Category: commitment

care, career, choices, commitment, creativity, decision-making, determination, work

Step 266: Don’t Lower Your Expectations

Christa Avampato

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him. The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

When I was in business school, one of my favorite professors revealed his secret for a happy life: low expectations. He was kidding, a little laughter to break the mind numbing tension caused by information overload. He lives a life of the highest expectations I’ve ever known. And it is happy one, too.

Today, I had a conversation with someone who told me she was concerned about my expectations. I was explaining that certain areas of product development like mobile and social technologies require agile development – fail fast and don’t make the same mistake twice. Involve end-users in the process. Beat it, bureaucracy. And no, taking a year to develop a new product or service that isn’t even keeping pace with competition is not acceptable.

She tried to counter by saying that without a knowledge management system in place, there isn’t a way to lower run times between product iterations. I said that building a knowledge management system also needs to be done quickly, and it’s incumbent upon every one to create it and contribute to it. I was being unreasonable and displaying my very high expectations, and I would not back down. Her response, “Well your expectations worry me.” My response, “We have to do better.”

Uncomfortable conversation? Yes. Would I take it back and change my behavior? No. Progress requires unreasonable, unrelenting expectations, and the ability to back them up with creativity and a strong work ethic. And I mean to be a person of progress, not a person of simple adaptation to someone else’s standards. I’d rather aim high and be disappointed every day of my life, than strive for and achieve mediocrity.

books, commitment, yoga

Step 136: A Dedicated Life

Christa Avampato

“Learn to lead a dedicated life…the dedicated ever enjoy peace…the entire life is an open book, a scripture. Read it. Learn while digging a pit or chopping some wood or cooking some food…OM Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi. OM Tat Sat. (OM peace, peace, peace. OM unlimited truth.” ~ Sri Swami Satchidananda

In one week, I will complete my 200 hour yoga teacher training. I’ve been trying to take my yoga practice out into the world. I practice my balance on the subway as it roars down the express track. I find it while cooking my meals. I use it when I encounter someone who is having a tough day and showing it. In the mornings, I try to be mindful of my commute, visualizing my day and what I will be able to accomplishment. I am trying to show up and be present at every moment. I look at service as yoga, too, even though my mat may be no where in sight.

Sri Swami Satchidananda wrote the translation of the Yoga Sutras that we read for the yoga teacher training. While I didn’t agree with all of his notes, the quote above that he used to close out the book has really stuck with me throughout this training. It’s great to be able to start to do arm balances or be on the verge of doing headstead in the middle of a room without a wall. My physical yoga practice has grown by leaps and bounds – for the first time I actually understand how my body is pieced together and why it works the way it does. I began a daily meditation practice with this course, a practice that will always be with me, even when my body stops working so well. I grew to look forward to change, and accept that all of this is temporary. But the real achievement for me is that I am conscious every day of living my yoga, on and off the mat. Yoga gave me a way to grow my dedication to my own happiness.

The most beautiful piece of yoga is that there is no end to the learning. In all the years I’ve been going to class and even with this wonderful training at Sonic, I haven’t even scratched the surface. Yoga has been around for ~6,000 years. Its applications in the world, in our lives, and in the physical practice have no end so long as we are dedicated to their study and to our own personal exploration. Tat Sat, indeed.

The image above depicts Sri Swami Satchidananda at his Yogaville Ashram in Buckingham, VA. Ironically, his ashram is only 40 minutes from where I went to business school; I never knew it existed until my training at Sonic.

commitment, meditation, yoga

Step 115: Making Time

Christa Avampato

“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” ~ Martin Luther

I have so many ideas for blog posts from this weekend of yoga teacher training. Most of our work this weekend was about Eastern philosophy. Some of it I agree with. Some of it I don’t agree with. Some of it I’ll keep with me, and I’ll let go of the pieces that don’t serve. I find all of it useful to stimulate conversation and consideration.

Will, our philosophy teacher, gave us this quote by Martin Luther when we talked about how to balance our practice with the rest of our lives. It helped me. In the past, I have said to myself that I don’t have time to meditate or to do yoga on some days. Tonight was one of those nights. I wanted to get a lot of writing done, to catch up with friends on the phone, to clean my apartment, to make dinner, to get myself organized for the week. Every minute of teacher training that ticked by gave me another item for my after-yoga to-do list.

When I went to the store Scent Elate to get my little statues of Nataraj and Ganesha for my home altar, Mo, the owner gave me some sage and incense matches, without me even asking. “Make sure to burn some sage first before placing these on your altar.” This small gesture stopped me in my tracks, asking me to see my “gallopy” nature, recognize it, and tell it to be quiet down. ” Despite all of my to-do’s, I have time for practice,” I said to myself. “All I have is time.” Maybe Mo was channeling Martin Luther. Maybe the Universe needed me to hear the message a bit more loudly, and so it used Mo’s voice to give me exactly the learning I needed exactly when I needed it. Maybe it was just coincidence. Regardless, the message was heard loud and clear. “This practice is important. Make time for it.”

