career, entrepreneurship, SXSW, work

Leap: The SXSW Panel Picker is Live and I’d Love Your Support

Christa Avampato

SXSW proposal time has arrived! I submitted my idea several weeks ago and its now live for your viewing (and voting!) pleasure. Anyone can vote. You will need to do a quick account set up if you’ve never voted before, and then all you need to do is hit that little thumbs up icon next to the any ideas you like.

Just click here to see my 1 minute video as well as a description of my presentation proposal “How SXSW Made Me Quit My Job to Work for Myself”. And then if you’re so inclined, click that thumbs up icon to the left of my presentation description to turn it green. I would love your support and thanks for your consideration!

creative process, creativity, determination, dreams, failure, imagination, success, time

Leap: Why It’s a Good Thing to Feel Like You Want to Give Up

Christa Avampato
All isn’t lost. You just need a break.

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” ~ Carl Rogers

Are you thinking of quitting? Throwing in the towel on a dream you’ve worked hard to actualize? Great. You’re exactly where you need to be. You’re just about to have a break through.

Be a softie
There’s a lot of praise for people who persevere, who never show weakness, who remain tough and steadfast in the face of every obstacle. If we constantly put on a brave face, we miss out on an enormously valuable human experience. If we never break down, we never find out what we’re really made of. If we never fall, we never build the strength to get back up and try again. And that muscle of determination is hard-won and invaluable.

You have to give up to move ahead
I’m always inspired by the number of famous breakthroughs that have happened after a nap. In sleep, we surrender the conscious wielding of the mind. We literally let our imaginations run wild, no more barriers, no more little voice that says “oh that’s ridiculous.” In sleep, all possibilities are on the table. If anything is possible in sleep, then it’s no wonder that it’s the perfect breeding ground for breakthroughs.

Carl Rogers’ famous quote about change holds true in the land of imagination as much as it does in every day living. When we accept that we may not be able to crack a challenge that we’ve wrestled with for a long time, then the answer rises up. And that answer is usually so startlingly simple that we often berate ourselves for not seeing it sooner.

But here’s the rub: as we’re pursuing the answer, it’s also pursuing us. Challenges want to be met. Puzzles want to be solved. If we don’t stop, drop, and listen, then we risk chasing one another around forever. So if you’ve given it your all and tried to chase after an answer to no avail, go ahead and give up for a while. Get quiet. Let it go and let inspiration knock on the door when it’s good and ready. That way you’ll be rested enough to welcome it when it arrives.

education, productivity, technology

Leap: Me and My New iPad – It Had Me at “Tap”

Christa Avampato
Phineas and iPad, both in sleep mode

Finally, I am the proud and more-productive-than-ever owner of an iPad. I fell in love at first tap.

Why did I wait so long?
Contrary to my tech loving nature and my job as a product developer (sometimes of mobile products), I am not an early adopter for 2 reasons:

1.) I never buy into hype because whatever device of the moment that is being hocked by a mass amount of people usually disappoints

2.) I’m frugal (read: cheap). If I’m going to spend my hard earned cash on something, it’s going to be worthwhile, something I love, and the very best deal I can get.

So why did I take the plunge now?
Like most big purchases, this was one that I thought through carefully, meaning I put it through my OCD checklist lovingly entitled, “Christa, why the hell do you think you need to buy this?”After several rounds of this sport, I made the sound and measured decision that this iPad is a fantastic investment for me personally and professionally for wide variety of reasons:

1.) My sister, Weez, teases me that if I could find a way to get paid a good salary to be a student forever, I would likely never leave a college library. Bingo! It’s my lifelong dream to be in school as much as possible. Learning is my addiction. Unfortunately, I haven’t cracked the nut yet on professional studenthood, but the iPad is getting me part of the way there. From Anatomy to Italian to painting to piano, there’s an app or a website with gorgeous visuals just waiting for me to show up and use it.

2.) Now that I’m working for myself, I spend a decent amount of my time in meetings at various locations across the city. I’ve been carting my Mac around with me at the expense of my shoulders to take advantage of downtown throughout the day. And that Mac is much heavier than I ever thought it was. I love being able to work remotely but I need to be able to be remote without a busted shoulder.

