business, career, choices, decision-making

Leap: Is It Time to Specialize? Your Ideas Wanted!

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

Throughout the chaotic economic environment over the last 5 years, I have championed Generalists. I have taken pride in being one of them, in touting our expertise as people who can and do wear any hat. I love a vertical learning curve; I crave the opportunity to look at a seemingly impossible scenario and dismantle it bit by bit.

During my recent vacation to Florida, I devoured the book Yes, Chef, the autobiography of chef Marcus Samuelsson. The book is an incredible adventure story and his determination is center-stage throughout the story. From his teenage years, he was determined to be a world-renowned chef. His focus is inspiring, and it’s clear that this focus drives his phenomenal, though not always predictable, success. He’s very honest about the low points of his life and career, and he candidly describes his tremendous sacrifices for his work.

When I began the book, I was experiencing some twinges of concern over my freelance work. I was pitching a lot, and the slow cadence of August was frustrating me in the last days of the month. Reading Marcus’s book got me so hyped up that I wanted to jump out of my seat and keep on pitching. (And as I hoped and expected, September has picked up with a number of cool and interesting options in full-time and freelance work.)

His story also made me question my Generalist persona. Some people know me as a business strategist and product developer. Some people see me more as a writer. And still others look to me as a yoga and meditation teacher, as well as a nonprofit founder. Truth be told, I’m all of those things. I love them equally, and I have no desire to give any of them up for the sake of the others.

But should I? Would I be better served professionally and personally by solely focusing on one of these skill sets? Or should I concentrate my efforts in some other way (for example, if I went in the direction of health, should I work as a business strategist for health and wellness companies, while writing about health, and teaching yoga)?

I’m still entirely undecided on this front. It feels like an enormous decision and I don’t see a clear path as of yet. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, advice?

forgiveness, sadness, safety, yoga

Leap: How to Forgive – A 9/11 Lesson

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” ~ Paul Boese

While I was at Elena Brower’s 9/11 memorial yoga class yesterday, this quote kept running through my mind. Is it possible for us to forgive the horrific acts of 9/11, and if so, what would it take?

Forgiveness is one of the hardest things we can do, and it’s not for lack of trying or wanting to be more forgiving. We’ve made forgiveness more difficult for ourselves because too often we think that to forgive means to forget, even though the two have no business sitting alongside one another. The past cannot be undone. We cannot unsee, unlearn, or unhear even the most painful things, even the things we wish we could erase.

But here’s the trick: we learn from all of them, particularly the ones that are difficult for us. And just because we extend forgiveness, it doesn’t mean that we forget the lessons of our pain. It doesn’t mean that we go back to the way things were before we were hurt. It doesn’t mean that we lose the right to feel loss, sorrow, or grief over the things that have harmed us. It gives us permission to feel all of this, and then some.

Forgiveness means that we give ourselves permission to carry on unburdened. We give ourselves permission to smile again, to feel joy, to part the curtains and let the light in again. Forgiveness means that we release what’s heavy and dark from our past to clear space for the blessings that are now upon us. Forgiveness isn’t about “them” and what they did; it’s about us and what we will do going forward.

change, learning

Leap: Listen, Learn, and Change

Christa Avampato

“When you listen, it’s amazing what you can learn. When you act on what you’ve learned, it’s amazing what you can change.” ~ Audrey McLaughlin

We spend so much time asking for a sign of where to go and what to do, and yet the signs are all around us. The Universe is constantly whispering to us, providing us with wisdom, if only we will stop, sit, and listen. It’s not any more complicated than that but you can’t spell “listen” without “silent”. Stop the chatter, even just for a moment, by committing to learn and soon you’ll find yourself buried in inspiration, hope, and the knowledge that it all begins with you.

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.

goals, time

Leap: The View From Where You Are Now

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” ~ Lao Tzu

We are programmed to think that what we have right now is not enough. We need things that are bigger, better, faster, shinier, newer. It keeps us striving.

I love striving. I love setting a goal and exceeding it. As I get older, I’m also learning to enjoy where I am right now. I see how much further I have to go. I see the mountain before me and I’m excited to scale it. But I don’t want to miss the glorious views along the way. I want to take it all in and be grateful, content in this moment that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be.

change, choices, creativity, New York City

Leap: The Best Way to Build Cities

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Each detail in a city should reflect that human beings are sacred.” ~ Enrique Penalosa

If I say “city”, what’s the first word that comes to your mind?

Skyscrapers? Concrete? Traffic? Crowded? Busy?

What if the answers were more like “Parks”, “Community”, “Opportunity”, or dare I suggest “Ease”?

Why is this second set of answers so funny? Why can’t we have cities that are beacons of a peaceful, productive, and harmonious way of life? I’m not convinced of the impossibility of this wish. I think in a city we can have the very best of the natural world and the human made world. I believe that the two can co-exist.

How?

It is up to us to make it so. We have to choose it and choose leaders who believe in it. City life is becoming the American way of life, the global way of life. Over 50% of the world’s people live in cities and to make this trend tenable, we must transform city living into healthy, happy, and sustainable living for all people who choose it. The answer is in the details – the green space, housing, transportation, etc. – and those details should honor our creativity, ingenuity, and generosity.

election, politics, President

Leap: The Democratic National Convention Fired Me Up!

