Category: dreams

discovery, dreams, failure

Leap: Be Wrong

Christa Avampato
Oh Sheldon…

“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” ~ Ken Robinson

Being wrong is underrated. It usually comes about because we went out on a limb, tried something new, or put forward an idea that was provocative and against the grain. These actions have so much merit, regardless of the outcome because they require boldness, courage, and passion. It’s hard to overstate the value of these qualities in the pursuit of a well-lived life.

“Wrong” used to be akin to a curse word for me. I was afraid of what may happen if I was wrong, whether that meant giving answers on a math quiz, starting a new relationship, or speaking my mind. Despite the fear I did these things anyway, either because I had to (fear was not a reason to not take a math quiz) or because I was just too curious about the outcome to not try (please refer to my dating history.)

And you know what terrible thing befell me when I was wrong? Nothing. Life just went on. Perhaps I was a little (or a lot) embarrassed. On occasion I was mad that situations didn’t go the way I wanted them to go. Every once in a while I was sadly disappointed. No matter. In due time, I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and started again.

Now I barely even blink when I’m wrong. I recognize my mistake, I learn, and I move on. I don’t waste any time analyzing to death the error of my ways. I don’t beat myself up over it. I’ve learned to revel in my humanness – flaws, foibles, and all. And I’ve also learned to revel in the humanness of others, which is a gift all its own.

So go ahead. Risk looking like a fool because you went after something with your whole heart. Take a chance, a big chance that may cause you to fall flat on your face. Even if this comes to pass, your own resilience will surprise you. You’re stronger, more adaptable, and quicker-to-heal than you think.

adventure, choices, decision-making, dreams, time

Leap: Your True North

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

Finding our true north is about deciding what matters.

Next week will mark 5 months since I left my corporate job to start Chasing Down the Muse, my own consulting and teaching practice. I did this for many reasons though there is one reason that stands head and shoulders above the others: I wanted to work on projects that matter to me. I care deeply about education (defined broadly as cultivating the imagination by stoking our creative fire with inspiration and information), healthcare (defined broadly as helping all people attain their maximum level of wellness), and strengthening entrepreneurship / small business.

I was working a corporate job in financial services. It didn’t add up. This is not to say that I think financial services is a terrible place to spend a career. On the contrary, I am grateful that I spent time in this industry because it helped me to understand the mechanics of our economy during an unprecedented crisis. It just wasn’t right for me anymore in this capacity. So, I left in an attempt to find a better path with a safety net that consists only of my savings account and my passion to live an authentic life.

Planning to leave wasn’t easy. I had a cushy gig with nice people (many of whom I am honored to have as friends), regular work hours, a healthy paycheck, and a solid benefits package. It was a lot to walk away from but I’ve never looked back. These benefits paled in comparison to the possibility of doing the work I am meant to do, the work I am called to do.

I should have been scared. On paper this looks like an extraordinarily naive decision made by a wide-eyed twenty-something, not a thirty-, on the verge of forty-something, who’s been around the block a number of times. But here I am, 5 months later and resolute in the fact that given the chance I would absolutely do it all over again and perhaps sooner.

There isn’t a single day when I say to myself “I really should have stayed where I was.” Even when it’s hard, even when I haven’t had things work out as I planned or expected, I continue to feel motivated and inspired by possibility and opportunity. I’m always confident that something I really wanted doesn’t work out because room had to be made for something I have not yet even dreamed of.

To chart a new course, to step off the ledge, requires the belief in our ability to fly even if we have never taken flight before. Certainly, it requires equal amounts of conviction and lunacy because there is no proof, evidence, or guarantee of success. We make these kinds of decisions based on guts and faith.

You might think this is a recipe for anxiety but it’s exactly the opposite. Somehow, I am now calmer, clearer, and more relaxed than I’ve ever been. It’s the greatest feeling in the world to be free, happy, healthy, and fulfilled. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t feel like the luckiest, most blessed, grateful person on the planet. To somehow repay the world for this incredible opportunity, I put these thoughts down on paper in the hopes that they help you find your own true north.

Never, ever doubt that your wildest, most wonderful dreams are not only possible, but also probable, if you set out to find them.

dreams, fear, finance, financing, money

Leap: The Most Important Purpose of Money

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“The importance of money flows from it being a link between the present and the future.” ~ John Maynard Keynes, British economist

Money – what we earn, what we save, what we spend, and what we give away – is always a bridge between what we have now and what we will have in the future. It’s just energy. It ebbs and flows.

