Wall Street

I began my Saturday near the Wall Street area to meet up with some friends at the Westfield World Trade Shopping Center for brunch and get my weekend shopping done. I purposely got there early because I wanted to use the extra time to take a brisk walk to relax my mind and sightsee a little bit before hustling to the meetup spot.

Before I knew it, I found myself standing in front of the New York Stock Exchange and One Wall Street sign, getting ready to roam around the financial district cool as a cucumber.

After strolling through the pedestrian walkway cover canopy you see in the first slide, I made a sharp right turn at the end of the walkway and landed next to the legendary Wall St street sign and could see the New York Stock Exchange building sitting just a stone's through away.
 
I quickly made my way to the front of this beautiful structure and stood there admiring its unique design and watching tourists take pictures while being in awe of this notable place.

Not long after that, I could feel myself entering into what I like to refer to as flow, and realizing this, I embraced the feeling passionately and prepared to write and take some random photos. Seconds later, I reached for my phone, opened my journal app, and started capturing my thoughts in real-time as I continued to walk around.
 
I then headed straight towards the Charging Bull, which was only two blocks away, and as I got closer to this iconic sculpture, I could see several people eagerly waiting in line to take pictures.

Okay, now that you are back with me, let's head over to the mall to meet my friends and not be late. Along the way, I came upon a street vendor selling hats and clothes on the corner, and of course, I just had to stop to see what was trendy out here on these streets!
 
Consequently, I ended up having a fun exchange with the owner of the merchandise, who put the full-court press on trying to sell me a stylish-looking hat. In the end, he failed to close me; however, I gave him a few bucks because I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation.

I finally made my way to the Westfield Mall, and before I went inside the Fulton Street entrance, I made one last stop at a newsstand to pick up a printed newspaper to read on the train ride home. While there, I encountered another fast-talking salesperson who got me to buy a magazine and the NY Times newspaper.

With my new reading material in hand, I entered the shopping center, and when I did, the first thing I saw was a sign that read, "Welcome Back New York," which was a fitting way to close out this walk.
 
I finished writing this latest journal entry right before walking into the restaurant to meet my crew, and when they saw me, they all asked if I had just submitted my Saturday morning LinkedIn post, and then we all burst out laughing—the end.

Share your thoughts, and have a lovely weekend! 😊
 
#nyc #mindfulness #motivation #wallstreet
 

Fundraiser

With enthusiasm and a sense of purpose, I drove over to the Park Avenue Club yesterday evening to attend a People's Prep Charter School fundraiser, Newark's oldest and only independent charter High School.

It was a lovely event, which allowed me to spend time with some amazing individuals who are all passionate about supporting this worthy cause. I look forward to my ongoing collaboration with Liz Capants, Meghan Wood, Kathleen R. McMorrow, Anthony Denizard, and others in supporting this mission.

 

With this being my first in-person fundraising event in over a year, admittedly, it felt a bit awkward walking into the ballroom at the Park Avenue Club. By that, I mean, should I shake hands, give those I know a hug, leave a space in between chairs—you get the picture.

I am happy to report, it did not take me long to get back in the groove of socializing in this type of environment, and I enjoyed every minute. Indeed, it was refreshing working my way around the room, meeting new people, alumni, listening to their unique stories, and learning new things. Good stuff!

I have to add, the things I think about these days as we continue to ease back into social gatherings are fascinating but hardly surprising. Moreover, I now find myself being much more appreciative when I can actually participate in a live event, which I probably took for granted to a certain extent before this crazy pandemic.

It was also very cool to finally meet some folks I met on LinkedIn during the past 18 months that I've only interacted with virtually until this event. What's more, in that moment of our first face-to-face encounter, it felt like we knew each other for years, meaning that this was not our initial meet and greet, which warms my heart. 😊

Well, friends, not the usual post of me wandering somewhere around New York City, but equally inspiring as I reflect on this experience while writing in my journal tonight.

So as we enter into the dog days of summer and dealing with everything associated with COVID in our daily activities in the months ahead, I wish everyone good health, peace of mind, and prosperity as we remain vigilant on this journey together.

 

Until we meet again on Saturday at 11 am, have a relaxing evening and a terrific Friday. Let's go!

#inspire #mentorship #mindfulness

 

The MET

It has been over a year since I last went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), so when a friend suggested that we visit today, I got super excited and responded with only three words…let’s do it!

So, would you like to experience the Met with us? If you do, send me a virtual smile right now, and let’s go! 😊

 

After purchasing our tickets online, we hopped on the 4-train and rode it up to 86th Street. When we exited the subway station, we walked five blocks to get to the museum, and I must add, it was hot and muggy outside, yet the stroll over was delightful.

 

Upon arriving at the museum’s main entrance, I was stunned by how long the line was to get in. Nevertheless, it was all good because I had a lovely time chatting with Melissa and making new friends while waiting to get in.

Worth mentioning, if you’ve never been to the Met, I strongly recommend that you have a game plan on what you want to see because it is challenging to view everything in one day. Keep in mind, the Met is the largest museum in America, with over 2 million works housed inside, so there’s plenty to see.

