Went on a trip to NYC. It was quite the adventure, here is why.

I drove the 3.5 hours into the city. The GPS kept us on track by redirecting us from One highway to the next, hopelessly trying to find the shortest distance and the shortest time, which unfortunately for a friday afternoon proved to be daunting to the GPS, as I ended up with longer distance and longer time given the rush hour. Each road halted my journey with traffic congestion. My anger grew as I approached closer to the city. My frustrations felt they were mounting. The curse words continued with ferocious ingenuity as I entered the few streets away from the hotel. The last mile was exhausting. I could not wait long enough to launch out of the driver’s seat and fling my keys at the bell man, grab my suitcase and stormed into the hotel.

I was angry, no. I was disgruntled, NO. I was hateful.

A few hours later after many attempts to calm down, I took to the streets on foot with the wife to look for a restaurant to satisfy my hunger and anger. Food satisfies both I find. Yet something remarkable happened. I walked street to street for what felt like miles. I was relaxed, and grounded. I wove in between my fellow pedestrians, crossing the roads, darting cars with their furious drivers many with whom I could connect to their frustrations. It started to rain. It did not bother me. With no umbrella we continued to travel.

So this was what it felt to be human. I took in the sights of the flashing lights and the massive neon signs. The loud and gaudy shopping windows passed me by as I strolled. The collective sounds of the infinite conversations of people around me. The smells of food establishments and coffee shops and the filth of the sewers. The touch of others as they graze past me. The wet ground below me firm and hard. I stood for a moment taking it all in at a pedestrian stop sign. The flow of life continued effortlessly as I simply observed. All of a sudden it seemed to slow down and there was an uncomfortable silence. Had I turned deaf? No. It was me observing the entire picture of life in motion in a stagnant moment. A fraction of the experiences of humanity in one place was humbling. I staggered to get my footing back.

Yet here I was with all the magic of what it meant to be human. All the imperfections, and perfections, the beauty and the ugliness, the fears and the joys. NYC was the place to experience all the carnal emotions of the mind and body. A nude strip joint was right next to a ” find God” shop, tucked next to a cafe. I could find all sorts of experiences that were balanced out by their opposites throughout the city. The buildings were so high all around me, it felt daunting to look up with a perched neck to find a way out of the prison of sensory stimulation. Overwhelming yet peaceful.

So this was what it felt to be human. In a human body. Embodied. I thought ” I am going miss all this one day when I leave”. A rather surprising grounded point of view I thought later, since I came to this city in anger, and now in a peace. I began to love each sensory stimulation and exposure. Like a raw nerve starving for more electrical impulses my mind and body continued to explore my world with fresh eyes. The energy was pulsating with life. I admitted it ” it was great to be alive.”

My heart opened up and smiled. ” I told you you would love it here.”
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I love you