Category: change

change, science, Second Step

Beautiful: We Have to Make Inertia Work For Us

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

Though I left engineering school after a year, I’m still a hopeless nerd for physics. One of my favorite principles is inertia – a body in motion stays in motion and a body at rest stays at rest until acted upon by an outside force. It’s true for physical matter, and true for the trajectory of our lives as well. We do what we’re doing until there’s a change.

For our lives, that change can be internal or external. We can choose it. We can slow down when we’re going too fast, and we can get ourselves in gear if we feel stuck. It takes a great deal of effort to cause that shift, but it’s possible.

Eventually something in life is going to throw us a roadblock and we’ll have to pivot and change. That is the game. That is the dance. Change within or accept the change forced from the outside. I’d always rather be the master of my own pivot so I keep changing, growing, evolving, transforming. It’s all I know how to do so I keep going. Which is its own kind of inertia. Ah inertia – the force of life that keeps on giving and follows us everywhere.

adventure, art, beauty, change, courage

Beautiful: Let. It. Go. and Take A Chance – My Public Contribution Projects

Christa Avampato

Have you seen this sign around your neighborhood?

How about this one?

These are posters for my public participation projects. In my quest to help people let go of things that are holding them back and take more chances to live the lives they want, the sole purpose of these projects is to celebrate participants and to have their stories inspire others. These are promotional posters that I’ll be hanging up around New York City though anyone anywhere in the world of any age can participate. And if you’re so inclined to print them out and hang them in your neighborhood, I would love that! Just contact me through a comment on this post and I’ll send you the PDFs.

Here’s how it works:
Let. It. Go.
Let something go – it can be anything from a possession that is a painful reminder of something to an emotion like anger, greed, jealousy, disappointment – and then tell me about it at onefineyogi@gmail.com. You can let go of something very big, like an old, hurtful disappointment, or something very small, like forgiving the person who cut in line at the grocery store. This can be about something you just let go of or about something you let go of a long time ago.

Take a Chance
Take a Chance – it can be anything from saying hi to someone new to applying for a new job to changing anything about your life that you want to change – and then tell me about it at onefineyogi@gmail.com. You can take a big chance, like moving to a new city, or something very small, like having a healthy snack instead of an unhealthy one.

You can participate in either project (or both!) and email me as often as you’d like. Actually, I’d love it if you emailed me every single day with something you let go and a chance you took. The emails can be very short or they can include a story of any length. They can include photos, too. (I know this goes without saying – please keep all contributions clean.) I will respond to every email I receive. Your chances and things you let go will always be kept completely anonymous unless you specifically tell me that you want me to include your name or initials. I’ll use these contributions to populate a new online project I’m launching in the coming months. You’ll be notified as soon as the online site launches and when your contribution is live.

I hope you’ll join in these exciting new endeavors to celebrate and encourage you and your dreams.

change, creative, creative process, creativity

Beautiful: Alice and the Mad Hatter Believe the Best People are Entirely Bonkers. I Agree!

Christa Avampato

photo Alice in Wonderland is my favorite children’s book. When I did summer stock theater in Vermont before my senior year at Penn, I fulfilled one of my dreams and played Alice in an adaptation of the story. The tale of Alice resonates with me because she and I believe in madness, impossible things, and the reality of imagination.

We’ve got to be a little bonkers to dream up something and believe we can breathe life into it through sheer will. But that’s exactly how it happens. It’s exactly this kind of madness that built New York and every other city. It’s this kind of madness that invents, explores, inspires, and creates. This is the madness that sees the present state of the world as just the beginning, rolls up its sleeves, and starts to change it. Madness makes the world go ’round.

adventure, art, career, change, choices, courage

Beautiful: Take A Page from Leonardo da Vinci’s Book on Perspective

Christa Avampato

5235227350a76057ac21cd7a71d149bdThere’s nothing like distance to make us realize what matters most. A painter steps back from his painting, a film maker moves away from the tiny screen on which she’s editing to take in the whole world that she has created, a theatre director moves to the back of the house so he can see the whole stage. Our life and work can be unclear when we are trying to get a sense of it while in the midst of it.