Christa Avampato

After watching the speeches of the Democratic National Convention, I am fired up even more than I was in 2008. Last night after President Obama’s speech, I opened my wallet, which I do only after intense consideration, to make the largest political contribution I’ve ever made. Then I opened my calendar, which I guard even more closely than my wallet, to give my time and talent to move us forward as a volunteer for the campaign. I can’t spend these next two months before the election just observing and commenting. I am making the time to act.

No matter what your political persuasions, the Democratic National Convention did exactly what it was supposed to do – it motivated people to do something. To talk about the issues, to stand up for what they believe in, to start creating the lives they want to live rather than listing the myriad of reasons of why their lives are less than they want them to be.

Now is the time – take a stand and do something about it. What kind of country do you want to live in and what are you doing to create it?

To volunteer your time to this Presidential election:
Obama – Biden
Romney – Ryan

To donate to the campaigns:
Obama – Biden
Romney – Ryan

health, inspiration, yoga

Leap: I am Manduka’s Yogi of the Week

Christa Avampato

I am so honored and excited to share the news that Manduka, a sustainable yoga products company, made me their yogi of the week. My yoga story is posted on their website and Facebook page header. I shared my yoga story of healing with Manduka to inspire others and to explain how that healing story provided the impetus for the start of Compass Yoga, the nonprofit I founded to bring the therapeutic benefits of yoga to more people in more places, regardless of their financial and socioeconomic circumstances.

Here is the text of my yoga story as it appears on the Manduka site:

Meet Christa.

Christa used to manage Broadway shows for a living. That’s how she found yoga.

A musician working on one of the shows also happened to teach Iyengar yoga, and could sense the stress and pressure that Christa was under. He ended up offering her private instruction for close to 6 months – all he asked in return was that she ‘pay it forward’ to someone else in need.

Christa took that request and ran with it. She has opened a non-profit organization called Compass Yoga, teaching free yoga classes in New York City to people who don’t otherwise have the opportunity, or the funds, to begin a yoga practice.

This past spring, Christa went on her first trip to India. It was an experience that broke her down and built her back up completely new, and more powerful. She now refers to her life in two eras: her life before India, and now her life after India. She returned home with a new-found gratitude for all of the opportunities she has available to her, and feels more determined in her purpose to spread the benefits of yoga and meditation to more people.

Yoga has truly been therapeutic for Christa. It has helped her to work through her father’s passing, and to let go of the guilt she still carried from their rocky relationship. Yoga taught her that we don’t have to wait for healing, it is within us and available to us all the time. We have all the answers and all the knowledge we need; we just need to tap into it.

We loved learning about Christa.

Practice On.

–Manduka

change, fear, time

Leap: The 3 Year Anniversary of My Apartment Building Fire

Christa Avampato
My friend Blair sent this to me and said “thought of you………. you ARE fire!” How right she is.

3 years ago today, I scrambled down 3 flights of stairs through blinding black smoke after a fire in my apartment building burned through 3 floors and was on its way into my kitchen. I was one person when I ran from the wreckage and another person when I emerged on the street. In an instant, my life and perspective was forever changed. I didn’t know that at the time but with the gift of 3 years of hindsight, I see how critical that fire was on my path.

It was the turning point. It was a new birthday. It gave me the courage to eventually make the Leap into a life of my own design.

When I quit my corporate job 2 months ago to craft my own career through Chasing Down the Muse, I really quit being afraid. In that instant, I became the person that fire made me become. Heat is a tool of transformation, and in a very visceral way, that fire was a spiritual kiln for my soul. It left an indelible mark on me and I am grateful for it.

In the past 2 months, many people have asked me how they could do the same thing. Here’s my 1 simple piece of advice to everyone who wants to take a Leap of any kind: dig down, way down deep to your core, and ask yourself what happens if everything falls away tomorrow. Is where you are where you hoped to be once this game was all over. If tomorrow the book of your life has the two words “The End”, has it been a ride you’re happy with?

I faced this very grim possibility 3 years ago and my answer was a resounding “No”. I knew something had to change; I knew a lot of somethings had to change and that it would take time. I had to get going. I needed to create a new direction.

I thought I was scrambling down 3 flights of stairs but what I was really doing was crawling through the window of possibility toward my very best self. In that moment, my Leap was set in motion. To quote Sondheim, “that’s where I began being what I can.”

art, blogging, creativity, theatre, time

Leap: Why Create Art?

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” ~ Edgar Degas

I believe in the deep healing of art. I didn’t always believe that. I knew it was healing for me but for a long time I thought my work in the arts was frivolous, self-indulgent, and a waste of time. How time changes and teaches us!

In the 8 years since I left professional theatre management, I have not missed it. The impossibly long hours, the stress and pressure, the constant hustle. Even when you have a job in that business, you’re always looking for work because a gig is gone in the blink of an eye. But I miss it now, in a very deep and passionate way.

More and more, I have thought about trying my hand at it again now that I have a bit more business experience under my belt and a few more lines of time around my eyes. This time I won’t be creating the environment for art for my own sake, but for the sake of others.