The Imaginary Coffee Shop In The Sea
Wouldn’t it be great if you could be constantly by the sea? Or in the Forest? Or in the middle of a Storm even?
Do you know what you can’t find within Tokyo? The Sea. Oh, yes, it’s quite close. But you definitely have to make an effort to go see it.
Last weekend I went on a trip about 2 hours away from Tokyo with some friends. It started as a relaxing day at the onsen in a forest and finished by the sea, enjoying the beautiful sunset — as you can see in my profile picture.
But when we got to the sea, I felt the weirdest déjà-vu ever. I tasted coffee in my mouth and felt a warmth that made me want to take off my shoes and get working.
Definitely not what you’d expect from the sound of the waves hitting the rocks, right? Neither did I but I closed my eyes and understood.
I’ve been writing in a coffee shop for more than a year and always listen to the sound of waves and of a campfire to block out the coffee shop’s disturbing music. Without knowing it, I conditioned myself to feel as if I were by the sea at a coffee shop but it ended up working the other way around too.
Could we always be in nature?
Let’s be honest for a moment. Living surrounded by towers and shops every single day of our life is exhausting. There are triggers all around that prevent us from concentrating and relaxing.
But through listening regularly to the same sounds of nature, we can learn to feel in the middle of a forest or by the sea at any time of the day, anywhere.
There are countless pieces of advice about going into the wild and I’d agree with those for the most part, but most of us can’t get this opportunity often enough so another solution has to be found.
With apps like Atmosphere on your Android smartphone or iPhone or even using a website like Noisli and you can start mixing sounds that soothe you or develop your creativity.
Those will help you find peace and nature even in the busiest environment you can imagine.
Don’t you want some calm too?
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Mathias Barra is a French polyglot living in Japan and who has learned 6 languages and dabbled in numerous others. Being a curious child full of wonders is how he keeps on learning and can’t stop sharing about every tiny idea.
