Category: health

art, creative, creativity, education, health, medicine, music, philanthropy

Genius Awards – $500,000 "no strings attached"

Christa Avampato

How would you like a half a million bucks with no strings attached? All you need to do is be a genius, and by genius I mean someone who is “creative, original, and has potential to make important contributions in the future.” The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awards 25 people every year with their Genius Awards. The Genius Awards for 2008 have been announced and the variety of recipients is encouraging.


When I heard that they were awarded based on originality and creativity, I naturally assumed that the awards were primarily for artists. And many of the recipients are indeed artists from many different areas of the arts. But there’s also an urban farmer, a critical care physician, and an astronomer. This variety supports the sentiment that artistry and creativity can, should, and will be found in every discipline the world over. 

We are all creative, inspired people regardless of our title at work or the discipline in which we work. The trick is how to leverage that creativity for the greatest benefit of the world at large. In short how do we take our precious, common gift of idealism and make it extraordinary? Geniuses take what we all have – this innate ability to imagine things the way they could be – and they go global with it. Well worth a half million dollars for their priceless contributions to humanity. 
The image above can be found at http://www.wilywalnut.com/Genius-choice.jpg
art, books, friendship, health, music, New York City, relationships, wellness

How Ashford & Simpson showed me the way

Christa Avampato

I work out at the gym in my office building. It’s nothing glamorous but it has what I need: a precor machine, easy to use weight machines, a rower, and clean bright rooms for classes. It also has a view that reminds me every day of the preciousness of life: it overlooks the 9/11 site. Today crowds of people will be flocking to the site to pay homage to the people who spent their final moments on that site, people who are sorely missed by their families, friends, and by our city. It is a sobering reminder that every day, EVERY day, counts. 


I am now in the midst of reading Wynton Marsalis’s latest book, Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life. I picked it up initially because I met him at Barnes & Noble during a session he was doing across from Lincoln Center, because my brother adores him, and because I was a mediocre saxophone player many moons ago.The book is incredible, and I’ll write a proper post reviewing it as soon as I’m finish reading it. I mention it here because it’s going to tie nicely into my thoughts on 9/11, right after I mention one more recent occurrence. 


My dear friend, Dan, whom I write about often and spend a good deal of time with, is the publicist for Feinstein’s at the Regency on Park and 61st. He took me to see Michael Feinstein’s Christmas show in December and on Tuesday he invited my friend, Monika, and I to see Ashford & Simpson. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun at a show. They play with such joy and love. I’m still humming Solid and Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. I was dancing, shouting, clapping. I was living that music and I felt so connected to every person in that audience even though I didn’t know anyone save for Dan, Monika, and Dan’s co-worker, Danielle. We were all together, celebrating life.


After the show let out, I walked west to catch my bus home. It was a long walk and I waited a while for the bus so I had a decent amount of time to revel in my happiness. And I finally understood the premise of Wynton Marsalis’s book in a way I hadn’t understood before seeing Ashford & Simpson. I understood those feelings of gratefulness I get when I’m on the rowing machine and looking at that sad, expansive space where the Towers stood majestically watching over us for so many years. It’s that feeling of just being happy “to be”. 


The only job we have in this world, and I mean the ONLY job, is to experience joy and express it every day for as long as we have the privilege to be citizens of this world. Any art, but music in particular, is a thread to connect all of us because we all hear the same notes but they mean different things to all of us. It allows us to be the same, be different, be individuals, be a group, all together across many generations. We don’t need to know a language, wear certain clothes, or be raised a certain way to enjoy it. It’s an equal opportunity companion.


It’s in our best interest to share joy because as we share it, there’s more for us to have. Ashford & Simpson and Wynton Marsalis personify that principle and have reaped the benefits of its implementation. So sing, paint, play the trumpet, go to a show, write, love your job, garden, volunteer, run, swim, tell jokes, have a boogie break in your apartment. Spend time with interesting, fascinating, diverse people, and let them into your life in a profound way. And recognize how infinitely lucky we are to be alive at all. Just being able to walk around on this Earth and take it all in is an amazing gift.  

education, health, healthcare, innovation, politics

One Thing We Don’t Want to Change

Christa Avampato

Thomas Friedman wrote a brilliant article in the Times last week about innovation in the U.S. At the moment, we are the most innovative country in the world, though that is changing. Quickly. And though there are a lot of people in the press these days talking about change, few are talking about innovation, much less the need to foster that effort in our people. And it needs to be addressed, head on. Now. 


We are spending a lot of time talking about how to save manufacturing. The trouble is we can’t save manufacturing if we don’t save the innovative processes that dictate what to manufacture. And we can’t save the innovative process and its wonderful outcomes without seriously addressing education – and that includes K-12, college, and graduate school, the latter of which is nearly becoming a non-negotiable credential for those who want a modicum of job and financial security. In the case of K-12 education, the improvement child health and well-being is critical. And without K-12 education, we don’t have a prayer. 

