Word Rich, The Chicxulub Impactor
Click Here to View The featured, 3-minute video presents Earth’s most recent Mass Extinction event while explaining: The meteor that struck Earth was 10 Km wide Its impact equaled hundreds of millions of atomic bombs and Life can bounce back, even after the most devastating blows Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. ~ Seneca the Younger Succeed and Soar’s first, the 2022 “Words” series explored phrases that could help appreciate and heal human experiences. The 2025 theme is astronomy. OurWorldinData.org reports that 10% of Earth’s species vanish every few million years. Every ten million years, 30% of this plant’s life forms disappear forever. Every one hundred million years 65% of Earth’s species die off. Larger losses are called “Mass Extinctions.” During those events, 75% or more of life on Earth ends. The most recent is called, “Chicxulub.” That cataclysm ended dinosaur’s reign sixty-six million years ago. The close of the huge reptile era coincided with survivors becoming birds while allowing mammals to flourish. The earliest were small shrews, Morganucodon. Several hundred million years later, human beings happened. Chicxulub involved a city-sized meteor striking Earth. NewScientist.com reports, “rocks from deep within Earth’s crust were raised 25 kilometres high and a rim of mountains taller than the Himalayas formed around the crater’s edge.” It’s in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsuyla. Further, “The asteroid hit at 20 kilometres per second from an angle of 60 degrees above horizontal – just right for sending the maximum amount of vaporised rock into the atmosphere. Plumes of sulphur-based gases and fine dust blocked out the sun, causing an “impact winter” that lasted for fifteen years.” Very little survived. Especially plants and animals that could feed the huge dinosaurs. By the way, Daily, 230 asteroids burn up when entering Earth’s atmosphere 800,000 asteroids travel our solar system Two hundred million years ago, underwater volcanoes caused the global warming and altered ocean chemistry killing 80% of Earth’s life. Two hundred fifty million years ago, 96% of Earth’s life perished when Siberian volcanoes caused global warming, ocean acidification and acid rain. The second of five Mass Extinctions happened when rapid plant growth caused severe global cooling. The first, known major die-off happened when “Intense glacial and interglacial periods created large sea-level swings and moved shorelines … the Appalachian mountains created lots of weathering, sequestration of CO2, and with it, changes in climate and ocean chemistry.” See “Snowball Earth.” Keep in mind, New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings. ~ Laozi With the possible exception of the equator, everything begins somewhere. ~ C. S. Lewis Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Presenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. Sandra’s Fine Art America Journals Record your dreams, hopes, plans and achievements in these beautiful, inspiring notebooks. Details: 6” x 8, spiral notebook 120 pages, ruled on both sides Art printed on front Cover is thick paper stock. Back cover is medium gray Inside front and back covers have pockets for storing extra paper and pens View All Notebooks Thanks for shopping!
Special Short Video: If
Can you name the movie? I’ll have what she’s having. view 3-minute clip Each month, Succeed and Soar shares a little video chosen to lift the heart and spirit, awareness and humanity. This select short [below] presents Rudyard Kipling’s inspiring, “If.” If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too:If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,Or being hated don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same:If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss:If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much:If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould FordPresenting art to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thing and inspire. Comment Click Here to View. Beautifully narrated by Sir Michael Caine2 Minutes, 50 Seconds Radiant Tree Books The Best Journey presents wisdom for a well-lived life. The book is illustrated with vibrant photographs taken at Latrobe, Pennsylvania’s Amtrak station. The book is also a journal with space for personal notes. Details: Thanks for your support!
Thrive! Watermelon Seeds Benefits
Click Here to ViewWatermelon Seed Benefits Length: 18 Minutes See Also: Consider He who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.– Thomas Carlyle Thrive! presents practices that can improve life. Following Succeed and Soar’s delightful post about the wonders of watermelon, this note presents watermelon seed benefits, HealthLine.com lists these top aids: WikiHow.com offers a great lguide for saving watermelon seeds [including for replanting]. Directions include, While tasty recipes for watermelon seeds exist [see below], a recent health and nutrition trend includes watermelon seed flour. OnsetWorldWide.com’s post “Watermelon Seed Flour Is a Big Deal and It’s here to Stay” reports, It appears what started out as a substitute for grain flours in paleo and keto diets … watermelon seed flour was born out of necessity. It has become loved in a relatively short period of time, specifically for baking sweet treats … due to its inherent sweetness; they are watermelon seeds after all. The post further states, One of the problems with traditional grains like corn and wheat is that they are harmful to biodiversity. They also tend to strip the soil of its nutrients. Watermelon seed flour helps with that problem. Watermelons are relatively sustainable and there is almost no waste. You can use just about every part of a watermelon. In “Watermelon Seed Flour: A Nutritional Powerhouse You Need to Know About,” Healthbliz.com tells how to make watermelon seed flour at home. Here are the steps: Recipes If you’re as astonished as I am about watermelon seed health benefits, let me know.COMMENT In the meantime,Succeed and Soar!
