Christa Avampato's Blog, page 81

A Year of Yes: NYC’s Secrets and Lies is tonight

[image error]I’m so insanely excited about the storytelling show NYC’s Secrets and Lies tonight at Caveat. I’ll be hosting a slate of incredible storytellers who have dug up some incredible NYC secrets all hidden in plain sight that we walk by every single day. The show is capped off with trivia by Madame Morbid and a fantastic prize from our pals at Untapped Cities. Doors open at 6:30pm, show starts at 7:00pm. Tickets available at http://caveat.nyc/event/new-york-citys-secrets-and-lies-2/. See you there!

 

A Year of Yes: Your life as a blank page

“I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted.” ~Jack Kerouac

No matter you age, your past choices, or your current situation, every day is a blank page. You can see it as empty, or you can see it as an opportunity. It’s the same page, just a different perspective. Your move.

I was walking home from a memorial service yesterday. The person being honored at the service poured his love into the universe, into every person he met, and it came back to him many times over when he needed it most. Even in the depths of his incurable illness, he found the light that every day offered. Right to the end. His life is a powerful example of the glow that comes from the blank page. He could do anything he wanted, and he chose to be of service, to create community, to welcome love into his life with wide open arms. And because of those choices, his impact will far outlast his much-too-short life. We should all be so lucky, and we can be, if we choose to be.

A Year of Yes: How my childhood in the dirt formed my view of the world

I once read that if we really want to find our purpose, we should think about what we loved to do when we were 8 years old. I’ve been thinking a lot about 8-year-old me lately, and sifting through the writing I’ve done about my childhood. I came across this piece that I wrote 5 years ago. And it floors me that it still rings so true that I might as well have written it yesterday.

“I grew up in the dirt, literally. There was (and still is) a tractor crossing sign across the street from the house where I grew up. My rural hometown fostered a childhood that involved climbing trees and making mud pies. When I was little, I was convinced that there was a dinosaur skeleton hiding under the ground in my backyard. I enlisted my sister, Weez, to help me dig and dig and dig. All we found was a small mouse skeleton, but I thought it was clearly a prehistoric mouse! Other kids wanted to be doctors, firefighters, or teachers. I wanted to be a paleontologist. I still do.

My childhood was far from idyllic, but there were some very positive things about growing up in the sticks. I got my hands dirty in the process of making things. I ate organic food because that’s really all there was, not because it was trendy. Animals were my friends and companions, as much as people. Maybe even more than people. I learned to appreciate the Earth, her majesty and her power. Weather was a way of life, and I still watch it with fascination and wonder.

An article in the New York Times last weekend talked about a movement in this fine and fair city I now call home to bring more nature into the lives of city kids not by taking them out of the city, but by bringing nature to them. Brooklyn Forest, a husband and wife startup, “takes toddlers into Prospect Park to promote learning through creative play like building teepees out of branches.” 7 students were in their first class. Now there are over 200. More people are eager to get into mud these days; I was a pioneer.

There’s something to be said for the slow life, the life we build rather than the life we buy shrink-wrapped and delivered right to our doorstep. Creation builds confidence and bolsters the imagination. It makes us self-sufficient. I’m all for it, for our children and for us. There’s a lot of beauty down there in the mud.”

A Year of Yes: Follow your curiosity and passion

If you commit to following your curiosity and passion, the opportunities will be endless. The universe rises up to support bold visions and those with the courage to turn dreams into reality.

A Year of Yes: What does your dream day look like?

Have you ever had a dream day? What happened? Who were you with? What lasting effect did it have on you?

I had one of my dream days yesterday and it was magical:

Interviewed a radiation oncologist for a piece I’m writing for The Washington Post about an innovative new cancer treatment that uses protons.
I spent the morning getting a private tour and digging through the archives at The Explorer’s Club. I was doing research for my second Emerson Page novel, and got to see art, travel diaries, photographs, and artifacts from around the world that were collected by our most intrepid explorers.
Then I had a fun meeting with the fine people at Untapped Cities about a new live performance project we’re working on together. Cannot wait to share more details with you!
Had a long overdue visit with a magical man who’s saved my life several times, and taught me to stand in my own light.
Dinner with my best friend.

To write, to research, to tell stories, to collaborate with others on creative projects, and to spend time with people who are central to my life. That is the perfect day for me.

A Year of Yes: What’s on your bookshelf?

“What is a bookshelf other than a treasure chest for a curious mind.” ~Anonymous

I buy a lot of e-books but every once in a while, there’s a book I have to buy in traditional print. It’s a book that I want to refer to again and again. A book I feel I need to hold, to underline, and write in the margins of. Mine is getting more eclectic all of the time—science, fairy tales, biographies, yoga, New York City history, books about writing, business books, ancient philosophy, every sub-genre of fiction. It says a lot about who I am—always changing, always learning, always curious. What’s on your bookshelf?

A Year of Yes: What you see, you feel – why I collect art

“What fills the eyes fills the heart.” ~Irish Proverb

Is it wrong to realize you may need to get a new apartment to fit all of your art? I still have a fair amount of wall space, but honestly at the rate I acquire and make art, I’m going to need a new place at the end of my lease. It’s starting to look like the old Barnes Collection in here but I can’t help it. I love to make art, and to support artists by buying their work. My art makes this apartment more than just a place to sleep. It’s the place where I do most of my creative work. I wake up every morning surrounded by work that makes me happy. When I travel, I always make a point to buy art from the places I visit. It supports the local artists and provides me with a way to relive my travel memories every day. I acquired these four pieces in Vancouver, all by Native artists.

 

 

A Year of Yes: The 3 C’s of life

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Don’t quit – do it!

“The 3 C’s in life: choice, chance, change. You must make the choice, to take the chance, if you want anything in life to change.” ~anonymous

This weekend I said yes to a very big chance. I never imagined this kind of opportunity was out there. I never imagined I’d be asked to take it. I have no idea how it’s going to turn out. But something in me knew this was not a coincidence, that I had to try, despite the fact that it’s a very long shot that it would work out. And you know what? It felt liberating. It felt empowering to just try. And no matter how this goes, maybe that’s the lesson—say yes and try.

 

A Year of Yes: Don’t take yourself out of the running—a lesson from author Jodi Picoult

“I wondered about the explorers who’d sailed their ships to the end of the world. How terrified they must have been when they risked falling over the edge; how amazed to discover, instead, places they had seen only in their dreams.” ~Jodi Picoult, Handle with Care

Sometimes we don’t know what we’re driving toward. We just have the insatiable desire to try something new, to explore, to discover. Don’t worry that it won’t work, that you won’t be right for an opportunity. Leave yourself in the running to have a new experience. Trust that who you are in this moment is enough to become who you want to be in the next moment. Take a chance. Be an explorer. That’s the only choice that fosters change and creates a new reality out of dreams.

A Year of Yes: What story do you want to be?

“In the end, we’ll all become stories.” ~Margaret Atwood

Stories are so intrinsic to our culture, to the structure of our lives, that it’s impossible to separate ourselves from them. We are defined by our stories, the ones we tell about ourselves and others, and the ones others tell about us. It’s how we connect and share with each other. They stir every emotion we can possibly have. Friendship and love both grow from stories. We are our stories, and our stories are us. Let’s make sure the ones we choose are really the ones we want.