Month: December 2012

adventure, fear, feelings, patience, risk, strengths, time, yoga

Leap: The Path of Most Resistance

Christa Avampato
Vertical staircases at the foot of Mt. Huashan, China
Vertical staircases at the foot of Mt. Huashan, China

Difficulty is good for us.

Yesterday I was reading an article in Intelligent Life, an Economist publication, entitled “The Uses of Difficulty” by Ian Leslie. He gives examples, mostly from the music industry, that depict challenges and difficulties as gifts that we should seek out, even create, for the benefit of our growth. At first glance this argument sounds like something akin to the benefits of brussels sprouts, but I was intrigued by the argument (and I happen to love brussels sprouts) so I kept reading.

In yoga, we search for that magical space between effort and ease. At first, I thought that’s where Ian was going but he took this idea to a whole new level. He presents scientific evidence that shows we actually benefit cognitively from doing things that are difficult, that do not come naturally to us. The benefits are so stark that he suggests purposely creating difficulty even when we find ease. This theory flies in the face of the idea that we should play to our strengths, or at least the idea that we should always play to our strengths.

This article also has the wheels of my mind spinning around the concept of short-term versus long-term benefits. Should we accept, even relish, short-term challenge because in the long-term it makes us more creative, intelligent, quick, strong, resilient, and, let’s face it, interesting? Is discomfort today worth triumph tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow?

There’s only one way to find out.

play, story, theatre, writing

Leap: The Play’s the Thing

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

Yesterday the play that’s been in my head for over a decade began to take shape on a page – a yellow legal pad in blue ink. I needed to see this beginning in my own hand rather than in uniform lettering on my laptop screen. It feels more deliberate, more personal in my own scrawl.

Stories stuck in the mind of storytellers serve no one. For stories to be useful, we must share them with others. Put them out into the world and let the world have at it. Some people would prefer to run naked through Times Square than put ink to page and let others critique their ideas. I understand this sentiment. It took me a long time to be comfortable with critique, mostly because I was fairly beaten up by criticism early on in life. As I grow older, I realize what a gift it can be. I have enough conviction and confidence now to keep only those critiques that improve my work. I let the others roll away as if I have a Teflon shield around me.

This play is one of the things I’ll be crafting into the new year. 2013 will be a year of making, a year of thoughtful and purposeful creation for me. More details to come as we wind down the month of December and turn our collective and hopeful gaze toward January.

I’m very certain you have some kind of story in your head, too. In 2013, I hope you’ll take up your pen, get it down, and share it with the world. We’re all ears.

cooking, experience, future, time

Leap: Try Again – Another Lesson from the Kitchen

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

On Friday, I gave my homemade pasta making another try. I made a triple batch a couple of weeks ago and pasta dough holds up well in the freezer when stored properly. For a moment, I thought about making a different shaped pasta. Then I considered that my last attempt at forming the orecchiette (little ear shaped pasta) needed improvement.

So I rolled out the dough and took my own feedback on how to improve my pasta shaping. The result of the second trial – vastly improved! There is so much to learn during the second turn at bat.

I have a bit of an addiction to the new. My greatest fear is being bored so I often charge off in the direction of the unknown. However, there is so much to be learned by trying something, considering how to do it better next time around, and then actually having a next time around.

I started to think about how this may apply to other areas of my life. I am often guilty of filing an activity under “been there, done that” if I have an experience that is less than stellar. Maybe all this time I’ve been missing an opportunity for incredible learning. It’s wonderful to acquire new skills and experiences – it’s my favorite way to pass the time. But there is also real value in trying something and trying it again to compare the results.

Slowly, I am beginning to see that there may be more second chances in my future.

time, writer, writing

Leap: Make Time

Christa Avampato

195554808789821076_y3q5gDwm_b“You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.” ~ Charles Buxton, British brewer, philanthropist, writer and legislator

Now that I’m on the downside of an intense freelance assignment that helped me cover all of my living expenses with consulting work within 6 months of going on my own, I’ve given myself an additional 6 months to make a go of this freelance life. The first 6 months was about simply proving that I could make ends meet out on my own. The next 6 months will take on a more strategic approach.

