About The Dawn

“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly coloured than the day.”
– Vincent Van Gogh

I think the importance and attention we give to details vary in accordance to the context as well as various factors surrounding us at any particular moment in time. There is no telling if the image we have of something will always be the same in a few minutes, tomorrow, next week, a year later. The general image might still be the same, however it does seem like our focus would turn to something else every time. This phenomenon knows no exception; it could be for paintings, songs, places, meals. Even people.

The setting which we find ourselves in when we approach something we have known for a while plays an intriguing role in determining how we are feeling, who we really are in that moment. Keeping track of such changes are also key in understanding ourselves and making sense of our world. Not the world as portrayed in books and for what it truly is. I am talking about our own set of eyes, our own colours, our own angles, our own brightness, our own day, and our own night.

“Just take a moment, don’t waste another life
Just take your worries, we’ll trade it for the night”
- Trade It For The Night by HAEVN

The perception and vision we have of things may not always be positive nor negative. It is in constant motion, just like us and everything else in the universe. We invoke stories, memories of past days, deep thoughts and conversations that we maybe never knew we had, and use them to add some personal touch to the image we are describing. We look with our eyes and hear with our ears, yet we observe and contemplate with our soul.

That is the beauty of the human brain: it is constantly creating new forms for us to experience the universe and everything it holds. One of the easiest examples I can think of involves the mystery of music: usually when we are happy, we enjoy and fly away with the melody of a song; however, our brain functions in a different way when we are sad or angry or in pain, shifting the attention to the lyrics instead. We try to find a connection with something, or someone. It is almost like trying to hold on to a life line after we have fallen overboard. We have replaced our own set of eyes with a new one. Almost like using a way to communicate with an alternate reality. Nevertheless, it is important to know when to hang up.

Too much of anything can make you sick. Lingering in a certain state of mind for too long can become addictive, like a prison cell with the door slowly closing shut. Any reality should not become a comfort zone, as that is when we become trapped in a certain reality and cannot discover the other things the universe has to offer. We become stuck in a certain mindset, making it impossible to understand others, to emphasise with them, to see the world through different eyes. It is an easy trap that we often notice once it is too late. Remaining stuck in a certain reality, a certain perception of the truth is what can cause depression, nonchalance, drug addiction, superficiality and more.

Allow yourself to bathe in a certain perspective for a while.
Escape reality as you know it for a moment.
Yet, always remember to come back, even if it feels good to stay.
Keep on growing and listening to yourself.

Maybe that is why, like Van Gogh, I prefer the night to the day. For its beauty in the midst of the darkness is calm and smooth enough to help me escape reality for a while – regardless of how I am feeling -, enjoy another universe where I can swim in the music I like. However, there is always a time when I will have to remove my earphones and go to bed.

“If the window is coloured, your vision of the world will be tinted.”
– Stanley Coren