New York City Trip Review (Blog)

[Steve Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

New York City Trip Review

[martin]

What a great read! I went to NYC back in May for a few days, it was so much fun. I should have went to a vegan restaurant! Ahh. Maybe next time! I'm planning on moving there.

What hotel did you guys stay at?

[Steve Pavlina]

We stayed at the Hampton Inn at 51st St & 8th Ave. It was a very short walk from Broadway & Times Square.

[Fullcrum]

Hey...that's me!

Glad you guys loved NYC. I'm not well travelled to all the American cities, but people tell me NYC is like the cultural capital of America, if not the world.

I'm gonna have to check out those vegan restaurants, they sound wonderful.

Did anyone notice the women in NYC are stunning?

[yagazuzy]

After reading Steve's blog for a year and half or so, I regret missing the meetup, but I had a synchronistic experience that reminded me that we're all connected. I live in New York, but I was visiting family in New Orleans at the time, and I had no idea the meetup was being organized. That's what makes the experience I had all the more interesting because I had an inspired vision along the lines of something I might have probably experience if I had attended.

It is said that before the Buddha became enlightened, he was fasting under very extreme and austere conditions when he decided to have a bowl of rice milk. He finished the rice milk and sat under a tree to meditated until he achieved the enlightenment that lead to his famous middle path. I had a similar experience after eating a bowl of seafood gumbo (I have been vegan for 3 years, raw vegan for 1 year) the day after this meetup was scheduled. I then meditated on why I was having difficulty getting any work done. I realized on a very profound level that I am not perfect. I cannot expect to conquer the world while juggling 5 plates, standing on one foot, and checking my email with the other foot, all while remembering to keep my posture straight and my chin up. In short... the middle path.

Then I had my first cup of coffee in 3 years, and with that I had the clearest vision of my career path yet. I was amazed how uncannily similar my vision was to Steve's model, and yet my direction was so clear and uniquely self-tailored. The timing of my vision made more sense when I later discovered that the meetup had taken place just one day prior.

I found Steve's blog through polyphasic sleep, and so this blog is part of the inspiration that lead me to start the Polyphasic Sleep & Time Management meetup group in New York:

Polyphasic Sleep & Time Management NYC (New York, NY) - Meetup.com

I realized that the motivation behind pursuing the austerities of raw food and polyphasic sleep is part and parcel of the blocks that have been preventing me from being productive. At some stage of exploring polyphasic sleep, one should really question how he/she will use the extra time, and if free time on a monophasic schedule is filled with procrastination, then how honestly can one really assess the situation? Polyphasic sleep is not impossible, but the goals I thought it would lead me to were unreasonable. It's still something I would like to try, and though I've prepared myself physically, I still have work to do psychologically.

[ArthurHung]

Ya know, I keep going to the audio section of this site and I see Steve’s personally developed, intelligent mug smiling at me. Yet, from the pictures you see of him he doesn’t seem to be smiling in an unconditional love sort of way.

False advertising!

I demand the 0.32 cents back I gave him from accidentally clicking the google-ads over the last 3 months.

Steve, learn to smile bigger (especially for pictures) and we’ll welcome you here in Toronto, Canada with open arms. Btw, when you get here you can pay by cheque or cash

[madgeylou]

the dirty, corroded feel of new york city? that's what we call *history* and *character* and *soul.*

seriously, though, you should have seen the city 20 years ago when the "soul" was off the charts, especially in times square.

also, i know vegas has a soul, too, in its own unique soulless way. i mean, the liberace museum is something you'll never find anywhere else.

i'm sorry i couldn't make the meetup -- i already had plans that morning. but i'm glad you guys had a good time. being in new york is something that can be described, but never adequately.

to me, the most amazing thing is the energy. everyone who is here actually wants to be here -- they're not just here by default, they're here because they love it. why else would they put up with the noise, filth, and rats, right?

(although i think it's kind of fun to watch them as i wait for the train. it's like the new york version of shamu.)

[Velvet]

I mean no disrespect with this question, but would be interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Erin: clearly you're a sensitive soul who can communicate with disembodied spirits and things, and yet your flat-out dismissal of the entire body of work at the Museum of Modern Art makes me scratch my head a little. Visual art is a form of communication just like those pictures hanging on your daughter's wall, and just like the spirits talking to you. I'm not sure how one can be a sensitive soul--or even an average, sentient being--and not be moved by, say, Monet's water lilies or Diane Arbus's haunting photographs.