I’ve been thinking a lot about bigger life goals for this next 6 months rather than short-term skills I’d like to enhance or short-term experiences I’d like to gain. For example, I have a few writing projects floating around in my mind. Some of them are close to 15 years old. As I went to my yoga class yesterday, I began thinking about them and my initial reaction was “if only I had the space in my mind and in my calendar to work on them.” That thought stopped me in my tracks. If I don’t have the time to pursue them now, when I have maximum flexibility with my schedule, then when am I going to pursue them?

On the subway to yoga, this quote by Charles Buxton flew into my inbox. Alright Universe, I hear you. Thanks for the reminder – we are capable of making all the time we need to do the things we really want to do.

choices, community, feelings, future, legacy

Leap: The Source of Our Inner Voice

Christa Avampato

2814818488163739_Ly16Wp5q_bWords can be daggers or wings. They can tear us down or help us fly. What you say now, not only to children but to all people, becomes a part of how they view the world and their place in it. Gentleness is as important as strength and honesty. Everyone should leave every conversation with their dignity intact.

Do you want to be someone who tears people down or builds them up? Do you want to be someone who becomes a pesky inner voice to someone that instills self-doubt or do you want to be someone whose words are a comfort to others in their darkest hours?

The answers to these questions fuel our words and actions. They are our legacy.

time, writing

Leap: I’m the New Weekly 5 Minute Yoga Blogger for DoYouYoga.com

Christa Avampato

http://www.doyouyoga.com/fit-your-yoga-into-your-holidays/

I am so excited to announce that I have signed on to be the new 5 Minute Yoga blogger for Do You Yoga. They reached out to me last week after reading my pieces online and asked if I would be interested in taking over the column. I was thrilled to be asked and am even more thrilled to get going!

Every week I will write a short article on how to bring the benefits of yoga into your busy life, even if you only have 5 minutes. I hope the articles are helpful and informative, and that they inspire you to unroll your mat more often.My goal is to illustrate that no matter how we busy we are, we always have at least a little time to take care of ourselves.

This week, my first article is about how to fit your yoga into your holidays. Enjoy!

grateful, gratitude, thankful

Leap: A Shout Out for Gratitude

Christa Avampato
248753579387552487_z0K8vkng_c
From Pinterest

“Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.” ~ Gladys Bronwyn Stern, British writer

Say thank you. To the people who inspired you, whether you know them personally or not. To the people who made a difference in your life. Who encouraged you at every turn to be more than you ever thought you could be. Who helped you reach further, run faster, rise higher, and breathe deeper. To the people who set the example by which you live. To the people who showed up not only to celebrate your victories, but also to comfort you in your hour of defeat. The people who helped you dust yourself off after a hard day so that you could try again tomorrow with a full heart.

There is something so sacred, so liberating, about expressing gratitude. Thank you is free, and it multiplies. You say thank you to someone and it inspires them to pay it forward. You can never say thank you too much. You can never be too grateful. So go ahead and overdo it. Way overdo it. Throw it around far and wide as if it has no end because it doesn’t. It is one of the few resources in this world that is truly infinite. It’s one of the gifts you can give anyone and they will love it more than anything else they’ve ever received. They will remember it during their darkest times and their greatest triumphs. It’s that rare possession that we can take with us wherever we go.

Say it out loud. Say it online for the whole world to see. Write a letter. Send an email. Text. The method doesn’t matter so long as the message is sent loud, clear, and often.

adventure, inspiration, opportunity, time, work

Leap: Seek Magic

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” ~ W.B. Yeats

On Sunday, I went to a housewarming party and happily saw some of my wonderful former co-workers, now friends. Most have left the company where we worked together and we all talked about finding our next great adventure in the world of work. One person finished up at the company on Friday and really wanted to know if there was as much opportunity out there as he’s heard. My answer was an emphatic “YES!”

The synchronicity of this Yeats quote flying into my inbox this morning was not lost on me. I’m in the midst of a short but intense freelance assignment in addition to my responsibilities at Sesame Workshop, PBS, and Compass Yoga. This morning I had to turn down my first freelance assignment for the sole reason that over the next week or so I have a completely full, well-compensated plate. And then we’re into the holidays when I plan to spend an inordinate amount of quality time with my family and friends, sans work.

