It Gets Loud In Here Too

In a world filled with noise, we need to quiet ourselves to hear God’s voice.
Paul Borthwick

My Wish for the Next 10 Years...

I was asked this question recently & this was what came out...

I wish in the next 10 years that I can love more and love better. I wish that I can continue to have faith in the power & vulnerability of love. I wish that in 10 years I can continue to grow with the love I receive and am denied. I wish that I can understand and teach that love in its most pure form is simple, unconditional and forgiving. Within the next 10 years, I wish that myself and others will grow with compassion and mutual understanding that love of all kinds is the truth.

I also wish that, I can continue this for 10 more years after..

"In New York, we don't think... We just DO."

Quote courtesy of FA.

From Washington DC, I drove a U-Haul to Brooklyn, NY March 22, 2010. That's about 3 months after I was standing outside my best friend's apartment in Poughkeepsie, NY & I had firmly decided, "I am making a childhood dream happen. I am moving to New York City this year!"

About two months have passed since the move. It has been two months of adventures, new people, new insights, good times and hardships. There's too much of this city I have yet to explore, experience, love & dread. But I've had my fair share of experiences considering my short time here & I am enjoying every minute of it. Even in the midst of confusion & constant noise, I am learning so much & growing from it.

A prominent theme I caught on to: You need a serious ego & backbone to survive here. Survival versus living. Anyone can live in New York City. But this is a city you need to survive in. It will chew you up, swallow, spit you back out & repeat if not proceeded with caution. A constant struggle, sink or swim, do or die, go big or go home... I think all those cliches were born in NYC.. & possibly perfected elsewhere.

Whether you'll survive is grounded in how much you believe in yourself mentally, emotionally, & physically and whether or not you can say yes or no with conviction & I see the difference between surviving & living. If you don't have either, you better start working on it.

But how elitist of me to say all of that! Who am I to say that this only happens in NYC? In a recent e-mail response to some of my observations here a good friend of mine said, "New York may not be built for the weak, but I think simply living is not for the weak." (Thanks for that by the way, BH.)

However, not all my reflections of New York City are based on observation of others. There's been a lot of self-reflection. Whenever someone undergoes any sort of significant change, so many questions arise. Who am I? How do I relate in this world, my surroundings & the people in it? ... Just to name a few.

Lately, I've been taking walks along the Shore Promenade in my neighborhood. They've been quiet, considering. But I've been thinking about the questions, the answers, and the attempts to find both...

... time for another stroll.