Category: gifts

generosity, gifts

This just in: What will you give the world?

Christa Avampato
What will you give the world?
What will you give the world?

In the last few weeks I’ve learned about the power of one. One person can’t do everything, but everyone can do something. And that something can either make our corner of the world better or more difficult. We choose our impact through our actions and words, and the impact we make affects everyone around us. Will we help people dream big? Will we encourage people to craft lives they love and treasure? Will we live in a way that shows people what’s possible? I hope for this more than anything—that all the choices I make, regardless of the outcomes, help others to take more chances and let go of everything that doesn’t serve them well. Life’s too short for anything else.

choices, Christmas, community, gifts, philanthropy

Inspired: All I want under the tree this year isn’t for me

Christa Avampato

Send a girl to school for a year for $58‘Tis the season to drain our bank accounts and buy a lot of useless merchandise that won’t mean anything come, oh, about December 28th. We have an embarrassment of riches in this country. I don’t need 99% of them.

I really appreciate that my friend, Leah, posted this link a few weeks ago from the International Rescue Committee. $58 buys a year of education for a young girl in Afghanistan, Lebanon, or Congo. $18 provides a mosquito net for an entire family that prevents malaria, a disease that impacts half the world’s population and kills one child every 60 seconds. $25 is enough to provide an innovative solar lamp and charger to those in places such as Iraq and Syria who have to flee from violence with little or no access to electricity.

Similarly, gifts can be made to local food pantries, homeless shelters, and schools. I’m blessed beyond belief to have everything I could ever want or need when it comes to material possessions. I don’t need anything else. I’m guessing many of you don’t either. We’re the lucky ones. This holiday, let’s give and receive gifts that count, gifts that help others who really need our care and compassion.

Christmas, generosity, gifts

Beautiful: On the Fifth Day of Christmas, Let There Be More Generosity

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“Generosity is the best investment.” ~ Diane Von Furstenberg

We have so many ways to give, and so much to offer to one another. It’s the great conundrum of our society that there is always someone else who is having a tougher time than we are. And yet this knowledge, while sad in some ways, is incredible in other ways because it means we always have the chance to make life better for someone else. Generosity is the vehicle for goodness, and it’s at our disposal of every hour of every day. There are endless opportunities for us to express it, appreciate it, and foster it. So spread some cheer around everywhere you go. The more you give, the more you realize you have – it’s a wonderful riddle that needs no solution.

This post is part of the “Let there be…” consecutive series of Christmas wishes. 

charity, generosity, gifts, nature, New York City, nonprofit, outdoors

In a Spirit of Giving

Christa Avampato
Just another day on the Great Lawn in Central Park
Just another day on the Great Lawn in Central Park

“You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.” The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

The universe always rises up to support someone with a passion to do something of value for others.

I think about this quote a lot when people ask me about Compass Yoga‘s partnership with the New York Public Library. We offer 9 weekly classes at different library branches in Manhattan, all free of charge to anyone who walks through the door. Over the past two years since we began offering the classes, a number of people have asked me how I make sure the people who are in the class really need it. What they’re really asking is how do I feel about them coming to our classes for free while they have the means to pay for classes elsewhere.

We certainly do have students who could afford to pay something for a class – perhaps not the $20 or so it costs for many classes around the city, but certainly something. A few of our students have given donations to Compass Yoga because they are of means and support our work. I wish others who are of means would do the same. Perhaps in time they will. Other people have given their time and expertise to support our work. Other people don’t have the means at all, but they bring their energy and dedication to class every week.

There’s another New York-based charity that operates under the same circumstances as Compass Yoga: NYC Parks. Consider how often New Yorkers take advantage of the beauty of Central Park, or any of the other public parks in the city, on a  sunny day? How many of them have donated money to NYC Parks? Certainly not all of them, maybe not even most of them. I wish more people would donate, though the parks don’t discriminate. They don’t have a giant gate around them demanding payment before entry. Compass Yoga has the same philosophy as Central Park: to be free and open to all who enter.

I started Compass to bring more yoga to more people in more places, no strings attached. I also started it so that yoga teachers who are just starting out could get experience teaching. I wanted to build a bridge between the people who need what yoga has to offer and the people who have the training to teach. I know if we stay true to that goal and work hard at creative fundraising strategies, eventually the funding will flow. The trickle has already begun; now its our job to do our best to carve it into the Mississippi for the sake of all our students.

Christmas, cooking, food, gifts

Leap: My Favorite Christmas Gift – a Pasta Press

Christa Avampato

mail.google.comThe presents I love the most are ones that are old, passed down through loving hands, and put to good use immediately.

Over the past few months, I’ve been working on the skill of making homemade pasta. I’ve tried a few different recipes, purchased a couple of books, and signed myself up for a class here in NYC (more on that once I complete the class.) There’s something very satisfying about crafting food with my hands that gives me a happy glow. I love the feeling of kneading the dough, forming the pasta with my hands, and then watching it float to the top of a pot of salty water to meet its destiny on a plate covered with homemade sauce and freshly grated cheese.

Hearing about my new-found pasta creation hobby, my mom boxed up the pasta machine pictured here out of her own kitchen. It’s older than I am, simple to use, and gets the job done when it comes to noodle making. I’m not sure where this new hobby is leading me – perhaps in the direction of another entrepreneurial venture? – but I’m planning to cook and eat my way wherever it goes. (Thanks, Mom!)