3.) Convenience and productivity when traveling. I hop on a plane to take a minimum of 6 round trips per year. That’s a lot of flying, a lot of packing, and a fair amount of schlepping. I find a lot of inspiration in this travel and it will be great to record this inspiration more easily in a variety of forms.

My iPad will get its first travel test run when Phin and I jet off to Florida at the end of the month for some fun in the sun with my favorite people on the planet (my fam.) Until then, we’ll be about town snapping photos, learning Italian, and making art. I’m prepared to be amazed. Off we go into a whole new age of productivity!

teaching, yoga

Leap: I Gave My First Mini Yoga Therapeutics Teacher Training

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

For the past year, I’ve focused much of my yoga teaching on therapeutics with most of my students having some form of physical or mental health challenge. It’s been such a gratifying experience to work with these students that I’ve thought a lot about how to leverage my skills to get these teachings to a wider audience. Two ideas have emerged: I could teach therapeutics to yoga teachers and I could teach the staff at hospitals, healthcare agencies, assisted living facilities, etc. to provide yoga to the people they work with.

This week, I took my first step with the first option and taught a mini yoga therapeutics class to a teacher from Italy who wants to teach therapeutic yoga in her home city of Torino. She reached out to me online during the Spring after finding my website and asked if I could teach her what I know about teaching therapeutic yoga. Her boyfriend came to New York City for a month-long cinematography course at NYU and she took the trip as well with the intent of enhancing her yoga teaching. She spent 9 hours of one-on-one time with me to learn therapeutics and then spent a half day for four weeks at the Sivananda Yoga Center. This was my first time teaching a teacher how to teach.

It’s a vastly different skill to teach teachers about teaching than it is to teach a traditional class. The depth of knowledge must be deeper because the teachers are going to ask very specific questions; their curiosity takes the content to a whole new level. You know exactly how you’re doing because they tell you. And with the desire to train the trainer, the responsibility is heavier as well. You need to keep the teachers safe and you also need to help them keep their students safe. The stakes are high but the potential for impact is high as well.

I’m really proud to say that she loved the training and that I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent teaching a teacher. She is bright, eager, and passionate about healing. I am so excited to hear how everything unfolds for her when she returns to Torino and starts to use this training with her students. I have a feeling this won’t be the last time I share this practice that I love so much with a teacher who cares about it as much as I do. Another door opens.

change, courage, creative process, meditation, time, yoga

Leap: Only Actions Create The Future

Christa Avampato

“Actions are the seed of fate. Deeds grow into destiny.” ~ Harry S Truman

There’s a pesky saying that travels around the yoga world from time to time. There’s a call to stop doing. The seed of this sentiment comes from a good place. There’s a lot of value in stillness, in quietude. When we get quiet, our mind’s eye sees more clearly. When the chatter subsides, we’re able to solve challenges with more confidence and insight. In peace, we gain direction.

This place of stillness can feel so good that we are reluctant to come back down. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could just stay in that meditative state for a good long while? Yes, and no. The power of yoga and its many benefits make little difference on that 12 square feet of sticky surface. Their value comes to bear when we leave our mats, when we go out there into that great big world and actually do something with our clear minds and renewed sense of purpose. It’s good to stop doing for a bit, but eventually doing is what life is about. To have an impact, we have to take action with a clear sense of focus and direction.

Think of all of the historical figures whom you admire. My list is topped by people like Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa. It’s filled with people who are writers, artists, musicians, innovators, inventors, and scientists. I admire them because of what they did. Their actions inspire me every day to show up in this world in the best way that I can so that I have a hand in crafting a world I want to live in.

I’m all for rest and relaxation, but I’m also all for making that rest and relaxation purposeful. Purpose is found in the actions we take with our hearts, minds, and spirits united. We can’t think, nor meditate or yoga, our way into a better and brighter future. Ultimately, we have to do something with the peace that comes from what we practice on our mats.

art, community, creativity, theatre, writing

Leap: The Art of Collaboration and My Interview for PBS Mediashift with Jim Nicola, Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop

Christa Avampato
Once the Musical, a New York Theatre Workshop production, won 8 Tony Awards this year.

