Special Video, Achieving Goals
I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect. Spike Lee Each month, Succeed and Soar shares a short video chosen to lift the heart and spirit, awareness and humanity. Dream, Have Courage and Self-Belief! is a marvelous way to launch the year. The following quotes mirror this little video’s energy. [More are in this post’s featured book.] If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud. Emile ZolaWe must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. Joseph Campbell The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. Coco Chanel See Succeed and Soar’s June 4, 2022 post with more Chanel wisdom. Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Presenting art to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thing and inspire. Comment Click Here to View. 5 Minutes Life Well Lived offers floral photographs, wise words and invitations to see life as a garden of possibilities. This 60-page book offers lots of space for personal notes, sketches and meditations. Here are opportunities to both enjoy life’s seasons and find enrichment. A great gift. * 5×8 $14.50 Preview and Purchase. * 8×10 $19.00 Preview and Purchase. Thanks for shopping! While a How-To Illustrated Wisdom video is developed for Life Well Lived, here’s a helpful companion, Self Care through Visual Journaling: 5 Easy Steps.
Keep Advancing
Every step towards your dreams is a step closer to living a life you love. – Unknown For decades, I’ve gathered precious insights. Each one I read is like a breath of life. They lift my spirit and remind of the good we can do and marvelous things we can be. I hope these words of wisdom encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. I hope the Succeed and Soar web site gladdens your heart. The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best. –Epictetus Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. -Theodore Roosevelt Rejection is the sand in the oyster, the irritation that ultimately produces the pearl. – Burke Wilkinson One man with courage is a majority – Andrew Jackson When you’re going through hell, keep moving. That’s no place to stop. – Unknown Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Shop Succeed & Soar Galleries Buy art framed, on canvas, as posters as well as puzzles, shirts, infant onesies, phone cases, ornaments, journals, blankets, caps, coffee mugs and more. Each item is individually created. Shop All Collections HERE.
Love
We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly. – Sam Keen For decades, I’ve gathered precious insights. Each one I read is like a breath of life. They lift my spirit and remind of the good we can do and marvelous things we can be. I hope these words of wisdom encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. I hope the Succeed and Soar web site gladdens your heart. Within your heart, keep one still, secret spot where dreams may go. – Louise Driscoll Blessed is the season that engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. – Hamilton Wright Mabie Now and then in life, love catches you unawares, illuminating the dark corners of your mind, and filling them with radiance. Once in awhile you are faced with a beauty and a joy that takes your soul, all unprepared, by assault. — Jennifer Worth First romance, first love, is something so special to all of us, both emotionally and physically, that it touches our lives and enriches them forever. – Rosemary Rogers Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, While loving someone deeply gives you courage. – Lao Tzu Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Shop Succeed & Soar Mugs Details: Ceramic Dishwasher and Microwave safe Two sizes: 11 oz and 15 oz View All Mugs Thanks for shopping!
The Princess of Wands
A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist. — Eleanor Roosevelt A story about the Tarot’s Princess of Wands suggests she had to learn to become so courageous, she could fly naked against all opposition. As the Princess crumbled all barriers to her goals, she dragged by the tail the giant tiger, the fears she’d slain. See Princess of Wands Stepping Stones are large, flat rocks that allow crossings of streams or rivers. They can also be turning points, highlights and moments of truth. If ‘Stepping Stone’ were a crossword clue, Wordplay’s Crossword Solver suggests ‘isle,’ a stepping stone for a giant. [Imagine being big enough to need an island-sized footpath.] If ‘Stumbling Block’ were a crossword clue, Wordplay’s Crossword Solver provides 30 solutions, including: roadblock, hurdle, snag, barrier and fly in the ointment. I hunted for some wisdoms about obstacles and found: Take a limitation and turn it into an opportunity. Take an opportunity and turn it into an adventure. – Jo Franz A new challenge keeps the brain kicking and the heart ticking. – E. A. Bucchianeri You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice. – Bob Marley Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle. – Christian Larson More quotes about obstacles. So, how can obstacles be overcome? Psychology Today offers eleven ways, including: STOP: Stop. Take a Step Back Observe. Proceed Mindfully. Find Meaning. Ask: What lesson can be learned? Set Small Goals that can add up to a big achievement. Read more. While in his mid 40s, knowing he had six months of health left, CMU Professor Randy Pausch presented his last lecture. He said many fun and uplifting things. One inspiring reminder was: Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls aren’t there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show us how badly we want things. View Highlights of “The Last Lecture” [39:57] Succeed and Soar! Let’s ZOOM chat for 40 minutes, First THURSDAY, November 4th, 7pm Lots to discuss, including thoughts about “Eleanor’s Insights” and this month’s book, Caroline Myss’ Invisible Acts of Power, Channeling Grace in Everyday Life. Zoom Link will be sent day before Chat. See you soon! Image © Can Stock Photo / vectomart Celebrate Saturday, October 16: National Dictionary Day Noah Webster was born on this date. Did you know that this teacher created the first dictionary in order to define the differences between American and British English? Beyond that purpose, learning words empowers. As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” [More words, bigger world.] Sunday, October 17: National Pay Back A Friend Day Bank of America created this day to remind that no matter how long it’s been or how much or little is owed, friendships are greater than any debt, especially since research shows money can be a key stressor in friendships. Monday, October 18: National Chocolate Cupcake Day Now, this is an event worth celebrating! Fabulous recipes. Sandra’s Gifts, my online shop at RedBubble.com, shares my art as mouse pads, phone cases and shower curtains, as mugs, dresses, journals, greeting cards and more. Everything is great quality and well priced. What beautiful and inspiring fun! Shop Here Eleanor’s Insights Succeed and Soar’s “Eleanor’s Insights” series is illustrated with photographs of ‘wild places.’ Of this post’s featured image, My daughters, grandson and I were exploring a remote part of the Lake Erie shore when I spotted this feather, left on the rocks after a bird took flight. My art is available as prints, framed and on canvas as well as on journals, greeting cards, weekender bags, shower curtains, puzzles and much more. Shop Here Thanks!