This perspective helped me to think of money as a much less terrifying force. I used to be petrified of it. Afraid I’d never have enough. Afraid that my pursuit of it, no matter how noble my path, might consume me if I didn’t remain on constant watch.

Now I see it for what it is – fuel that gets me from where I am now to where I want to be next. In this way it’s become a very selfless entity – something that shows up when I need it, allows me to use it to the best of my ability, and then happily changes hands without even so much as a glance back at me over its shoulder.

It feels good to no longer see it as a foe, but rather as an ally.

adventure, creativity, dreams, opportunity, time

Leap: Get Started Right Where You Are

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.” ~ John Burroughs, American naturalist and essayist

So often we think we have to make monumental changes in our lives to have an adventure, to stoke the fire of opportunity. We believe that we have to endure impossible scenarios to have a real adventure. In our pursuit of the new, we sometimes miss all of the possibility that lies at our feet every day, along the same roads we regularly travel, with the people who are intricately woven into the fabric of our lives.

Everything, and I mean everything, can be renewed. And not all of it has to come via challenge. Very often, adventure is laid at our feet and all it requires is a simple “Yes, deal me in.”

Open your eyes, ears, and mind, right where you are, right now. Somewhere in the course of your day, I am certain you will encounter the chance to do something amazing. You’ve spent all this time creating dreams. Go live them – you have everything you need to begin.

adventure, commitment, community, creativity, determination, dreams

Leap: Go Tell It on the Mountain and Then Get Down to Work in the Valley

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Our life is composed greatly from dreams from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together.” ~ Anais Nin

I believe in shouting dreams. If you really want to do something, need something, or have something to give, I’m a fan of telling everyone you know about it. I’ve found it is the single best way to accomplish goals. We’re all here to help one another along this wild, twisted path of life. And we can’t help each other if we don’t know our own dreams, and the dreams of those around us.

Take a moment to be still. Close your eyes. Let your mind grow soft and your jaw go slack. Take 10 deep, slow breaths. Let any and every thought rise up into your consciousness. You’re not evaluating these thoughts. You’re not passing judgement. You’re scanning them. You’re looking for dreams. You’re looking for wishes that you are literally making with your heart.

Let those dreams rest in your mind’s eye and let everything else fall away. Consider how you might let people know about them, even how others may become a part of them, and how you might act upon them. Once you tell others about your dreams, you’ll find that others will share their dreams with you. Once they see you actually working on your dreams, you’ll find that many of them will work alongside you to bring those dreams to life.

The Universe will do its part, too. Once it sees that you are taking a chance on yourself, it will take a chance on you, too. Commitment and hard work are an incredibly magical combination. All of a sudden the dream that was living way deep down inside you, so far down that you didn’t even know it existed, not only comes into your consciousness, but it manifests out in the world.

Accomplishments are just dreams that you act upon. Nothing more, and nothing less.

choices, creativity, dreams, meditation, work

Leap: Keep Chipping Away

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ~ Thomas Edison, American inventor

Are you a few months into a new project and thinking, “Hmm…so what do I do now?” Is it not going the way you thought it would? Is your initial idea not the silver bullet you thought it would be? Welcome to starting up – it has happened to everyone I know who attempted to do something wild, crazy, and wonderful.

I recently had some of these thoughts myself, and decided to let the back of my mind whirl away on them while I continued to focus my conscious mind on working my tail off. “An answer will come,” I told myself. It always does. And it did, and as it often does, it rose up in my daily meditation.

While in meditation, I found myself in a dimly lit room. I was seated across from someone, a man, though I couldn’t really discern his features and for some reason had no interest in those details. What was clear to me was his voice, and his simple actions.

“Which way do I go?” I asked him.

“Follow me,” he said.

He stood up and went over to the wall behind him. I followed. He pulled back a heavy, dark curtain and revealed an enormous brightly lit tower. It was so tall I couldn’t even see the top of it. It had all kinds of decorations and colors on it. At first I thought it was a cohesive structure and then I began to see that it was constructed from so many things that have meaning to me – photographs, quotes, and images of my life artfully pieced together. It was a collage of my varied interests and passions.

“Start anywhere,” he said. “Just pick any place and begin to chip away at it.”

“But I can’t choose. I don’t know where to start.”

He shook his head, laughing. “It doesn’t matter. Just choose any area. They are all connected so what you do to work on one will affect all of the others. All that counts is that you try.” 