Since I am the most organized member of this party, I had everything mapped out to ensure that we didn’t miss anything we wanted to see. What’s more, it was a good thing that I remembered to bring my portable phone charger because, with my healthy appetite for taking pictures, without it, the energy on my phone would have most certainly died before completing the tour. Lol!

We ended up staying at the museum for nearly 4-hours before calling it a day. When we arrived at the elevator to go down to the street level, it was jam-packed! As a result, we took the stairs instead, and when we got outside, there was still a line of people waiting to get inside. Wow!

Next, we stopped at a café for a healthy salad lunch and discussed our favorite moments of touring the museum before heading back home. You know me, as soon as I got on the train, I began journaling and finished summarizing this latest experience in my journal app before making it to my stop. 😊

Lastly, I’ve attached some of the pictures I took for your viewing pleasure as a thank you for reading this post.

So, now that you’ve perused through the slideshow, which of the photos do you like the most?

 

Have a relaxing evening.

Radio City Music Hall on the way to Central Park

Once in a blue moon, I wake up in the middle of the night with an incomplete journal entry fresh on my mind, which if I don't finish crystallizing right at that moment, I will be tossing and turning all night. This usually happens when I neglect to recap my day in writing before bedtime, as I've become accustomed to unloading my thoughts into my journal before retiring each evening.

So instead of resisting this need to crystalize this unfinished thought and potentially ruin a good night's sleep, I decided to embrace this feeling and prepared to start writing!

In the ensuing seconds, I gently pulled back the covers, grabbed my phone from the nightstand, glanced at the clock (1:17 am), followed by opening my journal app, and then began typing.

Friends, are you ready for the latest installment of Mr. Sledge roaming around NYC? Okay, here we go!

This story begins with me riding on a city bus in Manhattan, only two blocks away from my desired bus stop location.

Now visualize me getting off the bus at 6th Ave and 56th St on the way to Central Park to link up with my jogging buddies. Even though the meetup spot was still a couple of blocks away, I purposely got off the bus at this particular stop to use the short walk over to warm up for a planned 5k run uptown to 125th St in Harlem.

After exiting the bus, I vividly recall hearing the buzzing sound of the bus engine while watching it drive by a giant tube that was pushing out a tremendous amount of steam, just as I was walking by the 57th St F-train station entrance.

Shortly after that, I arrived on the corner of 58th St and suddenly felt inspired to turn around and look straight down 6th Ave—go figure! In so doing, my eyes gravitated directly to the Radio City Music Hall flashing sign approximately 11 blocks away. Surprisingly, I immediately began to think about the last time I attended the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, bringing a big smile to my face.

Since no vehicles were approaching the intersection during this serene moment, I quickly took a few pics to remember this beautiful scenery.

Upon arriving at the Columbus Circle and Park Ave entrance of Central Park, the first thing I noticed was the sun shining bright, with a Monument and a Nathan's Hot Dog stand blending uniquely together in the background.

After walking by a guy riding a yellow bike, I could see my friends huddled up, stretching and getting ready for our run. Once we exchanged pleasantries along with a bunch of high fives, it was time to go jogging. So we then eased over to the designated starting point, which was back near the hot dog stand (slide 14), and all took off running—the end.

I took another look at the clock in my final move as I was putting my phone back on the nightstand (if you are curious, the time was now 1:26 am), and before my head hit the pillow, I was sound asleep.

Enjoy your evening. 😊

#nyc #mindfulness #motivation #sleep
 

Be Kind

I was walking down Broadway happy-go-lucky when suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder, so naturally, I began to turn around to see who was tapping me. As I was halfway into turning my body around, the number of thoughts that raced through my mind in a nanosecond was extraordinary!

During that split second, I remember thinking, was it a family member, a friend, an ex-girlfriend, a tourist, or someone with potential drama tapping my shoulder? For goodness sake, Anthony, who is it?

When I completed the turn and made eye contact with the person who just touched my shoulder, it was a good friend. Admittedly, I thought it would be a tourist, mainly because many of you have recently referred to me as the NYC Tourism Ambassador. Lol!

We chatted for a few minutes about the firework show alongside the Hudson River that happened last night, and I showed her some photos I took.

Then, we started walking together to go inside the Fulton Center to catch the train. She was headed uptown to Harlem, and I was on the way to New Jersey. On the ride down the escalator to enter the subway, we agreed to plan a get-together with some mutual friends in early August.

After landing on the lower level, we pulled out our metro cards and zipped through the turnstiles, still chatting the entire time. Once we finished talking, we said our goodbyes, and my friend headed for the 2-train, and I went in the opposite direction to hop on the Path train.

Fifteen minutes later, I was in Jersey City and walking to a café to grab a cup of coffee. Along the way, I came upon a message that made me pause, "Be Kind, Dream, and Love Yourself."

Ironically, I recently had a spirited conversation with some friends about similar topics, in addition to seeing some of these same messages in my LinkedIn feed from several of your posts. Love it!

Indeed, such a lovely message to stumble upon this morning, and what's more, it gave me something to ponder and write about while chilling in the coffee shop.

Happy Monday! 😊

#kindness #mindfulness #motivation