I went 3,000 miles away to look at my life and my work and I stayed there longer than I initially wanted to so that I could take in the view. I liked some of the things I saw about my life and I hated others. And then I got out my trusty three lists to sort it all out – things I can easily change, things I can’t change no matter how much I try, and things that I think I can change if I’m willing to put a heck of a lot of work into it. Leo was right – now I can see where there is a lack of harmony, now I can see where the proportions aren’t quite right. I’m more confident in my judgement even if I’m not entirely clear on all of the pieces of the puzzle.

A big overhaul in my life is underway – long overdue and lots of work ahead of me but I’m excited to be digging in, to be getting on with the life I want and not just the life that I have cultivated until now. It’s easy to walk a road; it’s much harder to pave it in a direction I’ve never traveled before but I’m up for the challenge.

change, friendship, inspiration, TED, theatre

Beautiful: Shower Inspiration, Old Friends, TEDxCharlottesville, and the Theatre – a Story of Change

Christa Avampato

TEDx_logo_sydney_022309What 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.

change, community, passion

Beautiful: Don’t Underestimate Your Power to Have an Impact on Others

Christa Avampato

photo-1We’ve got big problems in this world. Some of them are so big that they can make us feel small, but we have to fight that impulse. We are more powerful than we realize.

We are living in times when we can broadcast our message and our efforts cheaper and easier than ever before thanks to technology. Our ability to help others is now limitless and free. We can all do something, no matter where we are.

Take advantage of it. Be an advocate for the causes you care about. The world needs you now.

change, time

Beautiful: Who I Was When the Cicadas Were Last Here

Christa Avampato

Today I’m grateful for cicadas. Yes, cicadas. I recently read an article that analyzed our political world the last time the cicadas were among us. (It’s sadly very similar.) That got me thinking about my own life 17 years ago. I’m proud to say I’ve come a long way, baby! And that happily some wonderful things in my life are still the same. 

17 years ago, I was 20 years old and had just finished my sophomore year of college. I had been thinking all year of transferring to a different college (Northwestern) and decided against it because I finally found my pack at Penn in the theatre community. I had just costume designed my first theatre production – 42nd Street. A year later, I would be elected as Chair of my theatre group – Quadramics Theatre Company. I made plans to move to Arts House Living Learning Program, another place where I would find my groove and make my home for the next two years. I began to turn my attention to my life post-Penn, and decided to pursue a career in theatre in some shape or form.

Personally, I had just left a 2-year relationship with my boyfriend at the time. There would be some hefty fall out from that but it also gave me a tremendous sense of freedom to be out of a relationship that began to feel burdensome and lacked authenticity. My adventures in love continued, and continue to this day, though I’ve never lost hope. He’s getting here as fast as he can, whoever “he” is. I believed that then and I believe that now.

I went home that summer and it would be the last time that I’d ever go to my childhood home for any reason other than to visit. I didn’t know that then, but it became clear to me by the end of the summer that my life was taking me elsewhere. I worked three jobs – as a cocktail waitress (I was a terrible waitress), a restaurant hostess at the Ground Round (I was good at greeting and seating), and an assistant to a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch (I was very good at research and I loved being able to help people be more financially secure.) I really needed the money to continue to self-fund my education at Penn and I was motivated to learn as much as I could about business as I sensed that my career, even in theatre, would require those skills.

