Category: simplicity

holiday, simplicity, thankful, thanksgiving

Step 329: Thankful for Less

Christa Avampato

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Good food and lots of downtime with no pressure of gifts or any schedule. There’s a parade with colorful floats, followed by hours of sporting events and a nap or two, and the knowledge that the next month is about having as much fun as possible.

This morning I was lying in bed and counting my blessings, which I am so lucky to have in abundance. I like this exercise because it helps me realize all that I do have, but I like it best for an even more important reason – it makes me realize how much I don’t need. Right before that horrendous day known as Black Friday, this is a good thing to remember. When Phin and I went out for our walk this morning, we picked up the morning paper to find it bursting with retail fliers, some touting that their doors open at 3:00am. That is one thing I certainly don’t need.

In so many ways we’ve been conned (mostly by ourselves) into thinking we just don’t have enough, that we must hang on to everything in sight because it’s about to slip right through our fingers in the blink of an eye. So we stuff our lives and homes with material possessions, pack our schedules to the brim, and still long for more.

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for less. A schedule that’s not hectic, a home that has little more than the bare essentials, a good meal that fills me to just the right level, some sunshine, and simple times with my family. These days I’m living with less, and grateful for it because it means I have so much more to give.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The image above can be found here.

business, marketing, nostalgia, product, simplicity

Step 277: Mad Men Commercials – A Celebration of the Quality We’re Looking For

Christa Avampato

Have you seen these retro vignette commercials interspersed throughout Mad Men? I was curious about them so I did a little hunting around. The Smith Winter Mitchell Agency, the agency featured in the commercials, is the brainchild of Rocket XL in New York. These vignettes showcase how a fictional 1960s ad agency, SmithWinterMitchell, develops campaigns for six iconic Unilever brands (Dove, Breyers, Hellmann’s, Klondike, Suave Hair, and Vaseline), combining witty historic parody with modern ad footage. They also showcase these iconic brands and celebrate their heritage on a hit show that is culturally and contextually relevant.

The artistic direction of the commercials is interesting, thought there was something else about them that grabbed my attention. I was drawn to the risk that Rocket XL took by building story with their commercials. They didn’t see this campaign as 30 – 60 seconds spots that happen in isolation. They gave the audience credit for their intelligence; they trusted us to connect the dots across the decades, as well as from Sunday night to Sunday night. They have a distinctive look and style that make them memorable, but they don’t take themselves too seriously, allowing us to laugh a little at the ad guys we spend an hour with every Sunday night.

Our country is craving simplicity in the midst of this economic downturn. Somehow, we glorified complexity for far too long and it got us into dangerous territory. We lost our way when we started to throw around phrases like derivative pricing and sub-prime mortgages, without fully realizing how low their downside could take us. Rocket XL is portraying simple products with a simple message – they have stood the test of time and they’re still here with us with the same quality they’ve always had. Sounds simple, but it’s hard to fulfill on.

On the surface, these are just commercials for ice cream a shampoo. But they’re making us smile for a much more profound reason – we’re looking for reliability and stability in a time when all the ground beneath us is so uncertain. These products have stood the test of time and they’re proud of that. I’m not suggesting that a Klondike bar can take all of our cares away. I am suggesting that products and people alike should flaunt what they’ve got – and if what you’ve got is a track record and history of fulfilling the brand promise you made, then that is no small feat.

Learn more about Rocket XL and they’re cool brand blueprint here.

books, diet, dreams, entertainment, film, food, forgiveness, love, movie, relationships, religion, simplicity

Step 225: The Best Way to Eat Pray Love

Christa Avampato

“In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted. Pleasure cannot be bargained down.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

The long-anticipated movie of a woman traveling through the world looking for delicious food, peace of mind, and love opens in theaters nationwide today. Last week I walked by a swanky home store advertising “get your Eat Pray Love scented candles here” in its windows. Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love, runs an importing business with her new husband. That may explain the commercialization of the film. Still, the merchandising seems like an odd play destined for a less-than-stellar market performance, no matter how high the box office ratings are.

The sad truth is that Eat Pray Love is a well-written book, with lyrical language, rich imagery, and some important insights that, if put to good use, could actually increase people’s happiness. The problem is that it’s been so hyped that most consumers are sick to death of it. And the onslaught of book-related merchandise doesn’t help matters any.

