ayearofmorningskies
On looking up at the sky each day
Two years ago I started going outside just before bedtime, to look up at the sky and say goodnight to the world. I had lost much of my regular body clock. My circadian rhythm was severely out of sync and this was a simple way of building some regularity into my day. Each night I would take a photograph, think what I was grateful for and share on an Instagram page.
I wrote about it here:
Resting Under The Stars
It should be that resting is the easiest thing to do. To simply put up the shutters and do the bare minimum of daily functions. To breathe, eat, digest, to simply exist. But for me, it has been one of the hardest things I have ever done.
The following year I switched to looking at the morning sky. I still kept the habit of going outside at night to say goodbye to the day, but my focus (and the photograph) were on the morning sky. I had realised that in the winter months I was very bad at getting outside. So starting at the Winter solstice, I’d take a photograph, never missing a morning and post to a new Instagram account - ayearofmorningskies - with my intention for the day.
I’ve realised that the winter solstice has become a much more important date for me than Christmas or New Year. I’m not quite at the level of cavorting around henges but there feels something significant to this turning point in the year of our small piece of space rock revolving around the sun. 1
I’ve never been a big Christmas or New Year person. Too much excess for this quiet introverted soul. Instead I prefer something less about consumption and more about connection. Over the years I have created my own transitions around the solstices. Mostly based around simple connections with the natural world.
In the last twelve months there have been some days where I have not wanted to get up, to face the day. But I have found that I work best on long term projects. Ones that are based around habit and repetition. Once the groundwork is established, parameters set, it is then just repeat, repeat, repeat.
There was only one rule around morning skies, and that was that it should be when I first notice daylight. That I should get outside and take the image. I’d go outside whatever the weather, freezing cold, pouring rain, or in the summer when I would be greeted by bright crisp daylight.
If I was at home it would often be barefoot, wincing at the cold slabs of our patio sometimes. A couple of times I was up and out before it was light and I allowed myself some artistic licence on those days. Most days it is when I first come downstairs in the morning.
The intention focussed my thoughts, tuning into what I needed. The final day, just before the solstice it was to rest, feeling the overwhelm of Christmas, of busy weeks cramming extra work in, as well as the administrative burden of organising business and family gifts - and yes I do see it as a burden.
From time to time this year I have travelled staying in hotels. The one thing I noticed is often how hard it is to get outside in big hotels. Sometimes I would have to force myself to find outside, particularly if it was one of those big maze like conference hotels.
I’d come home and realise how lucky I am to live in house with two doors that both lead to outside space. Both go immediately outside - the back and the front of the house have green space - large trees loom in both views.
How many people don’t have this? This immediate connection to outside. While my outside is not untamed by human hands (and let’s face it very little of what we deem the natural world is not sculpted in some form by humans). There is birdsong intermixed with the traffic noise.
By far my favourite, was when camping. A simple unzip of a tent and there I was, outside.
This year I have decided to do ayearofnoondayskies - there has been some experimentation to find out the best way to alert me to midday but I’m a few weeks in and it seems to be working.
Several years ago I took part in Mappiness, a study that tracked what people were doing, where they were and how they felt. One of the overall conclusions was that people were happier outside. 2
Taking inspiration from this project, I am simply noting what I am doing when I stop to go outside, how I feel in that moment and something about the rest of the day.
The action of stopping whatever I am doing, becoming conscious of my surroundings and checking in has many elements from Mindfulness. It’s providing a useful stop in the middle of the day. Too often we can become lost in the constant tasks of our life. When do we stop to stare at the sky?
Who knew that when I looked up the night sky and made that first post that it would morph into this ongoing project. What I have learnt most, is that we just have to start.
If you want to know more about the origins of winter festivals, this was an excellent listen on BBC Sounds - The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg - it is available for another couple of weeks.
You can read about some of the findings of Mappiness here:
https://theconversation.com/happiness-mapped-why-work-is-the-place-we-feel-the-worst-72689