And then my eyes popped open. I got up and started my day without fear. I gave myself permission to concentrate my efforts anywhere. It will all come together if I just keep going. It’s amazing what our unconscious mind will cook up if we just give it the space to do its work.

adventure, determination, dreams

Leap: The Seed of You

Christa Avampato
A seed that I found in the spice forest when I visited Munnar, India earlier this year.

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I don’t try to guess someone’s ceiling.” ~ Marcus Samuelsson, Yes, Chef

It’s easy to look at something, project our own experiences and opinions, and pass judgement on how it will unfold. We look at students and employees that way. We think we have the ability to determine someone else’s potential, that we can somehow determine how far they can go and what they can do. There’s a danger in that. The human brain is a wondrous piece of machinery, but it is a horrible fortune-teller.

Take a look at an acorn or any kind of seed the next time you’re out walking in the woods, planting in the garden, or strolling through the park. The seed is a humble looking entity and yet there are worlds buried inside it just waiting for a bit of Earth, a sprinkle of rain, and a few rays of sunshine to cast their gaze in its direction.

We are seeds, too. We cannot look at others, we can’t even look at ourselves, and know exactly what we are capable of being. Get some wilder dreams. Aspire to something beyond your own comprehension. Imagine that you have no boundaries, that there are no limits. Chase down that vision, confident in the knowledge that you have everything you need within you right now to bring it to life. If the acorn can do it, so can we.

dreams, opportunity

Leap: How to View People Properly

Christa Avampato
From http://curlygirlstore.com

“To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.” ~ Khalil Gibran

Dreams tell us a lot about someone because dreams process the past, accept the present, and create the future. The narrative of a life grows from dreams and is fueled by actions taken to animate them.

Dreams tell us what someone values above all else because they are wishes of an ideal. When someone tells me they have big dreams, I pay attention because our dreams house the very best version of ourselves.

When I meet someone, I immediately want to know who they are at their best. That best self is pure potential and I’m in the business of helping people harness that potential and transform it into their truth.

dreams, generosity, gratitude

Leap: We Show Our Humanity By What What We Do For Others

Christa Avampato

“A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.” ~ D. Elton Trueblood, American author and theologian

What are you building for others? What will survive long after you and provide a benefit to those whom you will never even meet? A piece of writing, a work of art, a song, a donation to an organization that supports a cause you care about.

These things change someone’s life. They give them hope when they’re down. They help them hang on when all seems lost. They trigger memories, inspire change, and encourage dreams.

When you give freely of yourself with no request for repayment of any kind, there’s no telling how much that gift will do for someone else’s spirit, and for your own.

creative process, creativity, determination, dreams, failure, imagination, success, time

Leap: Why It’s a Good Thing to Feel Like You Want to Give Up

Christa Avampato
All isn’t lost. You just need a break.

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” ~ Carl Rogers

Are you thinking of quitting? Throwing in the towel on a dream you’ve worked hard to actualize? Great. You’re exactly where you need to be. You’re just about to have a break through.

Be a softie
There’s a lot of praise for people who persevere, who never show weakness, who remain tough and steadfast in the face of every obstacle. If we constantly put on a brave face, we miss out on an enormously valuable human experience. If we never break down, we never find out what we’re really made of. If we never fall, we never build the strength to get back up and try again. And that muscle of determination is hard-won and invaluable.

You have to give up to move ahead
I’m always inspired by the number of famous breakthroughs that have happened after a nap. In sleep, we surrender the conscious wielding of the mind. We literally let our imaginations run wild, no more barriers, no more little voice that says “oh that’s ridiculous.” In sleep, all possibilities are on the table. If anything is possible in sleep, then it’s no wonder that it’s the perfect breeding ground for breakthroughs.

Carl Rogers’ famous quote about change holds true in the land of imagination as much as it does in every day living. When we accept that we may not be able to crack a challenge that we’ve wrestled with for a long time, then the answer rises up. And that answer is usually so startlingly simple that we often berate ourselves for not seeing it sooner.

But here’s the rub: as we’re pursuing the answer, it’s also pursuing us. Challenges want to be met. Puzzles want to be solved. If we don’t stop, drop, and listen, then we risk chasing one another around forever. So if you’ve given it your all and tried to chase after an answer to no avail, go ahead and give up for a while. Get quiet. Let it go and let inspiration knock on the door when it’s good and ready. That way you’ll be rested enough to welcome it when it arrives.