Here’s my suggestion: don’t go to the movie at all. I’m not even sure I’d suggest you read the book at this point. You know how the story goes so it sort of takes the fun out of it. Here’s how you can really live the message of finding your own path, the issue at the heart of the story:

1.) Eat well and enjoy it. Stop mindlessly munching on whatever is within arms reach, enjoy your food with good company, and rather than beating the heck out of yourself for the calories, just exercise more

2.) Pray in your own way. I’m a spiritual person, meaning that the light that is within me honors the light that is within you. Be good to your family, your friends, and your neighbors. Stop asking what the world needs you to do, and just concentrate on doing what brings you joy. That’s where the real goodness is. Recognize that there’s something beyond the here and now, and that we are all intricately and beautifully connected. Honor that connection through service, which is at its essence a divine act.

3.) Love. Forget your past failures in love. Forget the heartache and the tears and the anger and the screwed up behaviors of people who hurt you. Get it all out in the open, let it go, and move on. There’s nothing worse that ruining our next relationship by imbuing it with the problems of the last one. I know it’s hard. I’ve had my heart broken in a million pieces more times than I can count. I’ve got a good family and good friends who help me pick up the pieces and put them back together, and I’m a better person for it, even though it was hell to go through in the first place. Keep loving. The alternative is what causes this world to be such a rough place to live – we shouldn’t make it any worse by carting around our disappointments from one relationship to the next.

And if you really want to know what Elizabeth Gilbert and her journey are all about, watch her TED talk on creativity. In 18 minutes it will inspire you to do something extraordinary, and the world could use a little more of that these days.

The image above depicts Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert in the movie Eat Pray Love, opening today nationwide. I like the sunflowers.

family, happiness, simplicity

Step 200: Getting to Simple

Christa Avampato

“Power is the ability not to have to please.” ~ Elizabeth Janeway, American author and critic

Simplicity is hard work. It involves letting go of preconceived notions, the opinions of others, and every would, could, and should that we encounter daily. A lot of people, products, services, and companies want to complicate our lives; they want to keep us on our toes and on the go for their own purposes. Gaining and maintaining simplicity requires power and willpower.

I am in Florida this week with my family and we’re enjoying a lot of simple fun. Hanging out with the kids, going to the beach tomorrow, easy meals, morning cartoons, and afternoon siestas. Every day this week will feel like Saturday. A few times I’ve caught myself making to-do lists and panicking that this, that, and the other thing need to be done. And they do – but not right now. Chores can, and will, wait.

Even when I get back to New York City life, I’m going to give it my best shot to keep it simple. Complication is easy – it’s everywhere, comes in every flavor, and can be taken up at any time. Simplicity is the harder road, the more challenging goal, but in the end I think it’s the way to more happiness. Just check out the grin on my face above.

The image above is my niece, Lorelei, giving me a kiss to wake me up from a nap I was taking in the car.

education, simplicity

Step 34: Moving Mountains One Stone at a Time

Christa Avampato

“The one who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” ~ Confucius

I went to a second training session with Citizen Schools that focuses on building out our final project ideas along with constructing an idea for the apprenticeship fair where the students will visit each possible apprenticeship and note their top choices for the semester. So now I’ve got the hook and the big prize, I just need to build all of the smaller steps that get us through the 10 week program.

If I think about this project too much, it can seem a little bit daunting. There are a lot of small moving parts to consider, specific content that must be communicated, and the communication methods need to keep an active 12 year old mind engaged. Thank goodness for all of the support offered by Citizen Schools. Out of the gate, it would have been tough to do this as my own independent side project. With the staff and resources from Citizen Schools, that mountain of an apprenticeship still looms large, but now appears to be scalable.

With big projects, I like to take the work involved and chop it up into bite-size pieces. Simplicity is the key: I just need to figure out all of the content I want to convey, and Citizen Schools can help me develop a fun method to the madness. I’ve got a blank slate to my right and a lot of material to teach on my left. With each activity and each lesson, I imagine myself picking up one small stone from the pile and moving it from left to right. Small goals and small victories can and will really add up to something beautiful.

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

clarity, decision-making, happiness, opportunity, simplicity

Step 10: A Place to Go

Christa Avampato

“I learn by going where I have to go.” ~ Theodore Roethke in the Poet’s Corner at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

I keep a wipe board in my apartment that tracks my to-do’s for my projects. This confined space helps me to sort out where and how I’m spending my time and energy. It’s a helpful, simple tool that keeps me on track by giving me a very concrete visual of my priorities. It tells me where I have to go to create the kind of life I want.

In 2010, this chart has been heavily influenced by Innovation Station, my after-school project with Citizen Schools. With Citizen Schools, citizen teachers build the curriculum backwards, starting with the construction of the final project, called a “WOW”, and working the lessons backwards with the final project always in mind. Rather than using the forward-working paradigm of “what comes next?”, I have to start with “what needs to happen right before the WOW?” I decided to try this approach with my wipe board, too. On the far right side I wrote down the goal, and then only included the projects in my life right now that work toward that goal.

