Category: celebration

celebration, change, opportunity

Leap: What I’m Thinking About on My Birthday – Kiefer Sutherland and Gandhi

Christa Avampato

“You have to work on opportunity’s watch and not your own.” ~ Keifer Sutherland

“The difference between what we are doing and what we are capable of doing would solve most of the world’s problems.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

36 today, and what’s on my mind? Kiefer Sutherland and Gandhi. Odd mix, you say? Perhaps, but here’s their glaring resemblance: they are men of opportunity.

Kiefer Sutherland was recently interviewed by Jay Leno about his new TV show, Touch. He didn’t want to take the job and hoped he would hate the script. Unfortunately, he fell in love with it and couldn’t turn it down. The story was too powerful and he knew he’d be kicking himself if he passed on being the one to tell it. We don’t always get to choose when we make a leap; sometimes, the leap chooses us.

Gandhi was also a man of opportunity. He saw injustice happening in his own life and to many others all around him. He couldn’t watch it anymore without throwing all of his efforts into change. He knew he could do more and that his efforts would make a difference. We revere Gandhi today as super-human, but he wasn’t. He was a person just like you and me, and with so much passion for his cause that he had to pursue it. He knew he could be the change.

I’ve firmly set the date for when I’ll be leaving my current job in pursuit of my own passions – Compass Yoga, my writing, and a public education project called Innovation Station that I have been crafting for several years. People have asked me how it feels to be leaving my stable job in pursuit of my own projects, and I have to admit that I don’t think of this change as leaving my job. I think of it as reaching up into the sky and pulling my dreams down to Earth. This is work I have to do that’s good for me and good for the world. I’m running to something that I must do, not running away from something that I can’t do anymore.

Today is a birthday for me on 2 levels – a celebration of 36 years of living and learning and another celebration of being reborn into the life I’m building of my own design. And I feel like the luckiest person on the planet for this opportunity. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all!

celebration, holiday, New Years Eve, writing

Beginning: The Art and Possibilities of Learning to Begin

Christa Avampato

“Look at everything that has come before as preparation for the spectacular future you have in store!” ~ TheSingleWoman

“There will come a time when you think everything is finished. That will be the beginning.” ~Louis L’Amour via TheSingleWoman

One of my greatest beginnings this year in my self-proclaimed year of beginnings was the decision to write daily about the idea of beginnings. Last Fall I was inspired by my friend, Amanda’s, request for a blog post about how I stay sane in NYC. I hold it together by constantly reminding myself that it’s always okay to be at the beginning. We always have to start somewhere. It’s an especially powerful sentiment in New York City, a city of experts on just about every subject there is. The post inspired an entire year of living and writing about beginning. In 365 days, I wanted to become an expert beginner. And it worked!

As 2011 draws to a close and 2012 fully blossoms, my beginner’s outlook is stronger, healthier, and more vibrant than ever. I’ve learned to lessen my grip on the desire for perfection and to be kinder to myself as I’m learning something new. I faced down the biggest fears of my life. Sometimes I failed and sometimes I succeeded in the new beginnings I tried. No matter the circumstances, I learned to enjoy the view because every step in a journey provides us with a brand new vista. And we will never pass exactly this way again under the exact same circumstances.

Each moment is a new beginning in and of itself. Beginning is living, and so if we can master beginning then our possibilities for living, really living, are limitless.

My new writing adventure begins tomorrow. Tune in to get the scoop on my 2012 living and writing plans. As always, I’m just getting started!

adventure, career, celebration, change, creative process, creativity, yoga

Beginning: Move Toward the Obstacles

Christa Avampato
Ganesha - our great friend and the keeper of obstacles

“The obstacle is the path.” ~  Zen proverb

On Sunday I was thumbing through the new prAna catalog and found this proverb. Obstacles tend to be things we want to jump over, crawl through, duck under, go around, or blow up into miniscule pieces. And with good reason – they prevent us from doing exactly what we want to do exactly when we want to do it.

Or do they?

What if we could find a way to weave our obstacles together like cobblestones that form a path up and away from where we are right now and on to the path we’re meant to take? Obstacles, just like triumphs, are teachers. And they are generous. They force creativity, give us grit, and usually necessitate the formation of partnerships and relationships to overcome.

My path has been loaded with obstacles of all shapes and sizes. They have made it difficult to navigate, and yet I am now a better navigator for having them on my course. I wouldn’t trade them; I needed their presence so that I could work with my yoga students with compassion, authenticity, and empathy. To make the decision to pursue Compass Yoga full-time, I had to face obstacles in the other areas of my professional life. If that other way had been free of challenges, I may have never found the courage to leap.

