I had an amaz­ing 20 min­utes of utter relax­ation at work the other day. I didn’t even real­ize it until it was nearly over, but I think I’ve solved the equa­tion. As it turns out, I think I finally under­stand why coffee shops are so damned relaxing.

To achieve coffee shop-​level relax­ation, you need six things:

1. A Comfy Seat
   This is key, you cannot relax with­out a good, squishy, comfy seat to rest your bum on. I don’t think anyone can truly relax on a stone bench. I’m not saying you can’t use a bench, but I doubt you will hit your opti­mal relax­ation point.
2. A Drink
   I’m not sure why but hot drinks tend to work better, even in warm weather. Try and get some­thing that is as pleas­ing to smell as it is to taste. I’m a fan of French vanilla or rasp­berry flavours when I’m trying to relax. If you have to get some­thing cold, try and some­thing of the slurpy or slushy vari­ety. They are more ful­fill­ing to consume.
3. A Snack
   The snack is pin­na­cle to the whole system. It has to be some­thing you can break apart with one hand, so it has to be smooshy or break-​up-​able. It can’t be messy lest you ruin what­ever you are read­ing. It also has to com­pli­ment what­ever you are drink­ing so that you don’t get con­flict­ing tastes. My sug­ges­tion is a good blue­berry muffin. Almost every­thing goes with Blue­berry except and sort of anti-​berry drink such as turpentine.
4. Some­thing to Read
   A novel or sim­i­lar one-​handed book works best, though I’m sure you can still work it with a news paper or larger book. Try and avoid any­thing dig­i­tal; not only is it harder on the eyes, but I find elec­tron­ics stim­u­late too much of the brain. Make sure you’re read­ing some­thing you are gen­er­ally inter­ested in. Just because you can read the dic­tio­nary, doesn’t mean you should. If you’re into that go for it, but I have a sus­pi­cion that you don’t get invited to many parties.
5. A Table or Or Other Sur­face to Place Your Stuff
   A table or sim­i­lar sur­face is what I’m refer­ring to. If you can get it on the side in which all of your non-​book items are going, even better. The trick is to move as little as needed when going for your drink or food. Try and get one at a good hight too. Noth­ing is more annoy­ing then having to reach too far up or down just to get to your food.
6. Ambi­ent or White-​Noise in the Back­ground
   This is what really makes the dif­fer­ence. Coffee shops have people talk­ing in the back­ground, my work has a server and lots of key-​clicking. What­ever is your back­drop noise, make sure it’s mild and pleas­ant. Try and avoid fast music or any­thing with a pro­nounced “Thump” beat.

If you meet these six con­di­tions, you can actu­ally become excep­tion­ally relaxed merely by enjoy­ing then in union. I man­aged to do it, and it’s prob­a­bly the most relaxed I’ve been in a while; and at work no less! You’ll know when you’re relaxed when every­thing goes “wuanh.” I’m aware that that was a noise, and not an iden­ti­fi­able one, but when it hap­pens that’s what you’ll feel. It’s the same sort of feel­ing when time for­gets about you.

One more thing, remem­ber that you cannot force it. If you try and make the relax­ation happen, it wont. The trick is to get caught up in the moment, or the book, or both. You’ll be relax­ing in no time.