This exercise helped in a number of ways:

1.) I have some projects in my life that aren’t serving that goal, and they didn’t make it to the wipe board. These projects have value; they just aren’t the right projects for me given my goals and in comparison to the other projects I have. I also noticed some very clear holes – things I needed to be doing, places I needed to be going, that I didn’t realize before this process.

2.) I breathed a great big sigh of happiness to see how the projects all fit together and support one another. A cohesive plan breeds confidence and conviction.

3.) Having the plan laid out gave me a lot of energy. I spent a lot of time carefully thinking through options and allowing them to play themselves out in my mind while I made some key decisions. With this plan laid out, I freed up the energy that I was using in the decision-making process.

4.) The plan provides me with more down time to be with people. These projects lay out the main interests of my life, and by knowing those interests, I can strengthen relationships I already have and start new ones based on commonalities. I am always inspired by feats that people can accomplish through collaboration. Having a very clear sense of what we want to accomplish helps us to meet others who have those same goals – our kindred spirits.

5.) The wipe board gives me a place to go. There will always be new opportunities and new projects that will appear. It can be hard to say no. With a clear sense of what I want, I can go to the board and see where the new opportunity fits. If it doesn’t fit, then the decision process is made that much easier. It’s an effective sorting method.

Clarity of mind gives us a wonderful sense of freedom, a radiance that we can feel and that others can see. By working toward clarity, decisions become easier. The tough work of getting to clarity is well-worth the reward of simplicity.

change, nature, simplicity

My Year of Hopefulness – Sunsets and Moments

Christa Avampato

The brilliant women over at Owning Pink made one of my recent posts to their blog their homepage this morning. I’m honored and humbled. Thanks to Keith for inspiring this post. From the comments on the original Owning Pink blog, it helped a lot of people. It’s an amazing gift to be able to write things that help others – especially since this writing helps me so much.

“On Saturday afternoon as I was walking back to my apartment, I came around the corner and saw this amazing sunset, one of the most beautiful I had ever seen. I raced upstairs to my apartment, grabbed by camera, and jumped out the window to snap a photo of it. And you know what? It didn’t work. No matter what settings I changed on my camera, I just couldn’t get the photo of the sunset to look the way it actually was. My eyes saw something so much more beautiful than my camera could capture and hold.

So all I could do was stand there on the roof, basking in the glory of all those colors. As the sky turned darker, the sunset got more and more beautiful. The colors evolved and mingled and every moment was more incredible than the moment before. Our lives are like that, too, so long as we just let them unfold in their own time, in their own way.

With every experience, our lives grow richer, each one adding its own little dab of color. I know that all of the things I’m working on now are little dabs, and they might not seem like they belong together just yet. I know that they will find a way to work together, and that eventually the art of my life will emerge. That will happen for all of us. It’s not a matter of if, just a matter of when. Our only job is to show up every day, for ourselves and for the people we love, and let life unfold moment by moment.

Today someone sent me an amazing video from Radio Lab about moments. http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/08/14/16-moments/

I love it so much that I’ve played it over several times now. It features the moments of every day life, mostly things we take for granted. As I watched the video I became even more aware that these little moments, the things we don’t or can’t capture and hold, are the building blocks of our lives. While mostly simple and ordinary this is the stuff of our days. It reminded me that there is always time and cause for celebration.

In what ways can you slow things down, just a little? What is there to notice? How might it change the way you live, love, and celebrate?

Watching it all unfold,
Christa”

happiness, home, peace, simplicity

My Year of Hopefulness – Living With Less

Christa Avampato

My friend, Laura, and I have made a pact of simplicity, a promise to keep each other on the path of less is more. My apartment’s furniture consists of a yoga mat, my friend, Jamie’s, air mattress, and a couple of IKEA plastic chairs that I plan to use on my little patio. It’s sort of like camping indoors. I lie awake at night staring out the windows at the beautifully illuminated view, and I say a little prayer in the hopes that I will always feel this content.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been happier with the decor of an apartment. In my old apartment, I was in such a rush to get it “perfect”. I actually made that statement out loud several times and each time it felt wrong. Now that I think back on that old apartment, there was always something just a bit off about it. I felt shut in despite all of the space. Now with less room in my new apartment and fewer belongings I feel a freedom that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before at home.

