Follow the sunset, wherever it leads

Is there anything more peaceful then taking in the quiet beauty of the setting sun? As the sun descends below the horizon, creating romantic shades of red and orange across the sky, the world has a chance to breathe in and rejuvenate. While sunsets are a literal end to a day, they’ve also become symbols of peace, harmony, and the promise of renewal. Sunsets are a great reminder to rest and reset our hearts and minds at the end of each and every day.

All human beings have at least watched a sunset; but as a photographer and a poetess sunsets has not only been a source of beauty and inspiration but as well a time for contemplation and deep reflection.

 A thin blue line shoots across the horizon and that is the mark. You know the sun will eventually set underneath that line, but until then, the moment where it crosses that line, you are witness to one of the most beautiful sights in the Universe.

Here are a few things these earthly wonders called sunsets have taught me over the years:

Everything is an added value

Beautiful pastel hues of orange and yellow shine bright around the sun, but as you expand your perspective, the entire rainbow of colors is there. Soft baby blue and turquoise clouds float calmly through the open sky. Streaks of dark purple and red dash like the strokes of a mad painter.

A sunset is not a single color, and every new color adds beauty. Your unique story, your unique gifts will add to this Universe – it is your choice if you want it to be the bright yellow or the soft turquoise.

Change is inevitable

A sunset is when change is most evident; where the sun that has been moving all day, now, finally seems to move to a closure. The scene transforms and every moment brings a different sunset. Every second something changes and makes the scenery more diverse, just a little more unique.

Change is neither good nor bad – change is. It has previously happened and is happening now, and will continue to happen, and therein lies the beauty. When the novelty in our life seems to be wearing off, the Universe will change it.

Your Experience is Unique

Even if we are identical twins standing next to each other, we will not be looking at the same sunset. Your entire life, even the way the breeze shakes your shirt and not your twin’s, every single experience you have ever had, adds towards an increasingly complex experience that cannot be the same as anyone else’s. Your sunset is your sunset – your life is your life.

There is Only Now

Just like every existence is unique, so is every moment. The sunset you are seeing now, you will never see again. “You have never been older, and you will never be this young again.” Enjoy the now; enjoy this sunset.

It Doesn’t Always Make Sense

How can a ball of fire that is millions of miles away— something that sucks in life and spits out fire—create something as beautiful as a sunset, as beautiful as life? How can such beauty hold such destruction? Why must darkness always follow? There are usually more questions than answers, live for the questions.

There is Always Tomorrow

Just as we feel a touch of sadness when the sun makes its final journey across the thin blue line, we too feel a hint of sadness when death appears in our life. But death is not the final journey just as today’s sunset is not the last sunset.

This existence is infinite. Therefore, do not worry, hold on, and enjoy it because as you watch that sun crossing that line, you will know that time will come to cross your own life, you will be greeted by the next big adventure on the other side.

Light and Dark

Realize that there is a certain duality to life. A sun that must always make way for the night.That plants feed on the light, but grow in the dark. That music needs the silence. Existence in itself is paradoxical.

Beauty

Oh painters that have tried to capture a sunset shades, poets that have tried to describe its beauty, scientists that have tried to measure and study it. They are all trying to grasp that beauty, that truth, held within a sunset.

The way the yellows clash with the blues, the way the clouds cover the best parts, the way something blinding can be seen, the way it cannot be copied, described or understood – rarely found – just lived, just felt. Find your own version of beauty, try to capture it in your own genuine way, and then share it with the world.

There is Always More

This reality we live in is only a fracture of deeper levels and higher dimensions. It is only one sun, one star out of billions.

There is a Purpose

I have to believe that the same particle that left the sun on a million mile journey, the one that avoided everything in its path, hit my face out of a billion on a rotating planet. Everything happened because I had to feel that warmth. On that day, in that moment, I needed that warmth in my life.

Witnessing the sunset is a great scene and experience, which cannot be easily expressed in words. For few, it is just another day gone by where the sun has disappeared from the horizon, but for many, it provides great insight and parity comparable to our wonderful life. Life is indeed an amazing blessing, especially with sunsets.

Report & Photography: Lama Alhassanieh