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Leap: One Picture a Day

March 19, 2012 by Christa

A picture I took on my first day of my "a picture a day" - daffodils in Union Square, low contrast color setting

For Christmas, my family gave me cash and Amazon gift certificates so that I could put that money toward getting a new digital camera. My old one started to develop its quirks and had been put to goo use for many years. Because I know India will be filled with gorgeous photo opportunities, I wanted to make sure I had a camera that was up to the challenge.

After much research I settled on a Nikon S9100. It’s a bit more camera than I know how to use, but I got such a good deal that I went for it. Though I’ve read the manual, I’ve been reluctant to use anything but the auto mode. The multitude of options served as a great big hurdle and for some reason I was afraid to jump. Irrational, but truthful.

I was recanting this story to my friend, Amy, when she gave me one simple piece of advice. “Take one picture a day, every day. It’s small so you can carry with you everywhere. Take a picture without being concerned with how it turns out. Just choose a setting, snap, and see how it goes.” It’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard about photography. It’s also a wonderful guiding principle for life.

Take a big goal and break it down, day by day, frame by frame. Take it, watch, and learn. Practice is for its own sake.

Posted in creativity, goals, learning | 1 Comment »

Leap: Stop Buying Ice and Start Living

March 18, 2012 by Christa

From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/denizyildiz/

I recently had a small group of people over to my house. As I was drafting up my grocery / to-do list, I wrote down “buy ice.” And then I started laughing. I have a freezer. I have ice cube trays. Did I really need to buy ice? No – I had everything I needed. I just had to take the time to fill the trays with water a few times and then crack the ice into a bowl.

We play this game with ourselves all the time. We put off doing what we really want to do because we need more – more training, more money, more contacts, more experience, more time. We have enough. We are enough. We have everything we need to get going right now. Sure, it’s scary. It’s a risk to let go of the familiar, to go off the well-planned, well-worn path. But that’s all it is – scary. It’s not impossible and we’re not incapable in any way. It’s going to take work but we can make it happen.

So many people have stories of a breaking point – an illness, a loss, a tragedy – that awakened them to the passion of their lives. I certainly do. All of a sudden we realize in a very real, non-negotiable way that our lives are finite, that we only get one time around in this form, and that it’s our obligation and deep responsibility to make the most of it.

Don’t wait for the breaking point. Breathe in and breathe out. The anticipation of leaping is much scarier than the leap itself. So gather up your courage and know that whatever you need to get your dreams to take flight, you already have. “Sometimes you just have to take a leap and build your wings on the way down.” (Kobi Yamada)

Posted in change, creativity, adventure, choices, passion, commitment, courage | 1 Comment »

Leap: What I’m Thinking About on My Birthday – Kiefer Sutherland and Gandhi

March 17, 2012 by Christa

“You have to work on opportunity’s watch and not your own.” ~ Keifer Sutherland

“The difference between what we are doing and what we are capable of doing would solve most of the world’s problems.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

36 today, and what’s on my mind? Kiefer Sutherland and Gandhi. Odd mix, you say? Perhaps, but here’s their glaring resemblance: they are men of opportunity.

Kiefer Sutherland was recently interviewed by Jay Leno about his new TV show, Touch. He didn’t want to take the job and hoped he would hate the script. Unfortunately, he fell in love with it and couldn’t turn it down. The story was too powerful and he knew he’d be kicking himself if he passed on being the one to tell it. We don’t always get to choose when we make a leap; sometimes, the leap chooses us.

Gandhi was also a man of opportunity. He saw injustice happening in his own life and to many others all around him. He couldn’t watch it anymore without throwing all of his efforts into change. He knew he could do more and that his efforts would make a difference. We revere Gandhi today as super-human, but he wasn’t. He was a person just like you and me, and with so much passion for his cause that he had to pursue it. He knew he could be the change.

I’ve firmly set the date for when I’ll be leaving my current job in pursuit of my own passions – Compass Yoga, my writing, and a public education project called Innovation Station that I have been crafting for several years. People have asked me how it feels to be leaving my stable job in pursuit of my own projects, and I have to admit that I don’t think of this change as leaving my job. I think of it as reaching up into the sky and pulling my dreams down to Earth. This is work I have to do that’s good for me and good for the world. I’m running to something that I must do, not running away from something that I can’t do anymore.

Today is a birthday for me on 2 levels – a celebration of 36 years of living and learning and another celebration of being reborn into the life I’m building of my own design. And I feel like the luckiest person on the planet for this opportunity. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all!

Posted in celebration, change, opportunity | 5 Comments »

Leap: Thank You Notes Volume 2

March 16, 2012 by Christa

Will Ferrell in Casa de Mi Padre

Last week, I wrote my first volume of Thank You Notes in tribute to Jimmy Fallon’s segment. This week I had a few shining and not-so-shining moments:

Thank you, Delta Airlines, for making me fully aware that if I book with miles, then getting me to my destination on time is not your priority.