It makes my head spin to think how different my life was then. I feel financially and personally secure now. That dream came true. It also amazes me how similar I am to that 20-year old woman. What I value most – people, service, and learning – is largely unchanged. Then, my greatest wish was to be useful, to do something that would be important for other people. 17 years later, I’m still hard at work on that mission, and I imagine that when the cicadas pay us a visit next time I’ll still be plugging away at it one day at a time.

change, time

Beautiful: There is No Great Rush to Change so Take Your Time

Christa Avampato

In yoga, we hold postures for a very specific reason – when we ask our bodies to assume a posture, our muscles have an initial reaction. As we hold the posture, it develops. Our muscles give a bit more ground. Our minds settle down. We give ourselves time to adjust, and with that time we find that we can go further. In waiting and holding, we have time to reflect. Reflection helps us find our edge and our potential.

There is certainly a time for action, for embracing change even when it seems like it’s coming at us fast and furious. But there is also a lot of value in giving ourselves time to adjust. Just because change has arrived does not mean that we have to take all of it at once. In truth, we don’t have to take any of it. The only thing we have to do is consider it and let the answer rise up organically. In other words, we hold and wait for more information.

Often holding and waiting is equated with stagnation, and sometimes that association is valid. But it’s not the only association that can be made. Even in the midst of swirling, whirling change, it’s okay to slow down. It’s okay to take it easy and give ourselves time to decide which parts of the change we really want. Change is not an all or nothing game. It’s a menu. We choose which parts of that menu work best for us.

Rarely is change precipitated by some magical force from beyond that forces us down one path or the other. Most of the time, our lives change through our own deliberate actions. Yes, there will be things that happen that are beyond our control. But we always govern our actions in response to what happens in the world around us. We build our own road, and we’d be wise to put some speed bumps in there. Take all the time you need.

change, community service, creativity, time

Beautiful: Progress is a Daily Process. Take Your Time.

Christa Avampato

“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.” ~ Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

We want to make an impact in every moment. Everywhere. For everyone. We are a society of immediacy, a nation of broadcasters. We’re about scale, leverage, and reach. Bigger, faster, cheaper, now.

What I’ve found is that there is a lot of beauty and meaning in the small. Compass Yoga, my nonprofit, began with one small class for a handful of people in my sliver of a neighborhood over two years ago. Now we serve over 200 people per week in a dozen classes. We are a slow growth organization and that’s just fine by me because what we are building is deliberate and sustainable over time. We have phenomenal teachers, passionate students, and dedicated partners. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Do what you can do right now, right where you are. The future will find us. It always does. The opportunities will present themselves as long as we put real heart into our work. Help will arrive when we need it as long as we remain authentic and true to who we are.

Every journey of change is built one tiny purposeful step at a time.

celebration, change, time

Beautiful: We Can’t Wait to Be Ready

Christa Avampato

Many of my friends are now going through or considering big life changes. New jobs, new homes (temporary and permanent), new relationships, new babies. So few of them are actually ready for any of these changes. Hardly any of them could have predicted even a few months ago that the situation today would be what it is. Opportunity abounds and it doesn’t consult us. It just appears and we are left to decide whether to take advantage of it or pass it to someone else.

All of the big changes of my life came about when I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t been planning on their arrival or possibility. They just appeared. My recent move is one example. I didn’t realize that chapter was over until it was.

The Universe works in mysterious ways, and mostly out of our view. It is that (wo)man behind the curtain to whom we pay no attention until it’s ready for us. All change is hard, even joyful change. It brings about memories that are stored deep within us, in our minds and in our bodies. We toss and turn over our decisions. We find it difficult to let go of our ideas of how our life should unfold.

And yet, the actual act of letting go is not difficult at all. We simply do. Like clinging to the side of a pool, we often stay where we are out of fear. But to physically let go, all we have to do is uncurl our fingers, release our grip, and we find that we can float. We can only take one day at a time, one moment at a time, and this allows us to move with grace.

We can’t wait to be ready for change. All we can do is give ourselves over to it when it arrives, find the beauty, the joy, the light in it. Celebrate it and welcome it. Get swept off your feet by it, and have faith that eventually you will be able to root when the time is right.