A world of the rising sun before the rising sin.

(didn't know where to post this. Inspiration if you will. My feelings this morning. I hope people read and respond to this...)

It's no wonder were all depressed lonely and unhealthy,

We wake up to a world where exhaust and pollution is our first breath,

The news on TV our first sight, and coffee our first taste. Where the first sound we hear is the radio, or cars passing by, and our first thoughts are how we wish we could sleep in and miss the first hours of the day.… what a messed up world, yet even I live it.

And yet we have the chance to replace all of this fake stimulus with tranquility and enlightenment, and feel it how its meant to be felt.

Today I woke up feeling different, and I couldn’t place it. It was early, the sun was rising, and I woke up without the wish to fall back asleep. I woke up wanting to be alive and running and outside, but not in the happy way it sounds- not yet at least. So I put on runner’s and headed out the door. But instead of starting right away or stretching, I stood there feeling at peace.

And then my legs began pumping before my heart could get the chance, and I ran and ran and felt alive at 5:45 a.m., a time when I’d be dead-asleep missing out on what I had felt.

What I feels like to have sweat be you first taste, and the sun and cool air your caffeine and stimulus, the rising sun and dewy grass your first sight, birds chirping and your own breath moving through you like a force, the first thing you hear.

Being in the world before the wake.

Of the risen sun without the wake of disturbance; of murderers and pedophiles and secrets. Where everything is out in the open, where you breathe it all in- breathe in all the air you can before it’s polluted with buses and society’s breath. It’s absolutely breath-taking. To have feelings and emotions before half the world rises, to feel your body moving in momentum with the rhythm of your heart.

It’s hard to explain. I could paint you a picture, but I wouldn’t be able to capture each dew-drop on the grass, the mist over the pond, the sound of the birds singing, the sight of the orange rising- sun. An the feeling is like magic.

It's enlightenment. To be awake and witness nature how it is before it puts on its makeup, before its crowded by society and polluted with noise. It's such a contrast.

You don’t hear anything but your own body living and nature. It's so envigorating.

Feeling cold and warm and happiness and tire, when you normally would be feeling the numb coma of sleep.

The feeling of stretching your muscles, sitting on wet grass. I feel like it’s a hidden gem.That people say to you the words

“early morning, sweating, thirsting, aching muscle, mud and grass and getting wet” and you associate it all with “ew” and “no thank you”, yet if you discover it, you realize its “ew” without any of those things.

Its raw, its force.

I can say that its 7 am, and I’ve been awake and lived for in the past hour and a half than I will for the rest of the day. I’ve been kissed by an early new-born sun, and felt how the air feels before pollution and heat swell it up. And its such a contrast. It is.

Then at the end of your run, of your early outdoorsiness, you start to see the birth of fast cars and business men and constuction workers killing everything you just witnessed in the raw, in its beauty.

I feel like, if only everyone did this. If only people got to see these sights, feel this tire, a different kind of tire, this stimulation- no need for coffee or the news. If only everyone’s first high of the day was runners high, and not the high of cocaine or coffee.

“What are you doing up?” is people first reaction. The first human voice I heard today, in an almost “you’re so silly! Why aren’t you sleeping?” kind of way.

And I only want to tell them, “what do you think? I’ve been living!” but that will never do.

I wish everyone could do this, and even wish I could do it more often. But the truth is we’re too busy to, too stressed out to lose a few hours of sleep, which would ironically de-stress us, too lazy, and in a way too smart for our own good.

We think it’s a luxury to sleep in to us because we can miss out on the world for a while, the one that full of wakefulness and people and lies and pollution. Or we can wake up early, before all of this sin and witness a different world, a world that changes our perspective on the world that will come in a few hours, the one we want to avoid.

A world of the rising sun before the rising sin.

Lovely.

Anyone who knows me well would laugh heartily to hear me say this out loud since I'm so NOT a morning person, but early morning running has been really appealing to me lately.  Reading the morning runners' posts on the fitness board planted the seed and reading your post has made me that much more interested.

This morning I spent my predawn hours in an ever more crowded bed.  My baby came in the room first.  Her sister followed about an hour later.  I thought about sneaking out to go run, but the warm bodies snuggled up to me were impossible to abandon.  So, it may not have been a morning run, but I started my day well.  :)

It sounds like you've happened upon an oft unappreciated secret. The affect that nature has on our souls. Now, you managed to find the reason why I love nature and the world in general. It is funny how in the wake of people you can see the beauty that is around you.

It's only when the whole world is gone that these places become so special. There is something...personal about being the only one out (either early in the morning for you or often late in the night as I like to do). The worlds beauty is yours. It is made for you. The problem with asking others to come enjoy it with you is that it takes that away from you. The sense of being the single reason for the worlds beauty (without delving into the idea that if you were not there to enjoy it no one would. Are you really the reason for that beauty then or maybe the sole appreciator?). It is very wondrous and quieting (of spirit and mind) to think that you alone appreciate this moment. Where ever you find these moments in life you should learn to treasure them and hold on to them. I remember moments I've had like this where I sat forlornly atop a bridge watching traffic below fly by in sharp contrast to the nearly stationary sky. I have sat on the edge of a lake watching the waves ripple into the shores while the breeze ruffles the plants and gives them the illusion of dance. I have watched as the sun leaves the world to its own devices for another day and decides that it should enlighten some others thoughts for the time being. All of these moments have brought me similar inner tranquility.

Your post rings true to me in many ways. I think that the removing of the moment, of your sensations, by the waking of the world is necessary though. How else would you know to appreciate those fleeting moments of serene oneness with the world? If not for the blaring of radios, the honking of horns and the noise of transportation, how else would we appreciate the quiet of evening stars? Their ruination of the raw beauty is merely a transformation of the form into function for a small time.

We're only as busy as we make ourselves. The majority of our lives are the outcomes of the choices we make. We choose to go to work a little early to get more done so that we look better in the eyes of others and we get that promotion. If we forego the promotion we gain the extra time for inner peace, but then we don't get that new hot tub. And my feetsies could use a good, long soak. I'll concede that it isn't always so easy and direct a choice, but it is a choice.

For myself I find that music invigorates me in a very similar way to this. Music and a bright morning sun. I wake up, shower to soothe myself with the feelings of warmth and cascading water, and then I like to play some uplifting music and bask in the warmth of a new days sun. The earlier I get up though, the more that I feel the world is mine and mine alone.

Fantastic!  Nature is so simple, so beautiful, and it's so important to find that presence every day.  Gratitude is everything!  Thank you very much for sharing.