Thank you, SXSW, for helping me realize that there’s a better way to spend my 9-5.

Thank you, local hardware store, for keeping my wallet safe when I absent-mindedly left it at your counter for a solid 30 minutes before I noticed it was missing.

Thank you, older women, for being the new face of real beauty. Now the rest of us can stop trying to look like we’re 19.

Thank you, Greg Smith, what all people in financial services know but are afraid to say.

Thank you, Rick Santorum, for reminding us what a scary country this would be without separation of church and state.

Thank you, Will Ferrell, for teaching us that we’re never too old to learn a new language.

Thank you, Think Coffee, for showing us that opportunity can be found in the most unlikely places such as a Korean talk show that helped this NYC local business expand internationally.

Posted in creativity, hunger, thankful, writing | Leave a Comment »

Leap: Pull an Amazon and Get Your Work Out Into the World

March 15, 2012 by Christa

Amazon.com's homepage circa 1995

I attended a presentation at SXSW that showcased one of Amazon.com’s first homepages. Look how far they’ve come!

I admire Amazon.com for so many reasons, one of which is that they will try to delight customers at every turn. And if they don’t get it quite right, they’ll just try again. The point is they try with what they’ve got, listen, and give it another go. They experiment, tinker, and explore. We should follow their example.

As I’ve continued to speak with new start-ups, I’m reminded of one simple-to-say and sometimes difficult-to-execute idea: get work out into the world. Now. Don’t wait for perfect. Perfect’s not coming, but opportunity is. Welcome the guest at the door and the lessons they bring.

Show the world what you’ve got – it’s the only way to know if it’s worth having.

Posted in business, product, product development | 2 Comments »

Leap: Inspired by Tamar Adler and Frugality

March 14, 2012 by Christa

Image from scratchclub.com

On my way to Austin, I became entranced by the prose of An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler. I knew I would. A few months ago I read an excerpt of her passion statement about food’s place and preparation in our lives and instantly I knew I’d devour it like a well-made meal.

As I prepare myself for this next chapter of my career – one of great risk, great faith, and God and Universe willing, great meaning, I have seriously begun to examine my finances and the necessary changes needed to make the leap. To be fair, I do not live a lavish lifestyle. My clothes are simple and always bought on sale. My home is small and simple. I cook much more often than I eat out. The New York Public Library furnishes most of the books I read. I do my own nails, hair, etc.

These last couple of months my credit card bills have been outsized with the long-overdue furnishing of my apartment, 2 upcoming trips to Florida, my vacation of a lifetime to India, and the next phase of my advanced yoga teacher training. This pile up of expenses got a bit scary, though they were planned, and my fine-tuned sense of frugality demanded an immediate halt and investigation.

Enter Tamar Adler and her celebration of eating well on a miniscule budget. Her experience and aptitude for stretching a small grocery budget actually made me excited to get started. Today, rather than wait until I inevitably make the leap info the next phase of my career. Her book has left me feeling more resourceful than fearful, more capable than novice.

I may well be just this side of crazy to exit stage left from a stable job and salary in favor of carving out a new kind of living that unifies my earnings and values. Life is too short to imagine going forward any other way.

Posted in books, cooking, eating, economy, personal finance | 2 Comments »

Leap: My Favorite SXSW 2012 Moment

March 13, 2012 by Christa

From Pinterest member http://pinterest.com/trishw/

“Dream as big as you can.” ~ Ben Henretig

I attended my favorite panel at SXSW by accident. A lovely woman attended the yoga class I was teaching. When I told her that I teach through Compass Yoga, my nonprofit, she told me that I should go to the panel down the hall entitled Mother Goose Got Punk’d: Next Gen Storytelling. The panel consisted of photographers and filmmakers who dedicate their careers to telling the stories of mission-driven people and organizations. They offered practical advice, inspiration, and encouragement on how to drive home a message to support a cause.

After the session, the panelists headed to a lounge nearby for a meetup. I usually don’t talk to people after panels. I get shy and rarely feel comfortable rushing the table once the mike goes out. However, I loved this topic so much and wanted to meet the panelists to tell them about Compass. At the meetup, I spoke with Ben Henretig, Creative Director of Micro-documentaries, a company dedicated to helping nonprofits create short-form videos to illustrate their work.

I told Ben about Compass and found out that he is also a yoga and meditation teacher, has been to India to study, and really believe in the practice. “You have a system that heals people and this is the right time for it. Dream bigger and bigger and bigger and don’t give up.” I walked away from our brief conversation feeling both inspired and with a small inkling that this conversation served a very specific – to let me know that this is the right path, that there is no turning back, and that this cause is needed in the world. My favorite SXSW 2012 moment.

Posted in dreams, film, SXSW | 6 Comments »

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