I promise you that there are magical, joyful, blow-you-mind unbelievable opportunities floating all around you. So many that you’ll have your pick. They are like fireflies on the warmest summer nights. They are begging to be seen, recognized, and acted upon. By you. To see them, you must let go of your fears about finding them. You must trust the process – commit to finding a new kind of living and working. Then, the opportunities will be so obvious that you’ll wonder why you waited so long. Once you leap, they will be there to light your way.

encouragement, opportunity

Leap: Go In Over Your Head

Christa Avampato

168603579769165347_Y4cGRoqi_cThere is no reason to shrink from opportunity. Too often when we are faced with unfamiliar and uncomfortable challenges, we hang our heads low with self-doubt. We second guess our abilities and our judgement. We worry that we may not be up to the task at hand.

My advice is to chuck that attitude out the window. Immediately. Right now. You will gain nothing by turning away and you will lose so much in the process – new skills, new contacts, growth, strength, resilience, and the opportunities that will unfold as a result of taking this new and uncertain path.

If you truly don’t want the opportunity, then I advise running in the other direction as fast as possible. There is no point in wasting precious time doing something you don’t care to do. But don’t run away out of fear. Don’t turn your back because that pesky voice of self-doubt says you aren’t good enough, smart enough, experienced enough, nor capable enough to pull this off. That pesky voice knows nothing.

You are enough, and then some.

change, childhood, choices, death, family, future, sadness, time

Leap: Lessons from a Road Long Traveled – Remembering My Dad 20 Years Later

Christa Avampato
My road of choice. From Pinterest.
My road of choice. From Pinterest.

Yesterday, marked the 20th anniversary of my father’s passing. I’ve been alive longer without him than with him. To even fathom that 20 years has passed makes my mind numb. I remember that evening so clearly that I could recite my actions and thoughts of each minute. I think of it in frames of a film, a shutter action happening in between each. There’s some soaring music in the background that rises and falls in waves like water.

That night I was viscerally aware that I was literally closing one chapter of my life and opening another one with my bare hands. The door between those chapters was heavy and awkward. I knew that once it shut behind me that there was no going back. That feeling is lodged in my heart in a way that used to feel painful and now is just familiar. It’s become one of my oldest friends.

Nothing happens in isolation. As soon as my mind turns those events over a few times, it just keeps going and I follow it along as an audience member, as if I am watching a performance of Sleep No More. At first it slowly trudges to the wake and funeral, to high school graduation, to leaving my hometown, to college and everything that would unravel and then coalesce in that time.

The speed of the frames in my mind picks up rapidly after that. As a young 20-something I thought I would go into politics and instead opted for a career in theatre, moving from D.C. to New York to life on the road. That would lead me to Florida, back to D.C., on to graduate school in Virginia, and then back to New York where I’ve made my home for the past 5 and a half years. That journey flashes with so many characters and scenes and travels across the globe, some happy, some sad and everything in between. It makes me dizzy if I think about it for too long.

I used to feel so much a part of that narrative. No matter how much distance I got from December 1, 1992, I was still that character, playing that role. I was this way because my dad was that way. I played the victim card, the martyr card, the lost card, the hopeless card, the trapped card. I let the role write the script instead of writing it myself.

It took a long time for me to understand how that’s a clear and certain road to disaster. No one wins in that scenario, least of all me. And it took me even more time to realize that it didn’t have to be that way. The beginning of a journey influences its course but it doesn’t define it. It is within our power, responsibility, and right to own the narrative of our lives.

We can fold, toss those old worn out cards into the center of the table, and walk away. It’s okay to leave it behind and continue on in a different direction. It’s healthy to do so. It’s required if we intend to do anything extraordinary with our lives. We can honor our past, our roots, and not feel shackled to them. What happened, happened. There’s no changing it. What happens next? Well, that’s up to us. It’s always up to us.

Wherever my dad is now, I hope he folded his hand, too, walked away from the table, and set out on a new course that was brighter than the one that was here among us. Every soul deserves that chance.