So I came home, burned a little sage, placed the statues, and did my 18 minutes of meditation. And you know what? The pathway to my writing opened. I made a delicious, simple meal, I got myself ready for my week. I caught up with some friends. There was time for all of it. But first, I had to take care of my own spirit, my own heart, through my meditation. Now, I can see. Really see. Now, I can do. Really do.

The image above is not my own. It can be found here.

calm, commitment, yoga

My Year of Hopefulness – Problems and Answers

Christa Avampato

“If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it.” ~ J. Krishnamurti

So often we look at problems and answers as two separate entities, as if they have their own independent existence. I’ve been thinking about this recently with an education program I’m working on. I have specific problem I’d like to solve, and a specific need I’d like to meet. Reading this quote today I realized that I’ve approached the challenge backwards – I’ve been so focused on finding a solution that I haven’t spent enough time with the problem and all its layers and complexities.

Living with problems can be uncomfortable, so our desire to jump to a solution as quickly as possible is only natural. I’ve been practicing yoga for 9 years and one of the practice’s central tenants is learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I’ve found that the best way for me to achieve this is to focus on my breath rather than on the part of my body that might be uncomfortable in a pose. I apply this in other areas of my life as well – sitting in an uncomfortable meeting, standing in a hot, crowded subway, coping with a bad headache or other illness – I just keep focusing on my breath. It helps.

Another, less conventional practice that I am experimenting with is giving problems a physical structure. Meditation does not come easily to me. I like being active so sitting still and concentrating is some times a lot to ask of myself. I do notice that when I’m able to do it, it has great benefits. So I keep trying. Meditation is particularly helpful when I am trying to sort through a problem, though most of the problems I handle are abstract, without structure. During my meditation I imagine how the problems move around in the world, how they impact the places and people they effect, and then consider ways in which those effects can be countered. It’s complicated, and again not a natural method of dealing with problems, though I find this process helps me sit with problems that need my attention.

There’s no silver bullet here. Having problems and challenges is an uncomfortable condition, and will always be. What we can do is make slow and steady progress to ease the discomfort. And in that purposeful progress forward, it’s my hope that we will find the long-term solutions we seek to remove all our challenges.

commitment, community, community service, impact, inspiration, movie

My Year of Hopefulness – A Hero Arrives

Christa Avampato

Today I watched The Tale of Despereaux, a movie adapted from the book by Kate DiCamillo. The movie chronicles the the adolescence of Despereaux, a brave little mouse in search of adventure and harmony between disparate parties. He is someone who does not want to be defined by others, regardless of the consequences for being who is naturally born to be.

Very early on in the movie, there is a line that really struck a cord with me: “A hero shows up when the world really needs one.” I can think of no better time than now for heroes to rise up and be counted. The world has some very large problems today – far larger than I think we even know. And these problems are in every city and town, of every variety and every magnitude. No matter what contribution you would like to make to the world, in whatever field you choose, wherever you live, there is a way to make an enormous difference if only we have the courage to put ourselves out there and the desire to be responsible and accountable.

Thomas Friedman gave the commencement speech at RPI in 2007. Recognizing the desire and energy of young graduates to have an impact on their communities, he threw down the gauntlet to them in no uncertain terms. “If it’s not happening, it’s because you’re not doing it,” he said. “There is no one else in the way.” Technology has vastly our ability to communicate and influence with ease if we have a convincing, passionate story. It’s easier to be a hero today than it has been at any other time in history if only we see ourselves in this light.

commitment, community, community service

My Year of Hopefulness – Miami Gardens, FL

Christa Avampato

Tonight on NBC Nightly News, the featured the city of Miami Gardens, Florida on their “What Works” segment. Shirley Gibson, the woman who is responsible for its creation 6 years ago, isn’t one to take responsibility lightly. She was a police officer for 17 years, a small business owner for 15 years, and determined to help build a city that provided its residents, all 110,000 of them, with good quality services. Crime is down 22% and the city is now focusing heavily on improving education. Shirley Gibson is now running for Congress. Despite people who said Miami Gardens would never be because people in that area would never pay for services, residents agreed to double their property tax to improve the community.

Miami Gardens is a living, breathing example of what can happen in a community when people take pride in where they live. They ignored naysayers and refused to believe that they could never have a brighter tomorrow. They rose up together, putting their heart, hopes, and earnings on the line for one another. It’s an incredible testament to the power of organizing and a long-term vision. Miami Gardens prove that anything, and everything, is possible.