A deep peace in my soul.

That’s what coursed through me when I leaned back onto the frosty grass on September 27th, watching the Aurora dance overhead. The passion I have for the Northern Lights has changed my life in countless ways.

To celebrate 10 years of chasing this rare natural phenomenon, I traveled to Alaska near the 65th Parallel — where I can dance with the Aurora in her own neighborhood. The North.

I met a team of eleven Aurora Chasers in Fairbanks, Alaska, to spend a week chasing the Northern Lights with Cosmic Chaos Adventures. With some of us starting out as strangers, we found a cozy house on a river with a north-facing view, and set to work plotting our route to clear skies, epic mountain views, and eventually, the Arctic Circle.

It’s only been three days, and we are already slaying this challenge. We’re three for three on catching the Aurora each night and viewing the awesome colors with the human eye. The Northern Lights are putting on spectacular displays, stretching from horizon to horizon with breath-taking brightness, movement and color.

I can’t say I know everyone’s story, at least not yet. I don’t know what brought each of these wonderful people to love the Northern Lights. But I do know my own story. It’s one of such deep change and transformation that I can hardly believe how far I’ve come since I saw my first Aurora in Taylors Falls, Minnesota. What’s more, I can’t believe how many amazing friends I have made, how many professional connections I have formed, how many scientific achievements I have witnessed, and how many natural mysteries have appeared before my very eyes.

Living this lifestyle is like wielding magic.

In the last decade, I have suffered unimaginable loss, experienced heartfelt healing, found courage I never knew I had, befriended humans across the globe, and come into my own. I’m now volunteering as the founder and leader of an extraordinary community and working as a professional communicator with some of the foremost researchers on solar physics in the world.

For so many years, I have caught subtle and colorful Aurora Borealis in the Great Lakes region, but now, I’m here, directly under the Auroral Oval. I’m staying in the pristine wilderness beneath the living skies. And I’m eager to experience the moving nature of this ethereal phenomenon, in all its glory. I’m present, imagining how I’ll feel as we reach the Arctic Circle, when I will literally be standing on the top of the world.

On top of it all, we saw “the Aurora of a lifetime” last night, with more activity forecast to come our way. And I am here for it! This adventure is an invigorating one, and it has invigorated my heart, mind, and soul.

What an inspiring way to celebrate a decade of transformative stargazing!