If you’re up for enjoying a plate of homemade pasta with me and giving me feedback on the recipes, come on over for dinner!

community, generosity, gifts

Leap: How to Help Sandy Hook Elementary School and Newtown, Connecticut Right Now

Christa Avampato

newtown-newtitleI know that many of you have been looking for ways to help in response to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. I’ve been searching high and low, and finally CBS This Morning ran a segment on how to help no matter where we live.

Below are links to efforts that are organizing volunteers, funds, and assistance. Lend a hand, lend your heart, lend some help. It’s the best holiday gift you could possibly give this season.

generosity, gifts, time

Leap: How to Judge Our Quality of Life

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Each of us will one day be judged by our standard of life — not by our standard of living; by our measure of giving — not by our measure of wealth; by our simple goodness — not by our seeming greatness.” ~ William Arthur Ward

I’ve always thought it odd that when we’re alive and vibrant we are so concerned about our titles, salaries, and possessions and then when our time is come and gone, no one ever remembers any of those things. They remember our kindness, generosity, and passions.

What if we could live in that latter realm? What if we could focus our energies on what truly affects others, on the impact we can have that will live on long after our days? How might our actual days change as a result?

We would take better care of our hearts, minds, and bodies. We’d take greater care with each other. We would make time to be with people, really be with people. We’d understand on a very deep level that the New Radicals were so right – you get what you give.

gifts, happiness, love, peace

Leap: For the Happiness of Others

Christa Avampato

“One thing I am convinced more and more is true and that is this: The only way to be truly happy is to make others happy. When you realize that and take advantage of the fact, everything is made perfect.” ~ William Carlos Williams, American poet and physician

In this season of gift giving and buying, the idea of “it is better to give than receive” runs through my mind. The follow-up to this idea is “it’s best to give and to receive because when you receive, you give someone else the opportunity to give.”

For many of us, receiving is difficult. In order to fully receive, we need to leave our hearts open. We must let ourselves be vulnerable. On occasion, we receive from others because we have asked for help and support – another tall order for many of us who take pride in our independence and strength.

I am someone who once believed I was an island. I often felt like one not because I wanted to, but because I needed that toughness, that independence, to get through my days. It’s not true anymore, though old habits die hard. Every once in a great while, I still catch myself closing off at exactly the moment when I should remain the most open and receptive. I reverse course quickly but it’s not without effort.

If this sounds familiar, here’s what’s helped me: I know the joy I feel when I serve others. It brings a deep peace and purpose to my actions. It’s one of the very best feelings that I know and I try to bring it into my life every day, even several times a day if I can swing it. I want everyone to share in this feeling, to get that same sense of giddy happiness that comes from giving to others. Every giver needs a receiver.

It’s wonderful to be an angel to someone, to provide them with exactly what they need at exactly the moment that they need it. But angels come in many different forms. Sometimes, to be angel to someone else you need to be able to receive what they have to give, what they have to offer. Your sincere smile and thank you is exactly what they need to feel valued, appreciated, and useful. And we all want to feel useful. We all want to feel like we matter.

This holiday season you only need one recipe to feel the happiness that we all deserve: let others matter. Give and receive in equal quantities. Play both roles. Appreciate others and allow others to appreciate you. Love and be loved.

creativity, encouragement, entrepreneurship, gifts

Beginning: Gifts That Give Twice

Christa Avampato

As an efficiency fanatic, I am constantly looking for ways to do more with less. In this season of gift giving, this proverb reminded me that we can do more with what we’ve already got. Keep this in mind as you consider what goes into your cart this holiday season. We have more resources that we think we have.

“Chop your own wood and it warms you twice.”

~ Chinese Proverb

(it also gives you a workout!)

dogs, generosity, gifts, kindness, New York City

Beginning: A Downpour, the Kindness of NY Strangers, and a Community of Dachshunds

Christa Avampato

A photo I snapped of Friday's storm before a stranger rescued us with his umbrella
Phineas and I got caught in the downpour on Friday night. I had gone to pick him up from his first time at daycare and the raging storm took us by surprise as we made our way home. We were both crouched underneath an awning outside Cafe Frida, my favorite Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood. Phineas hates the rain, as most dachshunds do.

Just inside the restaurant a couple watched us through the window, looking on us with a great deal of pity. The man got up from the table and opened the door.

“We have two little dachshunds at home and we know how much they hate the rain. Take our umbrella so you can get your little guy home,” he said.

“But I can’t take your umbrella. How will I get it back to you?” I asked him.

“You don’t have to. We’re going to stay here until the rain stops and we’ve got plenty of umbrellas at home. Really – take it,” he said.

I thanked him profusely and Phineas in his tired / scared state gave him a smooch. Away we went. People often think of New Yorkers as pushy, arrogant, and self-centered. And maybe we are or can be from time to time. Though I must say that after 12 years of living in this city on and off, I’ve had more kind, generous, and selfless interactions right here in New York than I have anywhere else in the world. This was one of those times.

The wind whipped us around a bit on the way home and the umbrella didn’t keep us completely dry but it did a good enough job to get home before the next batch of really heavy rain started pelting down. The umbrella partially busted along the way, but I just didn’t have the heart to toss it in the trash can at the corner of our block. I’m going to hang on to it for a bit as a reminder of just how much good there is flowing through the streets of New York, at least if you have a dachshund in hand.