Category: change

change, creativity

Leap: Change in the Air, and My Email In-box

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/therenster/

Universe, I hear you. The theme of change continues to show up in my life on a very regular basis. And my regular I mean hourly.

My Monday post, We Have to Let Go to Be Free, was about the acceptance and release of emotions to generate transformation. At its essence, this idea gets at what it means to change. We fully believe in change; we crave it; we just have a hard time changing ourselves.

Just after my post went live,  I got 3 emails that fell in line with this sentiment of change:

One on the state of French politics: “The situation is so catastrophic that whoever wins it won’t make much difference. The French want change but only on the condition that it doesn’t change anything for them.” ~ Marie-Claude Noel, 72, who said she voted for France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, in the first round of presidential election

One from Mary McManus, a lovely yogi and reader of this blog who wrote the following comment on my Monday post: “This was the theme in my yoga classes this weekend. Love the synchronicity. Love how you so eloquently and succinctly wrote about your experience. Detachment and freedom — it’s so amazing when we let go and feel that freedom creating the space for our Spirit to dance and sing our life song. Here is my blog post about the very same theme — enjoy!”

One from DailyGood: “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed!” ~ Peter Senge

The collective message is clear: What we wish to see manifested on a large-scale must first be manifested on a personal scale.

This idea caused me to really think long and hard about the mechanics of change. It comes down to personal responsibility and the willingness to make an internal shift. My friend, Michael, is an incredible example of someone who wants to see a massive shift in the way we live on and care for our planet. He’s passionate about the sustainability movement and has constructed his life to create as small a carbon footprint as possible. His life is about people and experience, not about the accumulation of tangible stuff. His personal dedication to changing himself and his lifestyle inspires me and challenges me to constantly think about my own dedication to change.

What are you willing to change about your own life to bring about a larger societal change? Can you walk the walk?

change, choices

Leap: The Blessing of Suffering

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/alochridge/

Why can’t all of life be easy?

We go to yoga classes to find ease. We seek out ways to laugh more, do meaningful work, to blow off steam. We wish every day could be easier for everyone. But anyone who’s been around on this planet long enough has experienced pain in one form or another. Supreme loss, struggle, sadness. Or at the very least we know someone who has and we ask, “Why do terrible things happen to good people?” We question everything in the face of difficulty – our faith, our relationships, our own abilities to generate happiness and abundance.

In my apartment building fire, in my own upbringing, there was a lot of hardship and pain. For many years, I spent a lot of energy being angry and then a lot more energy suppressing that anger in an effort to appear “normal”. The truth is that I needed that suffering, that trauma, to make the most of my time here. The darkness was necessary because it forced me to step into the light.

Last week, The New York Times ran an article entitled “Post-Traumatic Stress’s Surprisingly Positive Flip Side“. Synchronously, Al’s talk at ISHTA last week addressed this idea, too. He commented that we don’t need to let suffering, ours or that of others, discourage us. Suffering leads to transformation. If we were happy with every circumstance, we would have no need to grow. We could just hang out in our current state forever. But what kind of existence is that? This life, on this plane, is about transforming the soul and nothing causes transformation and change as much as discomfort.

In this way, we become grateful for all the crappy things that happen to us and to those we know and love. These circumstances are the Universe’s way of propelling us into becoming the people we are meant to be. That’s a lot to digest and accept. And let’s be clear – it’s really a bummer that we have to suffer to be free, to evolve, to change. I wish there was another way. But the good news is that change is always possible and it’s within our power to bring it into being with our own two hands.

adventure, change, choices, commitment, courage, creativity, passion

Leap: Stop Buying Ice and Start Living

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/denizyildiz/

I recently had a small group of people over to my house. As I was drafting up my grocery / to-do list, I wrote down “buy ice.” And then I started laughing. I have a freezer. I have ice cube trays. Did I really need to buy ice? No – I had everything I needed. I just had to take the time to fill the trays with water a few times and then crack the ice into a bowl.

We play this game with ourselves all the time. We put off doing what we really want to do because we need more – more training, more money, more contacts, more experience, more time. We have enough. We are enough. We have everything we need to get going right now. Sure, it’s scary. It’s a risk to let go of the familiar, to go off the well-planned, well-worn path. But that’s all it is – scary. It’s not impossible and we’re not incapable in any way. It’s going to take work but we can make it happen.

