Whenever something falls through and we get disappointed, it’s easy to let it ruin our day. My friend, Alex, gave me a different way of seeing disappointment. As usual, her very wise words really stuck with me and she delivered them at the exact moment I needed them. She told me that disappointment can be an opportunity to open ourselves up to unexpected fun. With the right mindset, we can turn it around. In about 30 seconds, I was feeling better. This is the power of positive thinking, and the gift of having friends like Alex to help us find our way through difficult moments.
Month: August 2016
Wonder: It’s just the wind and shadows
This is a story for all of you who are on the cusp of the unknown: maybe you’re starting a new job or leaving an old job, starting a relationship or leaving one, moving to a new city or home, or embarking on a new project of some kind.
My boss is reading The Winnie the Pooh collection of stories to her daughter. In one story called “Don’t Be Scared, Piglet and Roo!”, Piglet and Roo, two of the smallest characters in the cast, hear scary noises and see scary shapes at night. Her daughter has read this story many times and as soon as Piglet and Roo show signs of being scared, her daughter calls out “Don’t worry, it’s just the wind and shadows!” And it is. And eventually Piglet and Roo learn that. When boss was telling me that story, I thought about how often our minds go to that place, how often we’re afraid of things that we don’t need to be afraid of. It is the perfect metaphor for being afraid of the unknown.
Don’t be afraid. Let’s go out into the unknown together, support one another, and see what we find. The wind and shadows won’t be so scary as long as we aren’t alone in our journey.
Wonder: Surround yourself with beauty
No matter how much I love city life (and I do!), I need to be out in nature more often than I have been in the past few years. The water, the fresh air, and the colors of the landscape fill me up in a way that a building, no matter how beautiful, just can’t. This weekend in Pennsylvania, I was surrounded by love, friends, and this amazing view. And it feeds my soul. Once this heat and humidity settle down, I’m going to fulfill my promise to myself to get out into the wilds of Virginia and Maryland and take it all in. Until then, this picture will do. (I snapped it at Ledges Hotel in Hawley, Pennsylvania this weekend.)
Wonder: Playwriting and fiction writing helps me write scripts for AI
All those years working in theater and as a writer are paying big dividends now in the most unexpected way. My writing, professional and personal, has always been something separate and apart from my career in business. Or at least it was until now.
Working on an artificial intelligence (AI) product, I spend part of my day writing branching dialogue. It’s reminiscent of a choose-your-own-adventure story. I have to plan for synonyms, syntax variation, and misunderstandings between user and machine. To top it all off, I also have to make the conversation flow between the user and the product human, empathic, and compassionate. I roll up my sleeves, put myself into the role of the user, and write what I hear in my mind. Then I read it back to myself to check for the natural flow of the conversation.
Seeing life and career come full-circle always reminds that there is a rhyme and a reason for everything. There are no coincidences. Synchronicity will find us when we dedicate our lives to doing what we love. It all connects.
Wonder: Living the phrase “Love is love is love is love is love is love”
This weekend, I saw my dear friends Ken and Tom get married, surrounded by other dear friends and family who love them as much as I do. In a time in our world that is so scary and uncertain, this weekend was a reminder of how much goodness there is in the world. I’m so happy that we could live and support the idea that “Love is love is love is love is love is love” this weekend. So inspiring. Love is everything.
Christa Avampato 