MINDFULNESS

Magic Happened When I Shared a Sunrise With a Gull

I planned to see a sunrise but got much more than that

Sunrise bathing helped me renew myself (credit: Monica Ray)

I live in a multi-dwelling city building somewhere in the Big Apple. Here, life is unpredictable and sometimes borders on the bizarre. But you can always count on noise as a constant, in all its shapes and forms.

The noises are as diverse as the people that make up the city. Jackhammers, honks, shrieks, barks, thuds, cries, fights. You hear it all in minor and major scales, arpeggios, and chromatics.

Viewing sunrises and sunsets from city windows is a luxury few of us have. So imagine my thrill when we found a hotel room at a reasonable price with an east-facing window and balcony, in a hotel in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Martha’s Vineyard

I’ve always associated Martha’s Vineyard with the ultimate luxury. It’s where presidents and aristocrats have holiday homes. It's where the young and shiny of America have weddings that grace magazine covers. It’s not an obvious choice for someone looking to find themselves by looking inward.

Apart from scoring reasonably-priced rooms, a perk of visiting in the late summer is that you lose the crowds. The murmur of soft conversations, the…