Freer Than Ever Before
Accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give. Eleanor Roosevelt Add to Mrs. Roosevelt’s advice: Watch whoever comes and meet certain folks fearlessly and with the best you have to give. This last of three Eleanor posts about courage offers insights and remedies for those who would trumple others to make themselves feel better. As Tara Mackey author of Cured by Nature and founder of The Organic Life says, people exist who will, “get you stuck in the past and focused on the negative, and in that mentality, you can’t move forward and you can’t succeed.” Antidote: First, see those troubled folks for what they are. Here are sixteen types, including Meddlers, Control Freaks and Perpetual Victims. Then, Set boundaries. Realize it’s not your job to save them. Treat your separation like the breakup it is. Read All Seven Tips. When breakup isn’t possible, as with co-workers, here are: Tips for Dealing with Toxic People and Dealing with 10 Types of Difficult Co-Workers In meeting gossips, narcissists, the passive aggressive, blamers and other unpleasant people along with the challenges they present, remember, The encouraging thing is that every time you meet a situation, though you may think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it you find that forever after you are freer than you ever were before. — Eleanor Roosevelt Succeed and Soar! Eleanor’s Insights Collection Succeed and Soar’s “Eleanor’s Insights” series is illustrated with photographs of ‘wild places.’ Art is available as prints, framed and on canvas as well as on journals, greeting cards, weekender bags, shower curtains, puzzles and much more. Shop Here
En Garde!
I can take the next thing that comes along. – Eleanor Roosevelt Today’s post was to share a bold quote from a list of Eleanor Roosevelt’s inspiring words. Drat! Darn! And, well, Phooey! When looking for more information, I learned Mrs. Roosevelt never said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” QuoteInvestigator reports that phrase is from Mary Schmich’s June, 1997 essay. In it, the Chicago Tribune columnist advised, “Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.” Schmich further suggested that, every day, we sing, floss and “Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.” Forty years before, in 1960 Eleanor Roosevelt published “You Learn by Living” with a chapter titled, “Fear—the Great Enemy.” There, Roosevelt wrote, “Fear has always seemed to me to be the worst stumbling block which anyone has to face. It is the great crippler. Looking back, it strikes me that my childhood and my early youth were one long battle against fear.” In time, the First Lady realized, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. … [Then] You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’” Roosevelt reminds, “The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” What’s a good way to pursue something special but scary? Try this post’s video. Dance along! Succeed and Soar! Celebrate! For several weeks, Earth has zoomed [at 67,000 miles per hour, whoosh!] through a long ago comet’s dust trail. When particles enter our atmosphere, they flare. The Perseid Star Showers sky show continues through August, peaking August 11-13. Here’s how to see them. also Saturday, August 7: National Lighthouse Day [for the beacon inside all of us] Sunday, August 8, International Cat Day [for mastering the arts of living luxurious and napping] Friday, August 13 Blame Someone Else Day [for some reason, always the first Friday the 13th of the year.] Eleanor’s Insights Collection Succeed and Soar’s “Eleanor’s Insights” series is illustrated with photographs of ‘wild places.’ Art is available as prints, framed and on canvas as well as on journals, greeting cards, weekender bags, shower curtains, puzzles and much more. Shop Here
Face Everything And Rise (fear)
When I was in tenth grade, my family lived on a lonely hilltop . The narrow, two-story house was surrounded by apple and pear, cherry and peach trees. One gray afternoon, as I strode from the kitchen, a dark and monstrous form loomed above the other side of the doorway. There are several acronyms for FEAR, like Forget Everything and Run. I screamed and fell flat on my back. My little sister had climbed on a chair beside the dining room wall. Silent, she hid herself in the shadows. When entered the room, she arched her arms and wriggled her fingers above my head. I think she was too shocked by my terror to laugh … right away. Nowadays, on the rare occasions I recall my sister’s stupid “Creature from The Black Lagoon” imitation, I think: If I’d looked up and seen what was real, I wouldn’t be blushing now. I think of other acronyms for FEAR. Each has its own time and place, phrases like: Forgetting Everything About Reality For Everything a Reason Fail Early And Responsibly Face Everything And Rise Read more The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Men in Black star Will Smith’s three minute video about his first sky-diving adventure provides a funny and cool way to understand FEAR. Click on his picture [below] and enjoy. Featured image: “Catalpa Blooms 04” (c) 2020 Sandra Gould Ford. Prints start at $9.49. Visit Gallery.