I am thrilled to announce that an article I wrote based about the collaboration process at New York Theatre Workshop is now posted on the inspiring PBS site MediaShift. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Jim Nicola, Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop, who made me believe in the magic and power of theatre again. As you may know, I spent the early years of my professional career as a manager of Broadway shows and national tours. I’ve been out of the business since 2004 and until I interviewed Jim, I hadn’t missed the process. Now I’m reconsidering how I might slowly ease back into that wacky and wonderful world of professional theatre.

And with this publication I must thank the editor of MediaShift, Amanda Hirsch, for her continuous support of my writing. I am humbled and honored to now have the chance to work for her on a project that is near and dear to her heart. Amanda and I met because of this blog. She was moving to New York City from DC with her husband, Jordan, and she was searching for people writing about creative living in New York. My blog popped up in her search.

The internet has such a lovely way of tangling together fates and futures. I recently went back to that first introductory email that Amanda sent to me over 3 years ago. True to form, she closed the email with “keep writing.” I’m glad I followed her advice and encouragement.

Let me know what you think of the article on MediaShift!

time

Leap: What Is The Point of August?

Christa Avampato

Have you been thinking of packing it in for the remainder of the month and heading to the beach? Or at least wishing that were possible? Me, too.

Because of its heat and slow demeanor, I’ve often thought that the only good use of August is vacation. This year, I have a new perspective and motivation for this lackluster month. Some people say it’s all in the timing. (David Ives wrote an entire play celebrating this idea.) I think it’s actually all in the planning. With the minimal demands of August, use this time wisely to get yourself ready for a busy Fall that lies in wait just around the corner.

After Labor Day, people get back in the swing of things as we turn our attention to the homestretch of the year and possibly toward our plans for early next year. Though we may no longer be tied to a school calendar, the school year schedule is firmly cemented in our behavior. It’s a time for starting-up and to start strong, you need a plan of action.

Here are some ideas to make August as useful as possible:

1.) Make up a list of 5 people you’d like to work with. Take advantage of the back-to-school sales and buy some professional stationery that conveys your personality. You read that right – actual paper on which you will use a pen to create a hand-written note to each of these people. I am as big a fan of electronic communications as anyone but a hand-written card to your dream collaborators is a novel move that gets noticed. I’ve been doing this for years and it’s been an effective avenue for breaking the ice. Recently, I set up a very exciting connection that I’ll be telling you about in the next few weeks, all thanks to a hand-written note in which I enclosed my business card (also printed on paper.)

2.) Work on a fun project (or 2 or 3) for your portfolio. My friend and collaborator, Michael, is the Founder of Third Place Media. He has filled up his plate this month with fun projects that he enjoys, enhance his skills, and expand his portfolio. Quite an effective use of August time. I’m excited to see what September holds for him, and for the rest of us engaging in builds this summer.

3.) Rest and rejuvenate. What? Didn’t I just say August should be used to plan? I sure did, and that means making sure you are in tip-top shape for the Fall – mind, body, and spirit. And there are no shortage of ways to do this: read a book, learn something new, draw, paint, go for a run along the water on a sunny day, hang out with your pup in a beautiful park, whip up a new recipe thanks to all of the amazing produce now in season, got to an art show, listen to live music, see a play.

4.) Use this down time to seek out sources of inspiration and relaxation. The more relaxed and inspired you are, the more inspiring you’ll be to others and nothing attracts busy, helpful bees more than inspiring honey. Need ideas for inspiration. For ideas, see #3 above.

5.) Connect with old friends and make some new ones over tea, cocktails, or a meal at your favorite sidewalk cafe. Your network will take you everywhere you want to be.

Here’s to a productive August that makes for a successful Fall for all of us!

adventure, time

Leap: Don’t Let Time Slip By You

Christa Avampato
Big Ben, London. Image from Pinterest.

“To be human is to be aware of the passage of time; no concept lies closer to the core of our consciousness.” ~ Dan Falk

August 7th?! We have less than 5 months left in 2012.

Every year, time is picking up speed, or rather I am becoming even more acutely aware of its passing. Time has always been at the forefront of my mind for several reasons. My father and 3 of my 4 grandparents died when I was very young. When people responsible for my very existence left this plane, it made the reality of my own mortality a very palpable thing.

