1. The Healing Power of a Sunrise

When my husband died, my heart stopped beating with strength and certainty.

Beating seemed frivolous, beside the point, optional. My doctor sent me for a

flurry of cardiac tests, maxing out my deductible. She offered me too many

medications, which I never want, and don’t take. I wasn’t looking for a cure. I

knew half my heart had gone with him.

I understand why the widowed often follow their spouses into the grave. The pull is strong. Loss is deeper than the ocean and the flood of my tears kept sweeping me under. I didn’t sleep well and woke up early, so I began taking walks to look for the sunrise. The darkness of night is unified, solid, and deeply calm. When light emerges, almost imperceptibly, it begins to reveal shape and form. It is as though the world materializes out of nothingness.

There is only one sun rising every day, everywhere for everyone. Yet it never rises the same way twice. On a clear morning, there is a soft pink glow on the horizon, then a touch of gold as the sun peaks out over the edge of the earth. In that moment, the birds take flight, dancing through the warm rays that welcome a new day. Sometimes a soft mist diffuses the light, and the world feels like it’s floating. When clouds are scattered above, their underbelly glows pink first and then a dusty violet. If clouds crowd the horizon, light isn’t free to fly out in all directions. But if you watch, and wait, somewhere a beam of light will break free and shoot out across the sky. In that moment, when dawn spills color out onto the world, and the birds take flight, my heart feels light again.

Growing Tips: Look for the sunrise. Find the best views looking east near you. It is best if you can see the horizon. Look for a morning that is not too cloudy, although light clouds can make a sunrise more dramatic. If you can start watching while it is still completely dark, even better!