On Tuesday I saw my first sunset from my patio. I face west toward the Hudson River and my view is dotted with those beautiful water towers that are found everywhere in New York City if we turn our gaze upward. The sky was a deep ruby red and lined with puffy clouds that took on a dusty blue hue as the sun sunk down behind New Jersey. There’s an odd, comfortable feeling of belonging in this new space. I can’t explain it except to say that it feels just right, imperfect and unfinished.
My life prior to this most recent move was too full. I felt too obligated, too burdened, a little claustrophobic and over-committed. I just didn’t know how to simplify, how to free up my energy and my time. Now that I am through the stress of the most recent events, I am searching for every bright side possible. I’m too grateful for today, for every day, to not look for the bright sides. I’m turning over every stone to make sure I find as much happiness as possible.
In the past few days, I’ve found myself more relaxed and at ease, reluctant to rush or buy much of anything, reluctant to give away my time and space for anything less than those people and things that I truly, truly treasure. It’s a sweet feeling to be surrounded only with what fills us up with joy.
family, mother, simplicity

My Year of Hopefulness – My Mother Makes Room

Christa Avampato

“The only real elegance is in the mind; if you’ve got that, the rest really comes from it.” ~ Diana Vreeland

Today my mom began the slow and sometimes painful process of emptying. My mom is an extremely skilled collector, meaning that she never, ever gets rid of anything or anyone. She likes to be surrounded, with things, with people. It gives her comfort and she’s always had in mind that eventually someday she’d get to that magazine, or that book, or that craft project or conversation she was meaning to have. And someday she’ll get to some of them, but truthfully, she won’t ever get through all of it. There is 35 years of stuff in her house and today it was time for a good chunk of that stuff to go.

I’ve been thinking about this process of emptying, wiping the slate clean, and beginning again. It’s a task best done often and thoroughly. It’s amazing what piles up in our homes, lives, and minds. Even in our writing. I’ve tried to approach my own process of emptying with an attitude of elegance. Consider modern design, of anything really. Clean lines, simplicity, removing the unnecessary so the necessary can speak. I’m trying not to think of it as throwing out, but making room to breath and to move.

While on the surface all this emptying sounds like it would be a great relief, as if a huge weight has been lifted from us, I must confess that in some ways it is a bitter sweet relief. My mom had to let go of a lot of memories in order to make that room in her home. She had to recognize that certain parts of her life are gone. It’s a brave thing she did – to let go. There are so many people who never do that, who can never face up to the fact that life is moving by at a very quick pace, and that sometimes there are some things that must be let go of. We can’t possibly hang on to it all.

My mom is an elegant woman – she has handled far more than her fair share of obstacles and disappointments. She’s suffered huge losses of many things and people, losing some after many hard fought struggles, and through it all she worked hard to keep a face of elegance and grace. She got through it by putting her mind in order and saying that right now she just needs to get from A to B, and tomorrow she’ll consider getting to C. We were her first priority always, no matter what, so I guess that made some decisions easier to make. She was never going to do anything that wasn’t good for her kids. She is by every definition an elegant mother.

So now as she enters the autumn of her life with a less full home in every sense, she has the room and space to decide how to place what remains. And though now it may look like there are unnatural holes and pockets, my guess is that she will find a way to make it all fit together. By removing what was no longer needed, she uncovered and rediscovered lost treasures and memories and ideas, things that will enrich her life going forward. It will just take some time to get used to.

Africa, creativity, innovation, new product development, simplicity, social entrepreneurship

My Year of Hopefulness – Clay Pots

Christa Avampato

I was witness to a conversation today that round and round in circle so many times that I began to feel dizzy. The two parties couldn’t get out of their own way, despite the fact that both were seeking a common goal. The more they talked, the more complicated and convoluted the conversation became. It was a welcome relief to then dive into the book The Pursuit of Elegance and learn about Mohammed Bah Abba’s clay pots.

Recognizing that subsistence farmers in Nigeria needed a way to keep fresh produce from spoiling so quickly, he took a common object in Nigeria, clay pots, and combined with a little middle school science to build a refrigeration device. Abba put one clay pot inside another larger clay pot, packing wet sand in between the two. Then, he placed a wet towel over the inner pot and let the science of evaporation do its work. As the water evaporates, it cools the inner pot, and any contents stored inside that pot. Farmers could preserve their produce longer to increase their sales at the market, raising income for those farmers and their families, spurring all of the positive side effects in a community as wealth increases.

So simple. Clay pot, sand, basic science principles. When cobbled together by Abba’s creative mind and sense of empathy, these three things transformed a community. Abba’s business has expanded throughout Nigeria and into other Africa countries. Abba saw a problem, took what he had, and crafted an elegant solution that could be made available to many at a very low cost. So simple, it make us wonder why it wasn’t thought of earlier.

Abba’s story made me re-consider the conversation I witnessed earlier today. It made me consider the importance of clarity of vision and the value of a solution that combines design and function in a simple, elegant fashion. And the equation to get to this type of solution isn’t complex. Ask three questions: What are we trying to solve for? What assets do we have available to us? How can we use those assets to transform what we’ve got into what we need?

The photo above can be found at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/mohammed_bah_ab.php