Ever been driving down an all-too-familiar road, passing the right sign posts and familiar sights and then suddenly realise that you are heading in the wrong direction? Such was the life-changing moment of Honey Bun heiress Krystal Chong who, in her mid-twenties, after belt-notching all the right degrees and all the right career moves that made Mummy, Daddy, bestie and society proud had her come-to-Puppa-Jesus moment, “OMG, whose life is this?”

She was head of marketing at Honey Bun, having an impact, driving the sexy woman’s car, contoured in all the best local and international designers, dating the right boyfriends and going to all the right places that made her a

Page 2 favourite. Admired by her co-workers, desired by all the eligible bachelors and envied by her peerage, yet she felt hollow. The aha moment came when she was whisking out of the office one day and the security guard, said “all hail the Honey Bun queen, you are doing a great job”. She said thanks, but rather than take it as a compliment, it landed as a kind of indictment. An indictment that she had allowed other people, those who loved her and those who didn’t, to define the path of her life. Hit the brakes, draw gear, and wheel and come again. New direction. A direction that culminated last Tuesday, January 17, 2017, in a book launch of her first of many self-help guides called What the Hell am I supposed to do with my life?

About 100 friends and family gathered en plein air at the Grogge Shop to celebrate this important milestone in Chong’s spiritual and professional journey. It was a lovely, breezy evening with a cash bar and hors d’oeuvres, including the divine thin-crusted pizza from the newly minted La Pizzeria.

Chong, as always, brung it in a form-fitting jumpsuit complete with décolletage that directed the eyes to the beaded necklace hung ever so flawlessly between her femme fatale femininities. But her bodacious curves were not the focus of the evening as we were gathered to speak on less fleshy and more spiritual matters.

The evening started with a meditation by Hado, a young, handsome nomadic Rastafarian who shows up as a major spiritual guru in Chong’s transformation. We learned later in the evening that he had seen her in a juice bar looking stressed and simply asked if she wished to do a meditation to calm her fears. And so it was that her inner spiritual journey gained a foothold in her life.

Hado led the crowd through a centring and breathing exercise that took us on a magical experience of listening to the night sounds around us — from the cars, the birds, to the wind in the trees… breathe in and breathe out. He acknowledged Chong’s transformation from wounded soul to a more conscious and fully manifest being. He spoke of her mission charge to help others break through the same blockages that she had. Hado told us that we all needed to stop thinking we had to be improved upon but to understand that we are — each of us — already enough but we just don’t realise it because of the messages that we are always getting about the 1,001 ways to be better, do better. Focus on your heart and it will always land you in the right place at the right time as it is the superb internal guide. The heart’s voice is God’s voice and God’s voice will always lead you to the right alignment of yourself. The book, Hado said, was full of examples and exercises that would help the reader gain some self- perspective and he was proud of how well Chong had recorded her journey to self-alignment.

The conversation then moved to Chong’s mother, Michelle Chong, the CEO of Honey Bun, who was beaming with pride at how her creative daughter had birthed such an amazing manuscript of life. she shared that she was a mother of four, with Krystal being the only girl, but she recognised early on in their development that each child was unique and needed to be supported in different ways. Chong sees herself as first and foremost a teacher to her children, to her employees and to all who cross her path. This “mompreneur” has always been about living her passion and being a great storyteller. She has kept a journal on each child since they were born, as if raising them was not enough, through their journey she clearly also found different versions of herself. Michelle Chong shared with delight how she watched her daughter bloom from an already exceptional businesswoman into a creatively magnificent writer. She adores the fact that her daughter wants to nurture the lives of others and help other people find and build out their talents.

Michelle Chong spoke of the abundance of creative talent in Jamaica which is too often suppressed and extinguished in a school system that recognises only one way of flourishing. There is far too much social pressure and fear, Michelle Chong admonishes, which cuts off the creative juices of the best among us. She describes Krystal as that piece of paper that always got in the way with her incessant questioning, but by being so stubborn she acts as a reminder to keep asking yourself who you are, why you do the things you do and how you should be living your life.

The mic was then handed over to the belle du jour Krystal Chong herself, who (while she unfortunately did not read from the book), told us in essence the story of her awakening and the decision to write the book to guide others still trapped in someone else’s dream. She dispensed pithy and useful advice: Find a more spiritual relationship to your own life. Transform your negative thoughts and energies into positives by seeing all as lessons that make you stronger. Just start. Stop dilly-dallying and giving in to excuses. Deliberating too long is also a trap. Do it for the right reasons. The right reasons are the reasons that make you happy. We are all capable of more than we realise and it is only our minds that trap us. Hope, not fear, should dictate the story of our lives. Amen!

In the lively question and answer session, Chong engaged the fans with that open, honest, chatty style that she writes with in the book. She shares that she is not done. She will never be done. She even regresses often as that too is part of the journey but what she seeks is simply to find what the universe has planned for her. And she wishes the same for all of us. Proud of her can’t done!

— T Nevada Powe