Sunsets

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I've witnessed what could possibly be my thousandth sunset and I realized that I have never grown tired of watching it, nor will I ever be.  It has become a daily ritual, to watch the sunset, since I've arrived here in Anjuna. I'd sit in the same place, a quiant strip of beach around a bend almost hidden from the crowds, then I would reflect.

Sunsets have always captivated me. I have fond memories of kidnapping my friends from their husbands and boyfriends in order to have them accompany me on my random quests for sunsets, at the beach, on a hill or at a park. It marks the end of a day, a page or sometimes a chapter of my life. It gives me time to reflect on my day and a chance to symbolically leave behind the negative things as I move on to tomorrow.

Today's sunset wasn't particulary exciting, in fact, to the naked eye it was non existent. Clouds cloaked the sun, obstructing the view. Yet I knew that behind those clouds it was inevitably setting. Had there not been a small slit in the blanket of clouds that stretched across the sky, I wouldn't have seen it. The sun began it's descent towards the ocean's horizon, as slivers of it's bright profile sparkled through the slit allowing me to view it's figure in small glimpses, until an accumulation of those short glimpses created the whole in my mind's eye. It was surely setting. A promise that has never been broken.

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I remained staring at the ocean and looking up at the clouds above it when the magical moment began. To my surprise and delight, I was witnessing the creation of a watercolor painting. Live! Right before my eyes. It started in both far corners of my peripheral vision, gradually filling the sky till it met in the middle. The sun's rays reached out from below the horizon, touched a cloud like a painter's brush and highlighted it in color.  The sky began to come alive as it was transformed from dull grey to bright fuschia. It's magnificent color enhanced by the dark silhouette of the rocky bay in front of me. The phenomena only lasted but a few minutes. If I had left immediately after the sun's descent or wasn't looking up at the sky I would have missed it completely. I started to wonder how many times, I have been so numbed by the norm that I no longer took the time to find beauty in everyday things. Beauty in the simplest things that have remained hidden due to my own mind's neglect.

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I also can't help but think that magical moments must happen more often than we think. We just simply miss them because our minds are engulfed in so many meaningless things that we fail to notice them.