So many people have stories of a breaking point – an illness, a loss, a tragedy – that awakened them to the passion of their lives. I certainly do. All of a sudden we realize in a very real, non-negotiable way that our lives are finite, that we only get one time around in this form, and that it’s our obligation and deep responsibility to make the most of it.

Don’t wait for the breaking point. Breathe in and breathe out. The anticipation of leaping is much scarier than the leap itself. So gather up your courage and know that whatever you need to get your dreams to take flight, you already have. “Sometimes you just have to take a leap and build your wings on the way down.” (Kobi Yamada)

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!

change, choices, faith, fear

Leap: Learn to Float

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/jhtan/

“In my 61 years of life, I have begun to think that man makes his own stress. When he his stress-free, he goes out and finds some. It is often difficult to live in the moment. There is no stress in being; no tug, no pull, no forward, no back. Floating is so much harder than swimming.” ~ my friend, Adela

Adela is a friend whom I met through another lovely blogging friend, Sharni, and since then she has been an incredibly supportive reader of this blog. A few days ago she posted the comment above on this blog in response to my post on why man’s ability to make himself sick is so confusing to the Dalai Lama. It was pure poetry to me and I had to bring it to everyone’s attention.

What are we so afraid of? Why can’t we let go? Why does gripping at control feel safer than letting life carry us, even though we have so much evidence to the contrary? Why does it take so much confidence and conviction to trust? Why are we so committed to doing rather than be being?

Why? Because we worry that we are not enough. That we aren’t smart enough, kind enough, thoughtful enough, tough enough, ambitious enough, popular enough, attractive enough, successful enough, loved enough. In all our education, we’ve forgotten the most fundamental lesson of all: we, just as we are, right now, in this moment, are magnificent, magical creatures. We are not enough – we are more than enough.

Floating takes practice, but it’s worth it. Trust and reap the rewards.

change

Leap: How to Start a Transformation

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/india_brittany/

“Transformation literally means going beyond your form.” ~ Wayne Dyer

We talk about transformation and change all the time. We want our luck to change; we want other people to be the way we want them to be; we want to lose weight; we want to get a job we love that doesn’t even feel like a job at all; we want to find our passion and purpose; we want to be in love. But what we often overlook is the idea that change doesn’t happen to us; it happens because of us. We cause change; we are its agents. If we want change, then we must change.

Give up old habits. Give up a grudge. Ditch fear. Stop waiting. Think differently. Recognize that time is precious and fleeting. Get out there and make it happen. Change.

change, family, gratitude, religion, writing

Leap: Ask, and Allow – More Life Advice from Author, Anne Lamott

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/dbockus/

Anne Lamott recently wrote a very personal piece in Reader’s Digest about the birth of her grandson to her teenage son and his girlfriend. Lamott is my favorite author because of her ability to be so raw, honest, and hilarious all in the same breath. Her voice is so unique and she doles out advice on writing and life with such generosity that sometimes I think she’s personally mentoring me through my own adventures on the page. This article about her grandson had all of her signature wit, charm, heartbreak, and hope.

Half way through the article she discusses the two slogans that kept her going in the anxious months leading up to the birth of her grandson – “Figure it out is not a good slogan” and “Ask, and allow – i.e., ask God, and allow grace in.” I love them both equally, though that second slogan rang so true for me at this moment.

A few days ago, I began reading the book The Wishing Year on recommendation from my friend, Katherine. The Wishing Year recounts a year in the life of a woman who consciously and passionately wishes for three changes in her life – a man to love, a house, and deep spiritual healing. The book also explore the science and art behind wishing and intention. It’s inspired me so much that I’m taking up its example in my own life. Why not wish, and then do in equal amounts.

Lamott’s advice dovetails perfectly with The Wishing Year. In many ways, she is saying the same thing, but with a very poignant nuance. We can wish, ask, and work toward a goal and a dream, but if we don’t allow grace in, if we don’t allow ourselves to then realize the opportunity that is then laid down in front of us, then the question and the wish will do no good.

