I'm looking for an active verb which means something along the lines of "to take or find peace in" something. Something like soothe is the opposite of what I want, in the sense that the something is the thing doing the soothing. e.g.,
The river soothed him.
But I would want "him" to be the subject. This would result in…
He was soothed by the river.
…but this is passive rather than active. Is there such an active verb? A single word that means something like "find peace in" in the following?
I find peace in the trickling of the river.
Best Answer
If you're committed to a single word, I would look at the reflexive verbs lull, quiet, or ease. Soothe would work.
The resulting sentence would be something like,
But, if you want a single unreflexive verb, I would use unwind or relax (somewhat obvious).