This applies not just to second graders, but to all of us. Time spent building a dream, no matter what comes of it, is always a good use of our energy and effort.
Month: July 2013
Beautiful: Cookie Monster Lives in the Moment and Has a Back Up Plan
Beautiful: Back to Voice Over Land
About a year ago, I took a voice over class at People’s Improv Theater (PIT). This is a path that has been of interest to me for a while. It was challenging work and completely outside my realm of experience. Given the flexibility that I’ve built into my life over the past year, I am now able to dig deeper and see if voice over work is for me. Can I make a solid, enjoyable living doing this? To start answering that question, I reached out to a coach who can provide me with a few private sessions and product my demo.
When I get back to New York in August I’m going to have our first private session. Here’s the promise this coach made me by the end of our first class together: he will be able to identify what I need to work on and just how much work I need to do to make my voiceover demo. Then I can decide if it’s worth the time and financial investment. No more waiting. Time to hop onto these tracks and see where they lead.
Beautiful: Compass Yoga Featured in The Huffington Post
I am thrilled and honored to have my nonprofit, Compass Yoga, featured in The Huffington Post. Rob Schware, the author of the piece, Executive Director of Give Back Yoga Foundation, and President of Yoga Service Council uses his column to highlight yoga teachers and organizations that use yoga as a way to serve communities. Click here to read the full article.
Beautiful: Shower Inspiration, Old Friends, TEDxCharlottesville, and the Theatre – a Story of Change
What is it about the shower that induces creativity and the ability to connect disparate dots of information that are percolating in our cerebral cortex? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I’m glad a shower does more than just wash away the dirt and grime of the day.
In the shower on Monday morning, I was kicking around the following challenges:
1.) What could I say to an old friend that would be helpful?
2.) What could I speak about at TEDxCharlottesville?
3.) How can I resolve the latest plot twist that showed up on the page of my play?
4.) Why are all these questions rising up at once?
On Monday morning, I had an unexpected message from an old friend whom I haven’t seen in many years but whom I had some great times with in college. Though we haven’t seen each other in a long time, he’s one of those people whom I always hope is well and happy. He’s contemplating a big change in his life and after following my shenanigans and adventures on Facebook, he wanted to know how I took the first steps out of corporate life and into a life of authentic and passionate work.
His email was so beautiful and heartfelt that I responded to him right away, and in the process I realized I was outlining the book I’ve been trying to write for years through my blog. In each line of my response, one more piece fell into place. More odd life event after another fit together. I think I literally heard the sound “thoomp” as it all converged. And the best part is that I think this collection of pieces will be abundantly helpful to so many people coping with or hoping to instigate personal and professional change.
Simultaneously, I have also been wrestling with an application for TEDxCharlottesville. My friend, Alex, told me that a local TED event was going to be held this Fall in the beautiful city where we spent our graduate school years. Our Ethics Professor, Ed Freeman, is slated to speak. I’ve done a handful of speaking engagement over the last few years at places like SXSW, and I’m interested in doing more of them. I’m particularly interested in speaking to people who want to make the same leap I did into careers that make a difference in the world. With the theme of “The Difference that Makes a Difference”, I’ve been thinking about the exact topic that I’d like to submit for their consideration.
I put this conundrum aside and kept working on my first full-length play. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on dramatic structure, character development, and plot development. My friend, Trevin, has been coaching me through this process and his advice has been invaluable. The wheels of a story over a decade in the making have started to move with a lot less effort than in the past.
And then the shower worked its magic. It washed the shampoo out of my hair, cleared my thoughts, and I saw that all of these questions were actually the same question. It’s all about change. My friend is contemplating how to make a leap into the work he loves. The difference that makes a difference is understanding the mechanics of change and using those mechanics to build the world we want to live in. Over 2,000 years ago, Aristotle gave us the elements of dramatic structure. In short, that dramatic structure is a roadmap for navigating change, both personal and societal.
Theatre is life, life is theatre.
Beautiful: Animals Heal, Another Tale of Phineas and the Story of Vietnam’s Point Dogs
On Sunday, Phin and I took a long walk over to the Third Street Promenade, essentially an outdoor mall with shops and restaurants in downtown Santa Monica. Phin loves going down there, mostly because every 5 feet someone stops to pet him and tell him how cute he is. I like to go down there because it gives me the chance to interact with random people whom I probably wouldn’t meet otherwise.
One man in particular had a real impact on Phin and I. He was born in New York and he’s been in LA since the 1980’s. Phin went right up to him and had a seat at his feet. He was more than happy to pet Phin. I thanked him for it, and he said, “Oh no. The pleasure is mine. It’s actually an honor to have an animal take such a liking to you.”
We talked for about 10 minutes and he told me about his 16-year-old pitbull that he raised from a tiny puppy. He loved her so much, even spending his savings to replace her two knees. She passed a few years ago and he said he’s never felt right since. We went on to talk about a documentary he had just seen about point dogs, the 4,000 German Shepherds that went on patrols with soldiers during the Vietnam War. Point dogs literally saved their lives many times over. The documentary explained that after the war, the soldiers had to leave the dogs behind. They interviewed some of these soldiers who are now all senior citizens. Decades later, these vets still think of those dogs, miss them, and feel horrible that they couldn’t take them back home.
“It’s their innocence that gets to you. They never lose it. No matter how old they get, no matter what they go through. They trust and show up and love, over and over again. It’s really amazing how they wind their way into your heart with nothing other that sweetness.”
