It’s Getting Brighter, Actually

This summer, after seeing a bit of downtown theater, I walked for a bit in the balmy June night before hailing a cab.
The cab driver began our ride with “Can you pay in cash?” (For those not in NYC, all cab drivers are required by law to take credit cards.) I said I thought I probably could but asked why.
The driver launched into a brief, spicy monologue about corruption and the cab companies and the 1%-ers and how cash was much better for him.  He had a total “conspiracy theory about everything” vibe so I just let him ramble and play his eclectic jazz.
He went on about how he’d been driving for 30 years “in this hellhole that gets worse every year.”
I was actually thinking NYC had never looked more beautiful but he continued on a bit, saying that even the street lights had become dimmer.  I replied, “Really?” gazing out on 9th street and 6th avenue and thinking… had never looked more beautiful but he continued on a bit, saying that even the street lights had become dimmer.
I replied, “Really?” gazing out on 9th street and 6th avenue and thinking how delightful it looked.
He asked me how long I’d been in NYC.
I said, “Mostly here for 20 years,” to which he continued, “And you haven’t noticed that the streets are much darker than they were years ago?”
I said, “To be honest…not really.”
And then I said something like, “Well, 30 years is a long time to be driving” or something bland to which he replied, “Listen, you’re playing Devil’s Advocate. I think this conversation is degenerating so it’s over.”
And then he was silent for the 15 minutes he drove me home, with just his interesting jazz mix playing from the front seat.
But here’s the thing: in the back of the cab I googled “streetlights dimmer NYC” and here’s a sample of what I got:
INFO
Or THIS.
You can read those if you want but here’s the point:
NYC is actually getting brighter…much brighter!
We’re in the middle of the world’s largest city-wide replacement project with brighter, clearer, LED bulbs everywhere!
I quote:

New York’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, said in a press conference, “These 250,000 new lights will redefine our roadways and neighborhoods, bringing in clearer, whiter and more attractive lights to our 6,000 miles of streets and 12,000 miles of sidewalks.”

What’s the point of information, you might be asking….?
This cabbie’s STORY was so powerful about things getting darker that he was blind to the fact that they are actually getting dramatically BRIGHTER.
That’s how powerful our stories (good, bad, and neutral are): they completely shape how we’re looking at the world, even blinding us to a better reality we want but can’t acknowledge.
I didn’t feel the need to share the streetlight info with him––it was impressive how quickly the Law of Attraction made it clear to him we were not on the same wavelength––and I treasured the silent ride home.
When I arrived, I actually did pay him in cash which genuinely surprised him (“Oh…You remembered that…”), happy to walk out into MY UNIVERSE which (despite many challenges) is getting brighter by the minute.
All this reminds me of why I’m excited about the new book proposal so much.
It’s all about HEALING and TRANSFORMING, both realizing and making our individual worlds a little brighter, day by day, night by night, and––even if not all the passengers agree––cab ride by cab ride.