A Different Normal
A window we are preparing to open
Receive the Day
First light and sunrise.
The Living Sky Project
The World Wakes Up Here
Stay until you feel yourself arrive.
Sunrise, September 29, 2026 · recorded timelapse
The Living Sky Project is an invitation to notice what is already happening above and around us, every day—and to remain with it long enough to receive it.
Two windows into the living sky
One eastern horizon. One western horizon. From the foothills of Northern California.
A window we are preparing to open
Release the Day
Sunset, and the release of the day.
A photograph says: Look what I saw.
A live window says: Come be here while it is happening.
The live windows do not exist yet. Everything on this page is recorded.
Why this exists
We have built a “normal” that asks us to interrupt our lives to remember how to be human. To breathe. To feel grateful. To be in the body. To see beauty, and one another.
We notice breathtaking moments, and we rarely enter them. We gasp, take the picture, and keep moving. Wonder becomes a special occasion.
This is not only an invitation to notice more. It is an invitation to stay inside the moment.
- Long enough for wonder to work on us.
- Long enough for beauty to become energy.
- Long enough for gratitude to settle in.
- Long enough for aliveness to become normal.
Perhaps breathtaking moments were never meant only to make life bearable. Perhaps they were showing us how life is meant to feel.
Enter one now
Raw video and audio. No edits. You see what I see and hear what I hear.
Sunrise · September 25, 2026
In real time, from the first glow to full light.
Sunset · September 2, 2026
In real time, as the light lets go.
More sunrises and sunsets on YouTube: @mydifferentnormal
We have enough technology designed to capture our attention. Let’s use some of it to return our attention to what is real.
I don’t want to make content from the light.
I want to make more of the light available.
Help me open two windows into the living sky
I need a little help, and it is a surprisingly simple ask.
These sunrises and sunsets have changed me more than words can hold. I want to share them in a way that does them justice. Not as another photograph to scroll past, but as a living window you can enter and stay inside.
No performance. No commentary. Just the sky, the land, the birds, and the changing light.
The first phase is finite: two windows, one at sunrise and one at sunset. It needs cameras, natural sound, connectivity, and a streaming setup. I am working out the details with care, site by site, before I ask for anything specific.
Four ways to help
- Help fund part or all of a window
- Donate suitable equipment
- Offer streaming, installation, connectivity, or web expertise
- Introduce the project to someone who can help
Prefer email? Write to shawna@adifferentnormal.com
Nothing here takes payment. I’ll write back personally.
What this could become
The two windows come first. If they work, they may be the beginning of something wider:
- More windows, from oceans, forests, mountains, deserts, and cities.
- A way to follow first light around the planet.
- A quiet sense that others are receiving the same sky with you.
None of that exists yet. For now, it is two horizons and a beginning.
A living project from A Different Normal.