Last week, I had an early morning departure from Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City. We all arrived at the aircraft half-asleep, trying to keep ourselves awake with strong cups of coffee. I was stressed. Flying’s difficult enough, and I always worry about my family when away from home. While sipping coffee, I was going through some pictures of my daughter’s dance performance in her school’s cultural group function. I wish I could have attended it.
The coffee did its magic, as usual. We prepared the aircraft and we took off.
As soon as we reached cruising altitude, the dawn broke. I saw a dark pink hue at the far left horizon. The light increased as we progressed. Now it was orange - a few minutes later, yellow. That yellow light was mystical. My feelings crested in waves. All my bad emotions started receding. What was in that light that made me stop thinking about my apprehensions? Why was it so easy for my mind to connect to the rising sun?
There’s science behind this phenomenon. Some human hormones are definitely affected by various colors of light. Light exerts its internal biochemical effects through the eye, passing through the retina to the optic nerve. Part of the optic nerve goes to the brain's vision center. Another part goes to a section of the hypothalamus, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is the body's internal clock. From this nucleus, the light-generated nerve message travels through the brain to the spinal cord and out a nerve center, called the superior cervical ganglion, that transmits it to the pineal gland.
The pineal gland is located in the center of the brain; Descartes thought it was “the seat of the soul.” The gland’s responsible for secreting a hormone called melatonin (the “hormone of darkness”), which serves an extraordinary role in stabilizing our cellular and circadian functioning. Our melatonin levels are high in the dark, but decrease with sunlight. As melatonin recedes, our brains are flooded with serotonin - calming us and boosting our mood.
Beyond biochemistry, I feel dawn light is truly symbolic. We know that sunrise has always been associated with renewed hope, a new beginning, a new opportunity.
This makes me wonder, though. Why do we humans have to depend on external forces to make us feel better? Why do we need someone to share our feelings with, to release our pent-up emotions? Why do we sometimes use dangerous and abusive substances to forget past events?
There are more questions here. Why didn’t we develop a mechanism to control our hormones during evolution? Why haven't we built out our immune system to deal with stress and depression? In the emotional realm, I suppose we are the weakest species on the planet.
I am certain that evolution never stops. We progress in life and learn from difficult experiences. It all gets engraved in our DNA. Future generations inherit the lessons we mastered. I think we can still learn to manage our worries, trauma, pain and sufferings on our own; by ourselves. We can create a better version of ourselves. We should seek outside help if needed, but we should learn to control our minds first. As they say, “it's all in the mind.”
By now it was too bright. We extended our sun visors on the cockpit windows.
 | A guest post by
|
Love this piece