If we ask nature, the Universe, God, to be on our side, to work with us, then we have to allow that work to happen. We have to be open to possibility, to a change in course, to a new way of thinking and being. And if we can go that, if we can allow change to enter our lives with grace, then we will truly begin to see the magic unfold in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We will realize our own potential, and it will be greater than we ever imagined.

adventure, change, nature

Leap: Stop Seeking Stillness

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/dotsc/

“There is nothing still. Life is never still. No plant, no animal, no river. Can we think of Nature as a metaphor and keep ourselves constantly evolving?” ~ Anil Gupta

Over the past few stressful weeks, I’ve found myself seeking stillness, seeking an end to all whirring in my mind. It’s been hard to make it work, and I began to doubt whether or not I have really embodied all these lessons from my yoga and meditation practices, and from the intense personal development work I’ve undergone in the past two years with Brian. “Maybe I haven’t learned a damn thing,” I wondered.

And then I came across this quote on Daily Good, which is just about the best inspirational site anyone could possibly build. It serves up just the right message at just the right time. My pursuit of stillness feels frustrating because stillness is just not possible. I shouldn’t have been seeking stillness; I should have been seeking quiet. Those are two very different things.

Looking for the quiet spaces in our lives allows us to tune in to the flow and buzz of life. And not the lives we invent, but the underlying lifeblood that serves as the root of every living thing. That’s where the greater intelligence lies. That’s where our gut instincts and intuition mix and mingle, waiting for us to notice them, to stop by, and to listen. That flow is moving, moving all the time, taking in new information, new insights, and building never-before-seen connections.

Change never lets up, and we must move with it, not against it. Even when we’re scared. Especially when we’re scared. That’s the time to get quiet, to tap in, and to recognize that we are part of the great dance. There will come a time for stillness, but I hope it’s a long way off for you and me. We still have so much to do.

This post is also available as a podcast.

change, fear

Leap: Don’t Look Down

Christa Avampato

This past week, I started to ask for more practical advice on making my leap – different financial planning tools (personal and professional), health insurance, etc. These items and the options they present take a good deal of planning and preparation and I wanted to start to collect as much data as I can from people whom I deeply respect and admire for the leaps they’ve taken in their own lives.

One of the very best pearls of wisdom I got had nothing to do with the practical nuts and bolts I am investigating, and yet it affects every decision I make in my leap. My friend, Tre, said, “Don’t look down.” It stopped me in my tracks because all of a sudden I realized that all I’ve been doing the last few weeks is looking down, and my fear is getting the best of me in the process.

When we’re about to do something scary, it’s natural that our focus directs to the fearful outcome. And then we begin to lose our confidence, doubt our convictions, shrink from opportunity. The cost seems too great to go after what we really want and what we’re afraid we can’t have.

Pick up your head and look forward. It’s the only thing that’s going to help us balance our fear with a sense of possibility. And that possibility is the only thing that makes the fear worthwhile.

change, economy, gratitude, hope

Leap: The blessing of the recession

Christa Avampato

“Lasting change happens when people see for themselves that a different way of life is more fulfilling than their present one.” ~ Eknath Easwaran

I’ve been thinking a lot about lasting change. We’re much more often faced with changes that happen in fits and spurts, drop by drop. On occasion we get a chance to experience rapid, dramatic change. It throws us for a loop, confounds and confuses us, until we again find our way back to shore footing. But that rediscovered shore footing is often on different ground.

It’s often said that it takes 30 days of consistent, consecutive effort to create a new habit or break an old one. We’ve been in this tough economy, with its sometimes crushing and sometimes liberating lessons, for over 4 years. Our way of thinking about our future has been radically transformed. It’s taught me that an income earned from one source is the definition of instability. It’s taught me that bringing new people into our lives, having new experiences, and consistently pushing ourselves to learn something new are the surest ways of staying relevant in changing times. It’s taught me that my future is safest in my own two capable hands.

I think about my life pre-December 2007 and my life now. I’m shocked by the difference in me and in the world. And though these intervening years have been challenging on so many levels, I’d go back and live them all over again, exactly the same way, because I’m more in love with life now than I have ever been before. Life’s tough, but we’re tougher, and better off for having learned the hard lessons of this time. We’ve learned to value the now, in every moment.