Job Break Benefits
For thousands of years, countless cultures have required holidays. Why? Non-work days are vital to human health. They can, In “The Time Off Work Employees Are Entitled to,” Statista.com reports, Austria leads all countries with 38-day statutory minimum paid leave. plus the public holidays. Spain and France follow with 36 days off for workers. Germany and the UK guarantee 30 and 28 work-free days. Germans also enjoy up to 14 public holidays, potentially upping their holiday allotment to a whopping 44 days. Of the United States, Statista.com adds, “The country is the only advanced economy that doesn’t guarantee paid vacation, leaving employees with only ten guaranteed public holidays. Even though some companies are generous and provide their employees with up to 15 days of paid leave annually … , In neighboring Canada, employees receive ten paid days off per year on top of nine public holidays.” In Old English, the word halig meant, “holy, consecrated, sacred; godly; ecclesiastical.” It’s from Proto-Germanic hailaga (source also of Old Norse heilagr, Danish hellig, Old Old Saxon helag, Middle Dutch helich and more, early European languages. The Oxford English Dictionary says the combination holy + day first meant, a day specially dedicated to religious observance or religious festivities. In the 1400’s, holiday meant, A day on which work, school, and other ordinary activities of a community are suspended, or on which shops, offices, etc., are closed; a day dedicated to leisure or recreation. Later also: a day specially dedicated to recognizing or honouring someone or something. In “9 Reasons Holidays Are Important, villiers-hotel.co.uk asks, Q: Do I really need a holiday?A: Taking regular holidays is important. Allowing yourself to relax and rejuvenate during these breaks helps your body and mind escape the daily routine. Q: Why do people like holidays?A: People enjoy holidays as they offer an escape from their daily routines, which can often be stressful. These special times … allow us to do what we want and relax. Allow more holidays! Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould FordPresenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire.
Word Rich, Cosmic Calendar
We arrive at the various stages of life quite as novices. Francois de La Rochefoucauld Astronomer Carl Sagan’s Cosmic Calendar presents the universe’s existence in a single year. Here is how human life and the cosmos unfolds. Human 1st Stage: Before birth. Inside the womb, life depends on mother’s condition. Universe, New Years Eve: In 1931, Belgian physicist Georges Lemaître proposed his proposed his “hypothèse de l’atome primitive.” Later called the “Big Bang,” this theory suggested all space and time burst from a single atom. In the 1970’s, scientists started suggesting other possibilities, such as that the current universe developed from an earlier one. The Hindu, the belief is that all existence begins and ends while Brahma dreams. Human 2nd Stage: Infancy. Through first year, child can suck, cry, swallow and needs much care. Universe, August 28: Our solar system starts [4.57 billion years ago] Human 3rd Stage: During toddler years, intelligence, emotions and social skills develop. Universe, September 14: Single-cell life on Earth begins [4.1 billion years ago] Human 4th Stage: Children walk, talk and eat independently. The world intrigues. They want to learn. Universe, September 30: Earth produces oxygen via photosynthesis [3.8 billion years ago] Human 5th Stage: Adolescence. Puberty and sexual development accompanied by rapid physical growth. Often, increased impulsiveness and risk taking. Seeks to establish individual personality and independence from parents. Universe: December 5: Growing beyond bacteria, multi-cellular life develops on Earth [800 million years ago] Human 6th Stage: Adulthood. Physiological peak achieved. Universe, December 25: Dinosaurs appear on Earth [230 million years ago] Human 7th Stage: Middle Age. Beginning in late thirties, expertise increases. Problem solving improves. Signs of aging. Universe, December 30: Earth’s fifth mass extinctions destroys almost all life. Death of dinosaurs allows small mammals to develop. Human 8th Stage: Late Adulthood. More health issues must be managed. Universe, December 31, 12 a.m.: Forty million years ago, primates that would become Earth’s humans still living in trees. Human 9th Stage: Life Ends. This commencement period can include choices about palliative and hospice care as well as bequeaths. Loved ones can be involved. Universe, December, 31, 11:59:58 pm, Christopher Columbus finds Earth’s northern hemisphere. [NOTE: Asian people reached these continents fourteen thousand years earlier.] Now that life can be understood in both personal and cosmic ways, keep in mind, At every stage of life, our inner self requires the nurturance of loving people attuned to our feelings and responsive to our needs who can foster our inner resources of personal power, lovability, and serenity. Those who love us understand us and are available to us with an attention, appreciation, acceptance, and affection we can feel, they make room for us to be who we are. ~ David Richo During these two minutes, Neil deGrasse Tyson condenses the universe’s 13.8 billion years into twelve months. Click Here to View See Also: A Journey to the End of Time 29 Minutes Research Resources: Before the Big Bang Brahma Dreams the Universe Cosmic Calendar Cosmic Calendar Lesson Plan Earth’s Five Mass Extinctions History of Big Bang Theory Human Life Cycle Periods of Human Development Human Life Stage Lessons Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Presenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. Journals Record dreams, hopes, plans and achievements in these beautiful, inspiring notebooks. Details: 6” x 8, spiral notebook 120 pages, ruled on both sides Art printed on front Cover is thick paper stock. Back cover is medium gray Inside front and back covers have pockets for storing extra paper and pens View All Notebooks Thanks for shopping!
