MARION — When Rebecca Tripp came to Marion’s Elizabeth Taber Library to give an author talk on a rainy Thursday night, she found a small crowd waiting to hear her speak. But Tripp, who is used to giving intimate workshops in her job as a life coach, was able to use the crowd size to her advantage, connecting more deeply with her audience and allowing for questions and interactions, instead of just a lecture.

“I was born in the 40’s, and there weren’t a lot of job options for women,” Tripp said. So the Westport native became a flight attendant with United Airlines, attracted to the adventure and the glamor of the “golden age” of flying. 

When Tripp retired from her job as a flight attendant in 2002, she devoted herself full time to being a life coach. Her 2014 book, “Secrets of a Metaphysical Flight Attendant,” unites her 35 year career as a flight attendant, her personal experiences and a her love of metaphysics, which began when she was 21.

Tripp believes that the thoughts we have control our lives, and that we can tap into a higher dimension to have the things we desire manifest in the real world.

“You really do manifest, and it comes to you in the weirdest way,” Tripp said.

At one point she asked herself, “What would I want to do if I wasn’t a flight attendant?” and decided that she would want to be a modeling agent.

She met a model on one of her flights, connected with him, fell in love, and married him. He brought her into the modeling world, and she eventually became the owner of a modeling agency, manifesting her wish. 

Tripp also believes that people can accidentally manifest more negative things as well. She told her audience that for years she was terrified of cancer, and that she was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 26.

According to Tripp, she cured herself of the disease with the help of a Christian Science healer, but believes that “I had created [the cancer] with my own thoughts,” because of a toxic relationship that she was in.

“The more you keep yourself on the positive, the more it will spread,” Tripp said, to explain why she enjoys being a life coach and teaching about metaphysics.

To learn more about Tripp and metaphysics, pick up her book, visit her website at www.RebeccaTripp.com or attend her upcoming workshop in Newport on Oct. 20 and 21.