[impaul99]

I've been to New York twice. Could just be me, but I couldn't stand it there. Everybody walking around seemed like they were in such a hurry to get somewhere, who knows where. I think the whole time there, I didn't see anyone crack a smile.

The people in all the stores were rude and unpleasant, and everyone just kind of had an ****** attitude. I'm speaking about Manhattan only as that's where I stayed, close to Times Square. There was a stabbing on the subway the day I was there, and all I remember hearing all night form the hotel window was the constant, never-ending sound of taxi's honking, non-stop...

Contrasting that with my trip to Hawaii, everyone there was so nice and friendly and laid back. Restaurant waiters stop and talk to you, build a relationship, find out where you're from etc. They are almost all like tour guides telling you places to check out.

Maybe it's just me being used to Vancouver. New York just seemed a lot too fast for me.

Everyone else I talk to seems to like it though.

[Catlover]

I'm sorry that I could not make the meet-up. I had hoped to travel up from D.C. to NY but had to go out of town for business that weekend in the opposite direction. I don't have a good idea of how many other people from around D.C. are Steve Pavlina fans, but I would like to suggest that Steve and Erin consider visiting here on one of their future trips. Of course, that is a personal decision for them to make.

As far as NY goes, it's kinda hard for me to get a lot of warm fuzzies there. People can be the way that they are as described here and in the blog entry, and some parts of NY are indeed run down, unclean and in disrepair. However, there are certain things that it offers that can't be found elsewhere, for example in the performing arts. Thus, I've spent considerable time there as a musician and a mother of a child actor. I think what keeps some people going there is the sense of challenge of living in that environment, while others who were born and raised there share a tremendous amount of pride and strong cultural and family ties.

[Erin Pavlina]

Steve and I are definitely interested in visisting DC at some point. I've been there twice and loved it. Steve's been once. We were saving that trip for when our kids are a little older and can appreciate the history and touristy things.

We also want to go to Florida.

Velvet: I was not moved by ripped up pieces of white paper. I didn't see Water Lilies there and I don't know about Diane Arbus but the image I saw on your Wikipedia link was a little disturbing (or haunting as you say).

[Lola]

I felt like I was on speed the three times I visited New York. (And I do NOT need a hyper boost)! I'm glad I went and absolutely loved every minute of it, but the non-stop stimuli literally wore me out in all regards. Guess I really am a laid-back Texas gal at heart.

I vote for Dallas for a future Pavlina trip!

[hazerfazer]

I do not mean any disrespect by this question, but from the pictures Erin does not look like she is in very good physical shape, why is this?

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by hazerfazer

I do not mean any disrespect by this question, but from the pictures Erin does not look like she is in very good physical shape, why is this?

The simple truth is that she's made a lot of suboptimal food choices over the years, doesn't exercise, and lives a largely sedentary lifestyle. She really got off to a poor start in life here, since she was raised on fast food. Even though she's been vegan for more than 10 years now, her health habits still have a long way to go. Personally I'd love to see her leverage her blog readership to help her with this part of her life, but I'm not sure she's ready for that yet.

[Angela]

I think that Erin is absolutely gorgeous and perfect, and I hope that she feels that way, too. If she doesn't feel gorgeous and perfect, I hope she makes it a priority to do whatever it takes to feel wonderful, and doesn't mess around with whatever we think we need from her.

(I also want the same for myself.)

[madgeylou]

Originally Posted by Angela

I think that Erin is absolutely gorgeous and perfect, and I hope that she feels that way, too. If she doesn't feel gorgeous and perfect, I hope she makes it a priority to do whatever it takes to feel wonderful, and doesn't mess around with whatever we think we need from her.

(I also want the same for myself.)

+1,000,000!!

[Catlover]

I am here to learn from Steve and Erin, and I will not learn more or less because of how they look or what type of physical shape they are in. I don't think that the focus of Erin's writing is on weight loss or fitness, but if it were, as someone who has struggled with weight and body issues all of my life and for whom even a few "suboptimal" choices have had major repercussions, I think that I would learn more from someone who had been through a similar struggle even if they had not yet reached an optimal state than from someone who had never really struggled.