This is how life goes – in the moment, we don’t understand all of the change swirling around us. In hindsight, the pieces settle and we understand why the exact path we took was exactly the path we had to take. Those obstacles are the inflection points that caused us to take a necessary turn so that we could live up to our potential.

May your road and mine be littered with obstacles of real value!

blog, business, celebration, economy, hope, inspiration, writing, yoga

Beginning: My Features on Sour to Sweet, a Blog Focused on People Defying the Great Recession

Christa Avampato

Lauren Murray is striking back against the idea that our economy has ruined all of us.

Her blog, Sour to Sweet, is “my attempt to counterbalance the doom and gloom that’s already out there. Let’s celebrate the successes that, seemingly against all odds, have occurred despite the economic downturn.” Lauren reached out to me a few weeks ago after reading my book Hope in Progress: 27 Entrepreneurs Who Inspired Me During the Great Recession. She asked if I would be willing to share my own story through an interview (Not the Same Old Yoga) and if I’d write a guest post on the topic of inspiration (How to Survive the Uh-Oh Moment). I was both honored and thrilled by the offer.

I hope you’ll stop by Sour to Sweet and support Lauren in helping her to get the word out that it’s not all darkness out there!

celebration, change, grateful, gratitude, growth, yoga

Beginning: Curative Energy

Christa Avampato

“You can channel your pain into helping others and spread a tide of curative energy throughout the world.” ~ Daily Good

I wrote earlier this week about the desire to be grateful for my hardships, to become so thankful for them that I would never think of trading them for any different history. Shortly after that post, I watched the PBS series This Emotional Life, and as if by some stroke of synchronicity learned that there is a growing body of research that points to gratitude for hardships as the potential silver bullet for a lifetime of happiness. Can our pain be the source of what breaks us down and what completes us?

Compass Yoga is taking a cue from Daily Good. We are generating a tide of good will and compassion. We’re attempting not to help our students escape, but to help them use what they’ve got, everything they’ve got, to help them heal themselves from the inside out. I’ve heard the saying that every difficulty contains its own answer. I am beginning to see just how much value our pain has, and the recognition of that value is what begins to help us make meaning of the hurdles in our lives.

I would never wish trauma on anyone, though slowly I’m also beginning to realize that I may be getting to a point where I would never wish mine away because it’s too valuable for me and now through Compass Yoga, too valuable to others. Acceptance and healing don’t have to be elusive goals. We can draw them to us and embrace them. They are ours for the taking.

celebration, choices, clarity, courage

Beginning: You Already Have What You’re Looking For

Christa Avampato

“What we see is mainly what we look for.” -Unknown via Tiny Buddha

I recently had a conversation with someone who said nothing ever goes her way. She’s been way down in the dumps for years. I have my occasional bad day, perhaps even a bad week. By all means, feel your feelings. Just make sure that the negative ones that don’t help make your situation any better have a hard expiration date.

How to “snap out of it” (without a smack in the face a la Moonstruck)
If my bad mood persists beyond a few days, I force myself to get out my computer and start clacking away on a list of great blessings I have to be grateful for. And if that doesn’t work then I turn to the news and start taking note of all the people in the world who have a much harder life than I do. It’s not long before I’m kicking myself for wasting any precious moment feeling sorry for myself. I lead a charmed life – I work for it, and still I know so many of my blessings found their way to my door by chance. As Joan Ganz Cooney famously said, “I am always prepared to be lucky.” It’s the best way to live.

We all get what we settle for
My friend, Trevin, and I continuously joke that we are the kind of people who hope for the best and expect the worst. To a large extent, I think that is still true. I like to feel prepared for whatever this crazy world throws my way. One of my business school professors once commented to me that the secret to his happy life was low expectations, which led him to constantly be surprised and delighted. I have a hard time arguing that idea from a logical point-of-view. However, the yogi and teacher in me asks that I aim higher. Disappointment while upsetting at first does lead to transformation and growth, two things I aspire to do all the time.

Exactly what you want is already at hand
A truth I’ve come to know is that the more ardently you keep your eyes and ears peeled for what (and who!) you want in your life, the more likely you are to recognize it when it crosses your path. It’s true of love, friendship, career, luck, and hope. It’s quite possible that you can will the life you want into being the life you have. It’s more likely that the life you want is already accessible to you in some way if you pick your head up, take look around, and grab the opportunities right under your nose.

Seek, and you will truly see all that is attainable.

adventure, books, career, celebration, change, choices, creativity, discovery, experience, family, friendship, grateful, gratitude, growth, happiness, ideas, meditation, New York City, story, writing, yoga

Step 365: What’s Possible? A 2010 Wrap-up.