I’ve come up against my own mortality several times in my short life. In college, I was robbed at knife point in the subway station on the University of Pennsylvania campus. In 2009, I was almost trapped inside my apartment building after a fire broke out on the first floor. The only things that saved me were my unconscious intuition that something was very wrong with my kitchen floor heaving up and down (the fire was raging in the apartment below, unbeknownst to me at the time) and my will to live beyond age 33. In 2010, I was on a flight when my plane was struck my lightning. We made a frightening emergency landing in Syracuse, New York, and once we hit the tarmac, the wing of the plane promptly fell off.

How’s that for a series of wake-up calls? Universe to Christa – LIFE IS SHORT!

Once you realize your own sense of mortality, one of two things happen: you either go into a deep sense of denial or you realize that you better make the most out of every single moment because the next moment is not guaranteed. By some great miracle I was born without even a hint of the denial gene, so I had the latter reaction. Once you stare death in the face several times over, and live to tell about it, there isn’t much that’s going to scare you away from doing exactly what you want to do with your time.

This causes me to have a trait that people either love or hate – I call it as I see it and play it as it lies. I’m not saying I’m right, but I’m always honest and try very hard to remain true to that honesty while upholding the rights of all people to believe something different. I don’t beat around the bush in any area of my life. I believe in ripping off a band-aid when it’s outlived its purpose. I don’t have time to live any other way.

And you don’t either. No matter how long our lives are, in the grand scheme of things they’re very short. Whether you realize it or not, time is ticking away and your opportunity to have an impact goes right along with it. Time is a resource you can’t buy and once it’s used, it cannot be replenished. It’s the most precious thing you have; use it to the best of your ability. Make it matter.

creativity

Leap: You Need a Personal Mission Statement

Christa Avampato
“What’s your mission?” Image from Pinterest

Every organization, nonprofit and for-profit, has a mission statement. That mission statement succinctly tells the world what the organization does, what it cares about, and why it matters. Every decision, from the monumental to the mundane, draws its inspiration and motivation from that mission. It rallies people together into a cohesive community.

You need one, too. So how do you get one? First, look up. There’s something magical about gazing skyward that helps us to realize our true potential. With your gaze turned up, answer these questions:

1.) What’s the one sentence that underlies everything you do?
2.) What are the actions you take to support your mission?

Now tell the world about it!

Here is my mission statement at Chasing Down the Muse:

I work with people who are and want to be at the very top of their chosen fields.

As a product developer and business strategist, I collaborate with organizations and entrepreneurs to help them create products, services, events, capabilities, and programs that make the world a better place.

As a yoga and meditation teacher, I teach classes and workshops to individuals and groups to enhance performance and creativity, build efficiency and confidence, and reduce stress.

As a writer, I research and write stories to inspire, encourage, and support good people doing good work.

Though I live in New York City, I am not limited by geography and work with people across the globe, virtually and in-person.

Click here to see more information on my work.

courage, dreams, love

Leap: Small Consistent Acts of Courage and Love Make for a Better World

Christa Avampato

“In life, it is never the big battle, the big moment, the big speech, the big election. That does not change things. What changes things is every day, getting up and rendering small acts of service and love beyond that what’s expected of you or required of you.” ~ Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark and 2012 Stanford graduation speaker

You have the desire to do something big with your life. You have massive dreams and hopes for yourself and those you love. You want to rise to your potential, leave your own indelible mark on the world, and make a lasting contribution to humanity. I get it; I want to do the same.

Here’s the trick: your mark isn’t made by one single act. It’s not even made with 1,000 acts. It’s made every single day. The key to making your mark and accomplishing those big dreams has everything to do with consistency. Every time you go somewhere and do something with your whole heart, you transmit that love to everyone around you. Every time you demonstrate dedication and commitment to something that matters to you, we feel it and are inspired by it.

There are millions of ways to make a difference. There is no shortage of challenges and difficulties in the world that are crying out for smart solutions. And the sooner you identify your way to make a difference and give yourself over to it, the sooner this world will be a bit more like the world you want it to be. Your moment to begin is now. We’re all counting on you and rooting for you.