Greenpoint: Step away from the noise and reset your brain

Hiding out in a quiet place, even for a few minutes, can improve your outlook and your health. My daughter sometimes calls me midday, and we have a cup of coffee or take a coffee walk together while we’re talking. Last week, she kept getting interrupted as she walked through the city: “Hold on, a truck is passing” or “Wait a sec, I’m walking through construction” or “Oh no, I just walked into a high school dismissal!” She had a few hours between obligations and was looking for a quiet place to sit and knit. Or if not a quiet place, at least a place where the sound was natural and calming. She chose a midtown fountain surrounded by benches. The falling water drowned out the traffic. Finding quiet can be hard in the city that never sleeps and is constantly under construction. Sirens, jackhammers, subways, crowds, traffic … But you don’t have to be in New York City to be bombarded by noise. Quiet is in short supply most places. We wake up to alarms, go down to the kitchen where the fridge is humming and the coffee pot is groaning, grab the phone or turn on the computer to check email, the news, what our friends are up to. If we work in open offices, we hear everyone else’s ringing phone and all their conversations, too. We are overstimulated and overconnected, and bombarded by sound and images from the moment we open our eyes. Sometimes, even when we get outside for a solo walk, we forget to look around, to listen. We’re still buzzing. I walk the dog every morning, but there are some days where I’m rushing and my mind is racing, cataloguing the things I need to do that day and the next two. I’m […]

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