Category: Spring

change, Spring

Step 66: Spring is on the Way

Christa Avampato

“Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.” ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

My friend, Amanda, got me interested in a daily blog called hip tranquil chick. It’s written by Amanda’s yoga teacher from her time in D.C. The quote above appeared today in the newsletter with the following question: “How would you like to emerge this Spring?”

This weekend New York City received the gift of 50 degree weather and buckets of sunshine. It was a little nippy in the shade, though those few afternoon hours that comprise the warmest parts of the day gave us a hint of what’s in store for Spring. I turned my face up to the sun today, and it felt like that was the first time we’d ever met.

I took myself over to Riverside Park. When it’s nice outside, I spend hours there watching the soccer leagues practice, reading a book, and listening to my ipod. I like to watch the world go by in that tiny corner of space. I heard snippets of conversations, watched friends and lovers and families pass by laughing, and secretly I held a tiny bit of jealousy for all the dog owners enjoying life with their canine pals. At that point I reminded myself that this summer I’m going to over to the local ASPCA to rescue a pup of my own.

As I looked out over the Hudson, I thought about that question, “How would I like to emerge this Spring?” And then very quickly the answer that followed was, “I don’t know.” I was reminded of my yoga teacher, Johanna, when she described how she came to yoga 6 years ago. She had been through a rough time, and her career as a dancer had ended due to an injury. She came to yoga for answers, and at first the only answer she found was, “I don’t know.” But in that unknown, she had the opportunity to re-invent herself, to re-invent her career and her place in the world. Within “I don’t know” there is a great freedom that exists. We open ourselves up to the world, to all of the energy around us, taking it in, and giving it the chance to transform our hearts and minds. Who knows what lies around the bend as Spring approaches.

I smiled at this thought of the unknown, of the treasures that lie in wait once our friend, Spring, arrives in full-force. I’m not sure how I will emerge or how my life will change once the buds are on the trees and the daffodils make their way to the surface of the gardens in Riverside Park. I do know that whatever those changes are, I will be ready to receive them, smiling.

art, career, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, Spring

My Year of Hopefulness – Spring arrives

Christa Avampato

Spring arrived yesterday with a last little flurry of snow. I was just finishing up my Friday morning shift at God’s Love We Deliver when I looked out the window to see flakes swirling in a mad rush to wave one last good-bye to the long, cold winter. And it was Winter’s nod to us to remind us that “I’ll be back”. I laughed as I thought about that dialogue between Spring and Winter. Nature’s changing of the guard. 


By all accounts I am a Winter person. I love my sweaters, jeans, and boots. Walking in the park or down 5th Avenue when it’s snowing is one of my favorite activities. Usually Winter reminds me of rest and healing, a time of contemplation, reflection, and preparation. Not this year. I have wanted Winter to end from the day it started. These past few months I’ve been praying for the end of the cold like never before. 

This morning as I stepped outside I felt a little lighter (though still cold thanks to the 32 degree temperature). There definitely was a shift in the air from Friday morning. I imagined the ice that’s surrounded us for 4 months cracking and shattering under the gentle gaze of the warm sunlight. The very tiny seeds that we planted last fall are beginning to inch upward, reaching for their stage. It’s almost their time. 

Now nearly three months into my writing, researching, and reading daily about hope, I’m ready to do something with all of these ideas I’ve been considering and shaping about my career and my life. It was a far longer process than I thought it would be. My very simple idea to do something in the social entrepreneurship space has been whittled down to something that looks more like a recognizable figure, though not yet fully formed. I consider how every sculptor starts with a mound of clay, slab of marble, or block of ice, knowing that with patience, passion, and hard work a masterpiece will emerge, eventually. 

In one of my college art history classes, I remember reading something about Donatello’s agonizing work style. There are accounts of him in his studio hammering away at the marble to create his next statue and screaming at it “speak, damn you, speak!” Though I’m not really at that level, I understand that desire to work away on the block so that the fully formed piece will step into the light and show itself. 

I think about that image, that metaphor of a sculptor, as I walk in the park, write, and adjust my idea for starting a social enterprise. In the light of Spring it seems to be taking shape more clearly. With every conversation and experience, every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper article I read and write, I get a tiny bit of information of how to shape my idea. And as I gather up all those tiny bits, I begin to see a vision that’s clearer and more reflective of who I am and who I’d like to be.