Despite the fact that I have been a fan of Barack Obama since his entry into politics, I voted for Hilary Clinton in the primary. Many people ask me why when she seems so divisive and polarizing. One simple reason – I believed she would fix healthcare, which leads to better K-12 education which fosters innovation that supports our economy and global competitive advantage. Healthcare is a root cause to so many other problems we have in the U.S., and around the world. And if were going to talk about priorities and what to focus on first in this next Presidency, my wish would be that we make good health for every American a non-negotiable goal.       
health, insomnia, sleep, time

Smoothing ruffled minds

Christa Avampato

Last night, I went to listen to my friend, Dan’s, DJ mix at the Time Out New York Lounge at New World Stages. His show, Lush & Lively, features a fabulous mix of groovy re-creations of old standards. The music really just makes me smile. I hadn’t seen Dan in over a month – a travesty as I am used to seeing about once a week. Times gets away from us too easily. This started me down the road to thinking about how much our busy lives actually effect the state of our minds.

I came across a quote today by Charlotte Bronte that could be the mantra for all of us that suffer from time to time, or all the time as the case may be, from insomnia. “A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.” A large part of my sleeping problems are self-induced. My mind is working so fast so often that it has a hard time going to sleep. It is stubborn about turning off.

Meditation helps. Yoga helps even more because it pairs meditation with physical activity. I’ve been known to run simply to exhaust myself as much as possible. What really helps is slowing down and I am growing more conscious of my ability to slow down my life despite the world’s efforts to continuously speed it up.

Yesterday, I was meeting Dan at 6, precisely, so that way I could get somewhere else by 7:30, and be home by exactly 10 to finish up some work before going to bed. Fine to do on occasion. Ludicrous to think that kind of rigid planning in my social life is sustainable. So I moved my 7:30 back half an hour, and lengthened by then-8:00 by half an hour. I gave myself some room to breathe, and I was able to get a better night’s sleep because I hadn’t felt rushed all evening long to get here, there, and everywhere.

To be sure, valuing your time as the most precious resource on the planet is a difficult task because demands are placed upon you by external sources. However, giving myself the permission to control the impact of those outside sources, even if just for one evening, yields such good results that I’m having difficulty valuing my time as anything less than precious. Could that one decision be the key to calming down our ruffled minds?

The image above can be found at: http://startupblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/salvador-dali-clock.jpg

diet, eating, health, New York Times, wellness

My love for sweets is in my genes

Christa Avampato

I could eat sweets morning, noon, and night and never get sick of them. My sweet of choice: Entenmann’s chocolate-covered donuts. I could easily scarf down a box of those in one sitting. I don’t (or haven’t recently anyway) but it’s within my capabilities. I know this isn’t good for me. I’ve tried every trick imaginable to banish my sweet tooth. I am envious of people who claim, “I’m just not that interested in sweets.” Until I consider how absolutely delicious sweets are, and then I am grateful that I can get more for myself if others don’t like them.

My grandfather was a candy maker and I have always jokingly attributed my love of sweets to my genes. As it turns out, my penchant for sweets is not entirely within my control. There is now scientific proof that my little joke, like most, also holds some truth. In today’s Health section of the New York Times, there is mention of a research studies about a gene variant that allows people to process sugar more quickly than those without the gene variant. When studied in two groups of people, those with the gene variant always ate more sugar, though there was no difference in the amount of starch, fat, or protein that was eaten.

All these years, I’ve been beating up on myself a little for my seemingly endless craving for anything sweet. In actuality, I just happen to have exceptionally gifted genes when it comes to processing sugar. What luck!

GEL conference, gel2008, health, hospital

GEL 2008: Bridget Duffy

Christa Avampato

If there is any industry that needs a major make-over, it’s health care. And if I or anyone I know ever needs a major procedure done, I am am likely to make the decision to choose the Cleveland Clinic as a result of Bridget Duffy’s talk at GEL. She is an accomplished doctor, as well as the Clinic’s Chief Innovation Officer. She’s involved with everything from empathy projects to redesigning the hospital gown. Originally she wanted her title to be “Chief Empathy Officer” – that’s how much she believes in empathy’s value.

Empathy is a funny thing. Kids have tons of it. In our early adult years through midlife, we lose a large amount of it, and then as we move into our later years, we revert back to our empathic capacity from childhood. So we have it – we are born with it. And like the creative spirit, we bury it somewhere deep within our recesses, until some life-altering event brings it back. Our challenge is to find a way to keep our empathy from being beaten down in the wake our busy lives.

