It's a fast paced world we live in.

I get that, and I know it's not so easy to slow down and breathe. It's easier to go 1000 miles per hour and get lost in your to-do lists, your calendar meetings, and social media than it is to get away from your technology and go somewhere isolated to go star gazing.

It's so important that we take time out of our days and look up at the sky. During the day, pull out a chair or find a safe place to pull your car over and just watch the clouds like you did when you were a kid. Look for the dinosaurs, animals, flowers, faces, and letters in the puffy clouds above you. Let your mind wander and your creativity flow - explore the shapes and sizes of the white art against the blue backdrop. 

Go out with a friend and laugh at the shapes above you. Make up a story about the planes that appear above - where they're going or what the people on that particular flight are going to do when they land at their destination. The goofier and more ridiculous, the more fun it'll be :) 

And at night - find a spot away from the city and the lights and look up. Get cozy on a blanket, lay on the hood of your car, or set up your campsite and lie in your tent under the stars. This time try to find and name as many constellations as you can. Or count how many shooting stars you see. My personal favorite choice is to just gaze at the Milky Way and enjoy how it feels to be under hundreds of thousands of stars as they twinkle, dance, and shine overhead. 

Time to slow down

Last week I went on a photography road trip with my brother, Nick, and my friend, David, with the sole intention of taking as many pictures as possible over four days. We had a very limited plan of what we wanted to see, and were able to fit in Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ as well as other sights in and around Kanab, UT.  

Two of the three nights were spent out in the desert with our cameras capturing the stars twinkle and satellites zoom by overhead. We sacrificed sleep and survived on Redbull and coffee, but had one of the most memorable weeks we could have asked for.

While we were out in the desert, the only noises that we heard were the crickets and insects milling about, the clicks of our camera shutters, and the occasional beef stick or granola bar being unwrapped. The three of us spent seven hours under the stars over two nights and each walked away with a handful of incredible Milky Way photos, but even more than that is that we walked away with incredible memories and a feeling of calmness. 

We saw a comet shoot across the sky in a streak of red light, forty to fifty shooting stars, hundreds of satellites, and thousands of stars above us in an awe-inspiring scene.

The Milky Way near Kanab, UT (taken by Justin Viens on Apr 26, 2023)

This trip, specifically looking at the night sky, left me feeling refreshed and healthy again. I encourage all of you to get out and look up.

- Justin Viens ~5/2/2023~

For more information about the health benefits and impacts of light, here is an except from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). You can find the full article HERE

Excessive light exposure has also been linked with health impacts ranging from changes in circadian rhythms and sleep patterns, to depression and weight gain, to the development of cancerous tumors, said Charles A. Czeisler, director of the division of sleep medicine at the Harvard Medical School. Czeisler was one of four experts on hand for the AAAS screening.