Sunrise

By Kathy Lord Nicolosi

Every morning, there is a wonderful magical moment that happens right here in this beautiful place where we live. All you have to do to experience this special moment, is to set your alarm early, (you can check the weather app to see what time the sunrise happens), have your morning coffee or tea, then get dressed and go down to the beach. You might be asking, “Why would I do that?” You are doing “that” so you can experience the magic of seeing the sunrise. For those of you who are not “early risers,” don’t stop reading just yet, maybe this article and photo images will inspire you to do this at least once in your lifetime.

We live in such a beautiful place, so close to the ocean, allowing us such a great opportunity to see a sunrise or sunset over the water. Sunsets are easier in terms of getting there on time, but trust me, seeing the sun come up over the horizon, this ball of light peeking through whatever clouds or colors might be in the sky, is truly breathtaking. Watching the sunrise has reminded me of how small we really are in the big picture of the world. So much goes on unseen by us and of which we have no control. The tides, the earth’s rotation, life in the sea, life in the forests, plants growing, animals giving birth, falling stars, storms on mountain tops, magnificent sunrises and sunsets—there are so many incredible things that happen each day that we are totally unaware of. There is so much we don’t even know about.

So when you can easily treat yourself to even just one of the wonders in this world, it might be worth doing. To add even more of a reason to go watch the sunrise, according to preliminary research, here are some of the possible health benefits of doing such a thing. It helps to regulate your internal body clock, improves sleep quality, helps you synthesize vitamin D, helps regulate blood sugar and weight management, helps boost mitochondrial energy function in the eyes, potentially improving vision and reducing age-related decline.

You can easily research the mental and emotional benefits of watching a sunrise as well and I hope you do. The possible benefits seem endless. What led me down the “go watch the sunrise” path is my journey as a photographer. I am always looking for something new to photograph. I have to say, I’ve become a little addicted to getting down to the beach really early and watching the magic happen. Each morning, there is this small voice that now calls to me to “hurry up, don’t miss it, get down there and see what beauty this morning has to bring.” It is really very exciting.

Every morning is a different landscape, and you never know what it will be like until you get there. Some mornings, I look out my window and think, “It’s just going to be a plain sky, nothing special” but then, I go down to the beach and the clouds and the colors and the birds and the waves, it’s just incredible, it is always something special. Each time I go, I feel this wonderful energy and I am able to view this never-ending slide show of beauty as the sky keeps changing right before my eyes. Sometimes when I get home and view the photos I’ve taken, I think about how so many people will never even know this magnificent event just happened! Therein lies the beauty of photography! As a photographer, I can help to take people to that moment with images captured through my camera lens.

I hope this article and the photos inspire you to have your own experience of a sunrise sometime soon. For those of you who might not be able to schedule such a thing at this time in your life, I have shared a few images of sunrise moments at Riis Park for you to enjoy and walk into as if you were there. But, if you ever get the chance, “just do it!” Set your alarm and get down to the beach for the sunrise. I can pretty much guarantee you will be very happy you did!

“Every day, a million miracles begin at sunrise.” – Anonymous

I would love to hear from anyone who is inspired by this article enough to have this experience. You can email your sunrise story to: run4music@aol.com