Christa Avampato

“I am neither an optimist nor pessimist, but a possibilist.” ~ Max Lerner

As I cross over the finish line of 365 days of living and writing about an extraordinary life, I marvel at the passing of another year. On December 31, 2009, I wrote a post explaining that in 2010 I wanted to record something every day that put me one step closer to an extraordinary life.

This December 31st post is always fun to write because it’s a chance for me to reflect on the past year and realize how much has happened. Just like flipping through the New York Times’s Year in Pictures helps us remember what’s happened in the world around us, flipping through my posts from the last year lets me remember all the tiny steps that brought me to do this day.

My road to recovery from my apartment building fire:
I was in denial about the true effect it had on me and that brought me to Brian, my coach and therapist, who has helped my life grow in leaps and bounds. By June, I finally felt safe in my home again and could make my apartment feel like a peaceful space.

Stepping into the writing life:
I moved my blog over to WordPress and for the first time in the 3 years since I seriously began to contemplate living a writer’s life, earned enough money to be a freelance writer for hire. This year I connected with so many talented writers – Josh, Laura, Amanda, Erica, Sharni, Will, Sara, the Wordcount Blogathon writers, Katherine, the fab team at Owning Pink, Elephant Journal, and Michael.

I wrote and published my first e-book, Hope in Progress: 27 Entrepreneurs Who Inspired Me During the Great Recessions, a compilation of 27 of my interviews that I conducted with entrepreneurs through my Examiner column.

Yoga at the forefront of my life:
I completed my 200 hour yoga teacher training at Sonicstarted Compass Yoga, my own small teaching company, and will begin teaching a regular Sunday night yoga class at Pearl Studios NYC. Through Sonic I was inspired by the incredible teachers and the 23 amazing women in my class whom I hold so dear after our journey together. My yoga teacher training helped me to establish a regular meditation practice and cured the insomnia I’ve lived with all of my life. I found the joyful noise of kirtan, which re-ignited my interest in music. Yoga led me toward a true contemplation of my faith and spirituality that continues down a very healthy, peaceful path. There are not words enough to thank the people at Sonic for how much joy they brought to my life, but I gave it a shot in this post about our last class and the closing ritual of the training. I am forever and happily indebted to them.

Some wrong turns, too:
I studied for my GRE and despite doing well on the exam, Columbia sent me an email that began “we regret to inform you that you have not been accepted” [into a PhD program in education]. I wrote a curriculum for LIM College that I was tremendously excited about, and then the class was canceled at the 11th hour for reasons that still make me shake my head. I was so excited to be selected to serve on a jury and sadly realized just how imperfect our system is. I still think about the case on a regular basis.

Making peace with New York living:
In 2010 I fell in love with New York City, again and again and again. It became my home. Our love hate relationship ended its many years of turmoil and now we’re living together in a general state of bliss, with an occasional side dish of annoyance, just for good measure and because, well, it’s a very New York thing to do.

A few unexpected journeys:
I conquered my fear of swimming in open water while on a yoga retreat in Greece. I found that mistakes can be joyful.

Wonderful new additions to my family:
We happily welcomed my new little niece Aubree and after years of wondering whether or not I should get a dog, Phineas, a sweet little dachshund, has graced my life via the Humane Society and New York dachshund rescue.

And 10 valuable life lessons that I’m grateful for:
1.) Goodness is created and remembered by sharing what we have with others.
2.) Shouting dreams helps bring them into being.
3.) Stubborness can be a beautiful thing.
4.) We get what we settle for.
5.) Obstacles in our lives are valuable.
6.) We never have to wait to live the life we want.
7.) Letting go is sometimes the bravest and best thing to do
8.) Trusting our gut is the best way to get to get to the decision that’s right for us.
9.) Be thankful for less.

My favorite and most treasured discovery of 2010:
10.) Truly extraordinary living is found in very ordinary moments.

Wishing you a very happy start to 2011. Thanks so much for being with me on this journey that was 2010.

The image above makes me feel free. Find it here.

adventure, celebration, friendship, philanthropy, women, writer

Step 343: Celebrate What You Want More Of

Christa Avampato

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” – Tom Peters

I went to a set of focus groups this week that reaffirmed my belief that most of the time focus groups are useless. I left the event rattling off a million complaints about the session. Mentally complaining about the session was ruining my mood.

