21 Days of Joy: Sunrise, Sunset

Day #18: Sunrise, Sunset

I decided last night that I wanted to enjoy the sunrise. I think the last time I sat still enough (and was up early enough!) to watch the sunrise was a couple of years ago. Sad, I know. I'm definitely a WAY BETTER morning person (read: much friendlier) than I used to be; however, getting up anytime before 7 a.m. is still a challenge for me. I, sometimes, think I'd love to be one of those early risers that awakes everyday before the sun rises. There has been occassion, not many but a few, that I was wide awake before sunrise. It was a beautiful way to begin the day. In the quiet pause of the morning when most of the city was still asleep, I would enjoy a morning yoga practice and then sit for meditation. I felt so in tune with the rhythm of nature, of the day, in those few times. Maybe my next "21 Days of" practice should be in awaking before the sun does! Ha! It would be interesting, for sure.

I decided to go to Wrightsville Beach to catch the sunrise. The last one I caught was at Carolina Beach. Gotta share the love, right? When my alarm clock went off at 6 a.m. I rolled over, hit the snooze button, and groggily said to myself, "Just 5 more minutes." I thought to myself that maybe catching the sunrise could be done another day. Laziness was starting to take over, or maybe it was my love of sleep. With my eyes half closed half open, I swung my legs over the bed and sat up. I took in a deep breath and said, "Okay. I'm up." Trust me, that was the biggest part of the battle!

I spent about an hour at Wrightsville Beach. It was windy. It was chilly. The sunrise? Brilliantly beautiful!! The fact that I had to get up at 6 a.m. and would rather be in bed all fell away as the sun made it's first "Hello" over the horizon. The richness of the sun soon painted the sky with its colors of pink, red, and yellow. In that moment, I was so glad I took the opportunity to enjoy a start to my day such as that. As I was enjoying the moment I thought, "Darn! I wish I had my good camera! Oh well, at least I get the live version of it!"

I had no plans to head to the beach for sunset this evening. I was in a bit of a sad mood towards the end of the day because of something that had happened earlier in the day. I was here at home and looked over at my dog, Lila, and asked her if she wanted to drive down to the beach for sunset. In my head she responded, "Heck yeah!!" I always feel better when I see the ocean. It has a very healing and meditative quality for me. So, I packed up Lila... made sure to bring my good camera... and we were off! I drove down to Ft. Fisher this time where we were met with quite a bit of wind and quite a bit of action in the water. The clouds rolled in not long after the sun set so it made for some pretty cool shots. Lila and I enjoyed a nice walk along the beach, I took a few photos, and then we came home with me feeling much better... and my dog happy, too!!

After coming home, I realized that I had just begun and ended my day with the sun. Ahh, there was that connection to the rhythm of nature. I rose with the sun in yoga and meditation, went about the busyness of my day while the sun was at its peak, and ended my day in walking and meditation as the sun set. Beautiful, yes?

PS Apparently, when the video was processed in Youtube some of my letters were dropped. I promise I do know how to spell. ;-)