Special Short Video: No Photography
Name the Movie “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”3-Minute Clip Each month, Succeed and Soar shares a little video chosen to lift the heart and spirit, awareness and humanity. Of the 200,000+ who’ve seen this post’s CGI animation, here are responses: Because of No Photography’s unexpected ending, here are thoughts on surprises, One of the greatest discoveries a man makes,one of his great surprises,is to find he can do whathe was afraid he couldn’t do.~ Henry Ford If you weren’t surprised by your lifeyou wouldn’t be alive.Life is surprise.~ William S. Burroughs The husband who decides to surprise his wifeis often very much surprised himself.~ Voltaire Enjoy!Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould FordPresenting art to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thing and inspire. Comment Click Here to View. “No Photography”5 Fun Minutes Radiant Tree Books Beyond the Sky’s Limits shares encouraging wisdom and uplifting images about going beyond boundaries and making dreams come true. This Succeed and Soar book shares “Life Well Lived” words of wisdom and uplifting images. See All Books Contact for in-person and virtual presentations. Thanks for your support!
Authors Speak: Project Management for Authors
A book is a gift you can open again and again. Garrison Keillor Succeed and Soar’s Authors Speak series invites writers to answer questions about their artforms and special inspirations. Welcome Fritze Roberts Fritze, what phrase inspires your writing and life? I’ve been thinking of the novel as a kind of curation; like the way you can stage encounters with works of art. – Ben Lerner, on the novelist’s role in curating time. Fritze, how do these words help your writing, your life? I love that this phrase can apply to writing and life. In writing, every word, every paragraph, every scene must be specifically chosen to communicate meaning to the reader. We craft moments in a character’s life that convey an entire story – a string of events that illustrate a complex idea or feeling. Similarly, our lives are made up of days, and those days are filled with choices. We choose people and activities to spend time with, to put energy into. This is something I want to explore more on my YouTube channel. Sample Text: Writing, for many of us, is a creative and messy process. It is easy to get distracted by the maelstrom of ideas and language, characters and monsters. My goal is to give you some helpful tools that place just enough order on the chaos for you to finish your stories and enjoy success. In this book we’ll discuss five steps that will help you get more out of your life as a writer. Review Are you ready to get more out of your life as a writer? Creating publishable books – fiction or nonfiction – requires more than just writing every day. You need to prioritize your best idea, create clean copy, and maybe even work with professional editors and designers. Read More About Fritze Roberts Fritze Roberts is a freelance editor at APeculiarProject.com. She discusses the writer’s life in conference workshops and on her YouTube channel. Her poetry contrasts the small activities of everyday with the larger mysteries of life. Fritze writes about monsters, aliens, addicts, and animals – even though she is none of these things. She also serves on the board of Pennwriters. Keep in mind, Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary. – Jim Rohn Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Presenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. COMMENT. Beautiful and inspiring Succeed & Soar art can be purchased as posters, framed, metal and canvas. Art also available as puzzles, totes, blankets, mugs, greeting cards, notebooks, phone cases, pillows, towels, clothing and more. Shop All Art HERE. Collections change. Visit often. Thanks for your support!