On the way to work the next morning, I was flipping through my emails and saw the quote above from Tom Peters. I love Tom Peters because he strikes the perfect balance between optimism and criticism. He doesn’t see everything through rose-colored glasses but he also refuses to say that “this is the way it is because this is the way it’s always been.” He thinks differently. He evolves.

Criticism is easy, which is why almost everyone has the ability to be critical. What’s unique is when someone is critical and wants to be helpful, when someone wants to shine a light on things she loves and cast a shadow on things that she wishes would slunk away. Reward only good behaviors and in time they will prevail over the bad ones – very similar to the training I do with my pup, Phin.

To kick off some celebrating today, I wanted to tell you about my friend, Sharni, and her incredible efforts to support Afghan Women’s Writing Project (AWW). Sharni is a friend I met on Owning Pink and then have gotten to know through an exchange of our blog writing, tweeting, and Facebooking. I think of her as my blogging sister down under and although she makes her home in Australia and I make my home in New York, our brainwaves seem to meet up all the time.

Have a look at the video she created for the Afghan Women Writers project: http://www.sharnanigans.com/2010/12/this-is-a-call/. It’s inspiring. She’s running a 5K to raise money and awareness for AWW. We need more people like Sharni who passionately care about our global community and use their own personal resources to create the change they want to see in the world. Cheers to Sharni, her efforts, and all of the women who will benefit from her work!

career, celebration, choices, decision-making, opportunity

Step 323: Let Go and Swim

Christa Avampato

This past weekend I was flipping through my yoga teacher training manual from Sonic Yoga. Though we got through a good deal of it, there’s still so much to learn. With 6,000 years of yoga history prior to my first hearing of it, I feel like I’ll always be a beginner in my yoga practice. There will always be much more to learn when it come to the infinite knowledge of the subtle body.

In the back of my teacher’s manual there are a collection of poems and quotes that are especially significant to my teachers at Sonic. One of them is from the Hopi Nation and it addresses the idea of letting go in order to survive. I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea. It’s so tempting to believe that if we can just dig our nails into the shore and hold on for dear life, then we will be safe. In the poem, a Hopi Elder explains his philosophy on why it’s so much safer, and ultimately more beneficial to our personal development to let go.

When I was in Greece this past summer, I got over my fear of the open water. I let go of the shore and felt lighter for it. I didn’t learn to swim until I was 30 so the while I love the water, I certainly have never seen it as my friend. Now rather than seeing the water as an enemy and something to be feared, I see it as an amazing, immense teacher, just like my yoga practice.

Out on the open waters of Greece, I found that it wasn’t the open water itself that scared me; it was the actual act of letting go that was compounded with so much fear. What would happen to me if I couldn’t latch on to the shore? It was a lack of confidence on my part. And then as the sea crashed against the shore a bit harder, I found that yes, it was easier once I let go. I could roll with the open water instead of being thrashed by it.

Sometimes, we get too attached to dreams and plans and ideas. When life doesn’t seem to be supporting our direction, the instinct may kick up to fight, fight, fight until we get what we want. And sometimes that instinct is dead-on, and other times, it’s the universe’s way of telling us that there is another way we need to go.

So how do we know the difference? How do we know when to let go and when to hang on? This little test works for me: am I using so much energy to just hang on that I have no more energy to accomplish anything else? Is hanging on becoming the battle of my life, and if so, is that battle worth sacrificing every other dream I have? Again, as always, it comes down to priorities.

“To my fellow swimmers:
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift,
that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore,
they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know that the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore,
push off into the middle of the river,
keep our heads above water.
And I say see who is there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history,
we are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves,
for the moment that we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves.
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done
in a sacred manner and in celebration.
WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR.”

celebration, Christmas, holiday, New York City

Step 314: The Holiday Season

Christa Avampato

Around this time of year, a lot of people complain about retailers pushing along the holiday season. “Christmas candy is already out and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet!” they say. I’m okay with that – retailers, put the idea of Christmas in our heads for as long as possible. I’d do just about anything to lengthen the holiday season – the joy, the decorations, the music, the cookies. New York City becomes a truly magical place during the holidays. I’ll take as much of it as I can get.

This past weekend I walked by Bryant Park and saw that the ice rink and holiday market was already busy. And you haven’t even packed away your Halloween costume, you say? Who cares?! It’s the holidays. Bring it on! Get the most out of this holiday season in New York City – see the Nutcracker, check out the holiday windows at Bergdorf’s, listen to some carols, pay a visit to Santa, and go see one of the great big beautiful trees decked out in more lights that you can count. Here’s a comprehensive guide to all of the festivities in NYC – http://www.nycgo.com/?event=view.article&id=245898. Make the most of it and happy holidays!