I couldn’t agree more. Without ever uttering a single English word, Phin’s taught me more about love, second chances, and healing than anyone else ever has. It’s such a blessing to have him here with me on this LA adventure. I would never have the conversations I’ve had here without him. Somehow he helps people open up without ever saying a word. Just by being who he is and taking a seat right next to someone (sometimes on them!), I get to hear someone’s life story. I’m the lucky one in this deal – to have the love of a remarkable animal like Phin, to have the chance to take him places where he can offer comfort and love to others, and to hear the stories of these people who are my neighbors for a little while.
Beautiful: I Am a Human of New York
In just a few short weeks, I realized I’ve been telling myself a story that’s not true. I always imagined that if my ancestors had gotten off the boat in New York Harbor and kept going west, I would have never left the state of California. It’s a catchy little line and totally untrue. LA has given me some downtime, a chance to get away from it all. Getting around here and finding my bearings is proving to be more difficult for me here than it is in New York. When I first moved to New York, from the moment I set foot in that city as a 22-year-old who knew absolutely no one, I felt right at home. It clicked for me. I found the beat immediately and just joined the flow. Not so in LA.
This doesn’t mean that I’m sorry I came here. It also doesn’t mean that I regret this experiment in any way. After all, experiments are just that. We have a theory. We test it. We examine the result. A number of my dear friends have left New York for good this summer. I will miss them terribly and it prompted those old thoughts of giving up New York, again. My theory was that perhaps I had stayed too long at the dance, as Joan Didion so perfectly and beautifully stated about her move from New York to LA. Maybe it was time to grow up and move on. To test that theory, I did a house swap to try out California, a place I’ve thought of making my home for many years. The result has surprised me as much as anyone: California has wonderful aspects and I love to visit, but it’s not meant to be my home.
When these thoughts first started to rise up last week, I thought I was being too judgmental. Perhaps I needed more time, more patience, more experience with this new life. And as I sat in my meditation every morning, I realized that my gut was right, as it always is. Sometimes I ignore it, and regret it.
There are many things to commend my temporary home. The weather here is mostly cool and dry. Because I’m at the beach, it’s often cloudy and that prompts my pensive writer brain. Because it’s not as easy to get around here as it is in New York, I’m spending a lot of time on my creative work at home, exactly what I wanted to do with this time. I am staying in a beautiful condo that’s in a walkable neighborhood while a pair of lovely people are taking exceptional care of my (very small) pad in New York City. I’m getting the chance to see friends here whom I don’t see often enough. Almost all of the people I’ve met here are lovely and kind.
I’d always been of the mind that a place is just a place, that I loved New York only for the people who are there and a part of my life. But that’s not true either. New York and I have had a love affair for 15 years now. It’s been an off and on relationship. We have had our rough patches and separations. Sometimes I want to punch it right in the face because it makes me so frustrated. Eventually I can’t take it anymore, throw a fit, and run out the door saying I’m heading for greener pastures. New York stoically stands its ground, confidently and calmly, and says, “Okay. Do whatever you want. You know where to find me.”
I leave New York, and then I come back. Over and over and over again. I miss its energy and the buckets of opportunity that are flowing through the streets. I’ve had 8 different homes there over the course of 15 years. I’m sure I’ll have many more. I’m in Manhattan now and know that eventually I’ll find a home in Brooklyn either when this lease is up or perhaps a year later. I’m also certain that the love of my life is roaming the streets there and he’s wondering what the hell is taking me so long to find him. (Believe me, man, I’m wondering the same exact thing!) I know my long-term multilayered career will find its groove there.
New York, give me your noise, your dirt, and all the crazies you can muster. Let me rise to the challenge and make me a better person in the process. You’ve taught me strength, courage, and perseverance. A diamond is made shiny by pressure and scrubbing. A pearl is created through a salve to ease irritation. A butterfly is born from a cocoon through the struggle and squirming of an imperfect being with great potential that is hidden from the eye. Those lessons are not lost on me. I’m glad you stood your ground and chose to evolve on your own terms, not mine. You taught me so much about me just by being who you are. You’re not meant to be a home to everyone, but you are certainly meant to be my home. I’ll see you soon, but in the meantime I am making the most of my 5 remaining weeks in the City of Angeles.
Beautiful: I’m Writing a Play
This summer I’m taking my first shot at writing a full-length play. It’s challenging, heartfelt work based on a story that’s been rattling around in my mind for over a decade. I’m not sure what I’d do without my friend, Trevin, who has supported the idea since I first mentioned it to him earlier this year and has read the very first words formally put to page. In a 30 minute FB chat, I learned more about playwriting from him than I did in an 8-hour playwriting intensive class that I took a few months ago.
By the end of my time in LA, I plan to have a completed first draft and new insights into my own life and skills as a writer. Already, I’ve learned so much in this process and I’m only one scene into the play. We have to keep challenging ourselves in our craft, whatever our craft is. We have to push our boundaries. And we have to ask for help from those who are able to support and guide us in our new endeavors. Whatever the outcome of this play, writing it alone will make me a better person. And that’s what art is all about – it’s a means to improve ourselves from the inside out.
Beautiful: The People in My Life
Life’s too short. Period. We’ve got a tiny window to soak up everything this world has to offer and then find a way to give something back to make it a better place than we found it. The trick to really having an impact of goodness? Surround yourself with people who believe in love and compassion and kindness just as much as we do.
Ditch the energy vampires, the negative naysayers, and the people who care more about what they have than who they are.
Find and keep the dreamers, doers, believers, and thinkers close. They will support and sustain you no matter what circumstances life throws your way. Life can be a tough haul from time to time. The people in our lives make that haul easier to bear.
Beautiful: 3 Simple Steps to Good and Helpful Living
“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” ~ Mary Oliver
Within every day, even the hardest, most awful days, there is something wonderful that happens. If anyone asks me what I’ve been up to lately, this is what I’m going to say: “I’ve been out looking for all the wonderful things that make me happy I’m alive.”
Christa Avampato 