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.
Path to Joy: 11th of 12 – Follow Your Bliss
If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are — if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time. – Joseph Campbell What is bliss? Answer: Perfect happiness. Gladness. Pleasure. Delight. Joy. I first heard “follow your bliss” on the eve before traveling to the Dow Creativity Center in Midland, Michigan. That charming town’s library had a whole section of Joseph Campbell interviews and lectures. After watching one every morning, I realized that life could be understood as an amazing and magical journey. In myths, heros encounter dragons and shape-shifters, unicorns and gryphons, basilisks and phoenix birds. I’ve found those traits in people. Against obstacles built by trolls and opportunities opened by fairy godparents, one goal is clear: Maintain personal truth, grace and internal harmony. As Abraham Lincoln said of the 11th Path to Joy: I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have. In that light, happiness is possible. How? Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. – Mahatma Gandhi A Path to Joy Arts Meditation: Grace & Harmony The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. – Heraclitus What I like best about the picture: The flowing, multi-colored lines. Why I like the image: The lines suggest the graceful, harmonious, effortless dance that life can be. What the picture teaches: To me, this picture suggests letting my life flow toward beauty, grace and harmony. The insights gained: Be true to your work, your word, and your friend. — Henry David Thoreau I gain the belief that living in my best and brightest truth [despite the price], in finding and following my unique way through life as best I can is a Path to Joy. Seek joy and stay safe! NOTE: These ‘Paths to Joy’ are adapted from The Treasure Chest, an old book I found years ago. Page 117 contained “The Twelve Rules of Happiness.” Of special delight is using paints markers and ink to illustrate meditations inspired by this wisdom. The technique is adapted from the book Visual Journaling, Going Deeper Than Words, by Barbara Ganim and Susan Fox. For information about and to purchase the art, visit Sandra’s Galleries.
Circles and The Hero’s Journey
The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning. ~ Ivy Baker Priest A Meditation Years ago, I founded a Creative Writing Program at the Allegheny County Jail that is now called Words Without Walls. In one class, a student said that addiction and crime had taken them to an end from which they saw no new beginning. I mentioned Joseph Campbell, the myth interpreter who believed the monsters we face [a/k/a obstacles and barriers, the difficulties, betrayals and defeats] are the vampires, hydra and furies we’ve been prepared for and that people with huge potential don’t get tiny, irksome problems. They must fight fire-breathing dragons. The Circle that is the Hero’s Journey seems designed to both reveal hidden strengths while forcing growth that could happen no other way, and be continuous. Over and again, failures allow fresh starts. Opportunities dress like challenges. Dead ends reveal paths to new beginnings on the hero’s journey that is life. Please view and enjoy this “Every Story” video. NOTE: Featured Image is “Riding The Enterprise,” (c) 2020 by Sandra Gould Ford. “Enterprise” is an amusement park ride named for the Star Trek starship.
LEAP(ing) Day
Whatever you are ready for is ready for you. — Reverend Ike A Meditation: LEAP(ing) Day U.S. Route 30 is Pennsylvania’s portion of this country’s first coast-to-coast road. The Lincoln Highway opened on Halloween in 1913, when cars like Brush Roadsters, Mighty Michigans and Bailey Electrics putt-putted on modified buggy wheels from Times Square, New York City to Lincoln Park, San Francisco. In The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell said that the adventures we’re ready for are the ones we get. When driving Route 30 between Bedford and Somerset one February, I topped a hill, snapped a picture, took a breath and wondered: What awaits on the way through this wintry world and beyond that distant horizon? I may also have asked, What leaps must I make, ready or not? People who find spiritual meaning in numbers [numerologists] believe that the once-in-four-year combination of 2 + 29 [February 29] offers special opportunities to “catch up in our own lives.” According to Forever Consciousness, 2 involves realizing the soul’s purpose and 11 [29 or 2+9 = 11] signifies awakening. Whether or not the numerologist view works, why not believe some high jumps and bounds are possible on Leap Day? “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7, King James Bible. And keep in mind, the International Date Line is in New Zealand. That’s eighteen hours ahead of Pittsburgh, which allows a bit more of 2-29 for some springing. Featured Image Information & Purchase. “Route 30” prints start at $18.89.