Isolation, Part 2 of 2: Benefits
Click Here to View Length: 15 Minutes Also View: Consider Loneliness is feeling empty and desiring companionship,while solitude is being content with oneself.Medium.com Succeed and Soar‘s Thrive! presents practices that can improve health and wellbeing. Last week, loneliness as a health problem [and solutions] was explored. This post presents solitude’s benefits. The tech media website CNET’s post “The 5 Benefits of Solitude” states, “solitude is spending time alone without feeling lonely.” The post adds, “Solitude is something you choose because you value your time and energy. Think of it like a state of peacefulness where you have the space to reflect, work through things and cultivate your overall wellness.” The article adds that time alone also allows Very Well Mind’s post “The Benefits of Solitude,” suggests these three [of eight] signs alone time is needed. Feeling, Their several cures include, The Minds Journal post “The Power of Alone Time,” finds, In the hustle and bustle of daily life, we often lose touch with our true desires, values, and aspirations. Solitude provides a space for introspection, self-reflection, and self-discovery. It offers an opportunity to tune out external influences and distractions, enabling us to understand our own thoughts, emotions, and needs. By embracing solitude, we can cultivate a stronger sense of identity, make informed decisions, and lead a more authentic and fulfilling life. Of time by one’s self, keep in mind, Happiness is the new rich.Inner peace is a new success.Health is new wealth.Kindness is the new cool.– Anonymous The monotony and solitude of a quiet lifestimulates the creative mind. Alfred Einstein Great Meals for One:
Isolation, Part 1 of 2: Problems
Click Here to ViewLoneliness can be a greater health risk than heavy smoking and obesity Length: 6 Minutes See Also: Consider Friends are the family you choose.Jess C. Scott Succeed and Soar‘s Thrive! presents practices that can improve health and wellbeing. This post explores causes and cures for a new American epidemic, loneliness. The Center for Disease Control [CDC] defines social isolation as situations where someone is either not connected to and/or supported by others. Loneliness is “feeling alone or disconnected” and “reflects the difference between a person’s actual and desired level of connection.” The CDC further states that social isolation and loneliness can increase risks for: A 2018 Cigna Health Care survey found that loneliness had reached an all-time high. Forty percent of participants said they either sometimes or always felt their relationships were not meaningful and that they felt isolated. Five years later, U.S. surgeon general Vivek Murthy reported that loneliness was a major public health risk CDC reasons for these situations include: Other at-risk groups include: Here are CDC suggestions for creating social connections that can reduce stress, allow better sleep and improve life’s healthiness and length: Nurture varied relationships by Give and take by Strengthen social connections Address barriers Parents can promote their children’s social connections by, Another resource is Dale Carnegie’s classic book How to Win Friends and Influence People. It includes these “Ways to Make People Like You,” Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould FordPresenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. Research Resources:
Rich Words: Precession of Equinoxes
Precession is one of the most important cycles of our planet. This is the apparent movement of the North Celestial Pole across the night sky over the span of roughly 25,920 years. As the planet spins on its unique axis, our view of the night sky changes drastically. These changes cannot be seen in a single lifetime, but over the generations we can observe them. Click Here to View See Also: Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.~ Albert Einstein Spiderman’s Chapter 6 “Wheels within Wheels” presents the concept as complex, obstructive situation with too many disruptive influences, secrets and hidden agendas. This understanding parallels Biblical Ezekiel’s statement, “Their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.” These phenomena also fill the universe, like the Precession of the Equinoxes. Earth has two days when its sun rises above the equator. For those few moments, day and night are equal. The constellation behind the sun has been Pisces, which names an ‘Age.’ Each of the twelve are a couple millennia long. Those astrological periods define “major changes in the development of human society, culture, history, and politics.” The next will be [the Age of] Aquarius. A couple thousand years later, the first spring sun will rise backed by Capricorn’s stars. Next comes the Age of Sagittarius, the Archer. The half-human, half-horse centaur’s energy will encourage exploration, adventure, freedom and quests for knowledge. Earth’s wobble on its axis explains why constellations [Ages] move “backwards.” Also why Earth’s north pole was once below the Vega, brightest star in the constellation Lyra. Fifteen thousand years later, the north star is Polaris in Ursa Minor, the Little Bear constellation. This movement is part of Earth’s “Great Cycle,” the more than 25,000 years that complete a Precession of the Equinoxes. [For explanation, see featured video above, “The Great Year, Precession, and Astrophotography.”] Life, like the cosmos, contains repeating patterns. Gottman.com’s post “Dealing with Cycles and Repeating Events,” offers two reasons for unpleasant ones, DrDemartin.com’s “Understanding the Repeating Patterns in Your Life” offers two cures: As life unfolds, keep in mind, Morning comes every day;the sunrise does not fail, nor the sunset. *Give it time.That is all that may be required. Just give it time.Do not try to push the river. The cycles of life present themselves,play themselves out,and make smooth every passage and terrain. Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould FordPresenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. Fine Art America Journals Record your dreams, hopes, plans and achievements in these beautiful, inspiring notebooks. Details: View All Notebooks Thanks for shopping!