation. To some people there is no more restful place in the world than a church. For them the soft music, subdued light, and religious worship are soothing and restful to tired nerves and mind. You, too, may find church relaxing for the nerves as well as uplifting for the spirit.

Some persons find the out-of-doors the place to relax. Away from doorbells, telephones, automobiles, and other noises of civilization, they find rest in the woods with the delicate sounds of nature around them. Henry D. Thoreau was such a person. He learned to relax completely while the soft summer breezes brushed his face, rustled the trees, and carried fluffy clouds across the sky. The noises of the woods may disturb you until you come to know what they are and to love them. You may be like the woman who thought the birds kept her awake all night, when upon investigation it was found to be the singing of the frogs in the swamp that had bothered her.

Solid Comfort and Perfect Bliss.

Years ago a boy used to go camping with his father in the canyon near his home. The canyon was quite narrow, and through it there rushed a frothing, ice-cold stream, leaping down from glaciers high up in the mountains above. The noise of this stream kept him awake for a night or two. Later it was to become the most restful music in the world. There was nothing so relaxing as to be lulled to sleep by the endless rush of water over the smooth stones.

Perhaps you have read The Spell of the Yukon, a poem by Robert W. Service. It describes very well the power of the open spaces in bringing peace and quiet. Somewhere in the poem are the following lines:

" I've stood on some mighty-mouthed hollow That's plumb-full of hush to the brim; I've watched the big husky sun wallow In crimson and gold, and grow dim

Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleaming, And the stars tumbled out, neck and crop; And I've thought that I surely was dreaming With the peace o' the world piled on top."

If you have never experienced the restful peace of the great outdoors you should seek it sometime. There are few things in life more valuable.