My daughter aka manager, Ash, and I just got back from a five day trip to New York for a book signing at The Shirt Factory in Glens Falls. Not only was this an amazing trip, but it was a bucket list check off for me. I’ve always dreamed of attending a book signing in New York!
I kept an open mind as so many people had “warned” me about New York, the attitudes, the drivers, the weather. I didn’t want my experience tainted by the experiences of others. This was my adventure, after all, and I knew I needed to make it my own. I am so glad I did! Ash and I had an AMAZING time! During the entire trip, we ran into absolutely lovely humans. A couple of hours on two days, we experienced some ice and snow on the roads, but it quickly cleared up and we enjoyed dry roads and sunny skies.
We stopped at many stores, preferring grapes, cheese and sliced meats to munch on as opposed to getting fast food, and each store we ran into lovely, kind people. They were also very curious and talkative, very different from the area of Arkansas, where nobody asks any questions and it’s understood you keep to yourself. Not saying Arkansas is bad, it’s just they respect privacy both ways and tend to be more introverted. New Yorkers didn’t mind starting conversations and asking what brought us to their gorgeous state.
The buildings were also incredible. The neighborhoods we drove through near Glens Falls and surrounding areas were filled with historical architecture that is rivaled to none. Unique, majestic, you could practically see people in 1800’s attire strolling down the sidewalks, making their way home from a busy day. Just stunning.
One thing that became very clear to me was that I had been living in the future. Attaching outcomes to circumstances that hadn’t even occurred, instead of looking around at what was right in front of me. I was on a road trip to a state I had always wanted to visit, to do a book signing! I focused on the land around us, our fun conversations, the music we listened to. I absorbed every single moment and appreciated it for what it was. It was so freeing, so uplifting and I want to thank Mr. Lowkey for that.
Mr. Lowkey, aka, Jim Carrey, left the spotlight of Hollywood to embrace spiritual awakening and self awareness. My husband started that journey more than five years ago, I started more recently, only three years in, but was struggling with what Dr. Joe Dispenza, Eckhart Tolle and Alan Watts were trying to explain. I stumbled across Mr. Lowkey and I was able to comprehend what he was saying and to be able to use his method. The five day road trip allowed me to put into practice what I had learned and what an incredible experience it was. Truly life-changing. It also shone a spotlight on the darker side of what we are calling reality.
We do not have live television, nor do we read the newspaper or watch any news. Using my criminal law education for the past twenty years, I’ve read too much, learned how the media systems manipulate people, and the lies we have been told for well over thirty years. While in our hotel room in the evening, we ended up watching a Harry Potter movie marathon and man, the commercials that came on were surreal. I almost thought it was a joke, a parody of the United States, but quickly learned that nope, these were actual products that were being sold to consumers. I wouldn’t even watch the “news” and quickly scrolled past those channels. Just the small snippets of what we saw, I completely understood why our society is angry, depressed, hopeless and lashing out on social media, which I still have to promote my books.
It was then that I decided I was only going to focus on the positivity. I do not have the power to change the world, but I do have the power to be the kind person you may run into in public. I have the power to offer a hug, a listening ear or just polite conversation instead of gloom and doom.
In short, I want to thank New York for being that kind state who offered polite conversation, a listening ear, and to Mr. Jim Carrey, aka Mr. Lowkey, for providing the tools to allow me to see and react to this crazy life of mine in a new, refreshing and lighter way.
Blessings to all of you!