My favorite quote from Bridget’s talk: “Everyone needs GPS – a guide to take them through every system. And companies need it, too.”

Harvey Atler, health, melodic intonation therapy, music, New York Times

A stroke victim learns to speak through song

Christa Avampato

I find is fascinating that speech is formed by the left side of our brain, while singing, though it uses the same muscles, is formed on the right side of the brain. That division may have saved Mr. Harvey Alter, a stroke survivor, from never being able to speak again.

After his stroke, and the resulting Broca’s aphasia that is caused, Mr. Alter could say only short words after month of therapy. Now, the conversation is flowing with much less difficulty thanks to melodic intonation therapy, a therapy that helps stroke victims learn to speak again by first teaching them to sing.

In today’s New York Times(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/health/22stro.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1208867443-SaFTSaS+Lm2ZuHy3sjUsiw), the details of the therapy, as well as Harvey Alter’s dramatic recovery are both touching and inspiring. “Happy Birthday” opened the door to a new life for him, the confidence to believe that he could heal himself. So while music may be good for the soul, melodic intonation therapy makes it also good for the mind.

books, cancer, child, children, health, Randy Pausch

Meet Randy Pausch

Christa Avampato

If you haven’t heard of Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, you need to. Via his book (just released this week), his blog charting his fight against pancreatic cancer, and his You Tube videos, he is by every measure a man of great character, charisma, and strength. He will inspire you to squeeze every last drop out of life; his story will make you grateful for your health, your family, your friends, and your work.

Shortly after being diagnosed, Dr. Pausch gave what he called “The Last Lecture”, which is also the title of his recent book. With such little time left in his life, he wants to spend as much of it with his family as possible and he was worried that the task of writing a book about the lecture would consume too much of his energy. As with all worthy projects, if there’s a will, there’s a creative solution to get it done. Dr. Pausch literally spoke the lecture and the story behind it to his collaborator, Jeff Zaslow, on 53 one-hour bike rides. He rides his bike daily to keep himself in the best shape possible.

“The Last Lecture” is a 75 minute talk that dispenses the wisdom he’s gained that he wishes he had time to pass on to his children. The subtitle is “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. To date, 10 million people have logged on to watch the video on You Tube and through the Carnegie Mellon site. Join them!

Lecture on the CMU site: www.cmu.edu/randyslecture
A recent article in the New York Times Health section about Dr. Pausch:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/health/08well.html?em&ex=1207886400&en=227dcc7269e91cb6&ei=5087%0A
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Randy’s blog: http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html
Buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Lecture-Randy-Pausch/dp/1401323251/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208265354&sr=8-1

art, creativity, health, New York Times

What we can learn about creativity from those who suffer from FTD

Christa Avampato

Today’s Health section of the New York Times explored the case of Dr. Anne Adams. She had a rare brain disease known as FTD, frontotemporal dementia. The frontal cortex of her brain, which controls reasoning and planning, began to deteriorate while her right posterior brain, the part that controls creativity, blossomed. Her art, like that pictured at the top of this blog post, grew in complexity.

Just as someone who is blind develops a more keen sense of hearing, Dr. Adams’s creativity grew at the expense of her reasoning. An extreme case, the more Dr. Adams let go of her rational mind, the stronger her creative senses became. Eventually FTD overcame Dr. Adams, though the experience of her last few years has much to teach us about the artistic capabilities that lie dormant in all of our minds.

What if we could put reason aside, temporarily? What if we could silence our inner critic, what if we could put aside judgements and inhibitions, and just pick up a guitar, a paintbrush, a pen?Create whatever it is that floats in and out of our minds, without trying to connect the dots. What creative possibilities do have within us that we, unconsciously, silence every day for the sake of reason? Dr. Adams provides a strong example of our potential.  
books, diet, food, health

Michael Pollan’s Rules of Thumb for Healthful Eating

Christa Avampato

I am a huge fan of Michael Pollan, the author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. He has joined forces with one of my favorite blogs, Omnivoracious.com, and posted up his 10 rules of thumb for healthful eating. I’ve printed them out and posted them up in my kitchen. Clever, witty, and easy to remember, they are:

1.) Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
2.) Avoid food products with more than five ingredients; with ingredients you can’t pronounce.
3.) Don’t eat anything that won’t eventually rot.
4.) Shop the perimeter of the supermarket, where the food is least processed.
5.) Avoid food products that make health claims.
6.) Eat meals and eat them only at tables. (And no, a desk is not a table.)
7.) Eat only until you’re 4/5 full. (An ancient Japanese injunction.)
8.) Pay more, eat less.
9.) Diversify your diet and eat wild foods when you can.
10.) Eat slowly, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

For the full post from Omnivoracious: http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/02/table-talk-gues.html

For more information on Michael Pollan: http://www.michaelpollan.com/index.htm