From a Dream to an Empire: The Elizabeth Arden Story

Born during the 1880's, without any formal form of education, in 1907 Florence Nightingale Graham, a young woman with determination and a desire to better her way of life, left her family's small agricultural farmstead in Canada with its hardship and limited amenities, and made her way to New York. That was the time when it was still unheard of for a woman to have a career and stockings were darned to make them last longer. If women did work, it was usually with nursing or doing some menial office tasks.

Finding herself a job as a cashier at the salon of Mrs Eleanor Adair on 5th Avenue, Florence encouraged Mrs Adair to teach her how to apply beauty treatments and she enthusiastically became a fast learner. When she felt she had enough knowledge to venture on her own, she left Mrs Adair's employ. Having met a Mrs Elizabeth Hubbard (Harriet Hubbard Ayer Cosmetics) they teamed up to rent rooms on the third floor of a brownstone at 509 5th Avenue and 42nd St. Being near to the fashion house of Bergdorf Goodman, and the Del Monico restaurant, the location for attracting the smart moneyed clientele was perfect; the business blossomed immediately.

About six months later, the partnership ended and Florence kept up the lease of the premises. She immediately changed the name of the salon, keeping Elizabeth, the name of her former partner, and chose Arden for the rest. (Arden from a Tennyson poem featuring Enoch Arden) so the cosmetic brand and empire of Elizabeth Arden was founded, and is still today, 2014, famed worldwide, with the treatment salons all having the same 'red door' entrance.

Elizabeth Arden as now named, was a survivor, hard worker and a difficult and demanding person to work for, as her ideas were adamant and had to obeyed. Tolerance was not one of her assets! It is not confirmed how she obtained money for starting her beauty business but it is thought she borrowed it from an uncle in Pennsylvania. In those days, the banks certainly would never give a loan to a single woman without substantial collateral.

Making up her jars of stock in a laboratory behind her salon, she believed as well that the way of packaging products was a crucial part of the business. With success came the idea of expansion, and she opened a little branch in Washington DC. With a need to gain further knowledge and innovation from the salons of London and Paris, she set sail for Europe in 1912.

Going from strength to strength, opening more and more salons across the globe, gaining friends and acquaintances with the rich and famous and living a lifestyle that was lavish to the extreme. Her one great love was her horses and her signature perfume of "Blue Grass" representing the blue grass of Kentucky, was popular well into the 1990's.

Elizabeth Arden died during the 1960's leaving behind her a beauty empire and knowledge that vision and inspiration are possible to achieve for any female entrepreneur by dreaming and then striving to successfully attain their goal.

My name is Gloria Herman and I find that writing about the happenings around us is very inspirational and a tonic for the soul. Life is so interesting and I find that I can can never gain enough knowledge.

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Self Confidence: How To Get You Some!

Self-confidence comes contextually from being good at something.

The habit of self-confidence comes from having experiences of being good at several different "somethings," and knowing deep down inside yourself that you have the resources to get where you want to go in life.

Let me ask you a question, and you don't have to tell me what the answer is. It is important for you to tell yourself though, and be honest with yourself.

Where is it you want to have more confidence?

Is it in social situations?

If so, which ones?

Is it at particular task?

I remember when I first took piano lessons.

I had almost zero confidence regarding my ability to put my fingers on the correct notes without looking at the keys and my fingers and trying to figure out where to place my fingers next. But I knew it was possible, because I had seen others do it, and I wanted to do it too.

I now have much more confidence and ability in that area.

Someone who is a concert pianist has even more confidence regarding that specific skill.

I used to have low confidence talking with beautiful women.

So I learned some basic things to say to start conversations and went and got some practice talking with them.

My point is that once you know where you are lacking in confidence and where you want to have more confidence, and how you will know once you've achieved it, you can start to DO something to get there.

The burning desire for a well-formed goal will tend to over-ride insecurity and lack of confidence.

Just like a baby has no reference points for crawling, and then walking - other than seeing other people walk, they know they want something that is just out of reach, so they learn to move to get to it.

They fall many, many times, but the desire to get what they want causes them to keep trying, trying, trying until they are finally able to walk with so much confidence they don't even have to think about how to do it anymore.

So first, decide where you want confidence.

Now write down the last thing you didn't know how to do, and yet you learned to do it successfully.

Even if it's something simple like learning how to check your emails or how to navigate all the menus on that new tv.

If you've achieved competency in any area, you have the ability to learn.

And when you break a task - any task that is possible to do - down in to the basic steps, you can gain competency at that task, and with it the self confidence in yourself to do it and to do it well.



 

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7 Reasons to Record Your Dreams

 

Back in 1979, I started to record my dreams each night and morning as I awoke. About two weeks after I began, I had an extremely vivid dream of an explosion with women and men somehow involved. My wife and I, at that time, owned an international, wholesale tour company, and were planning a trip to Manila for a world congress of travel agents. We both decided to delete the Manila portion of the trip and added days to Taiwan and Hong Kong. On the first day of the congress, terrorists blew up a bomb near the front of the stage where we would normally have sat, injuring ten travel agents. Later, a woman that worked in the Philippines cultural office in Los Angeles and four other men were arrested. Afterwards, I vowed to record my dreams the rest of my life.
Below are seven reasons why you should record your dreams each day, one of which I touched on above.

1. Dreams are messages from our souls.
The dream state is much more complex than you might imagine. When entering that quantum state during dreamtime, most of the time our dreams appear symbolically. Some people are much better at interpreting these symbols than the rest of us. I found a paperback book titled Dream Dictionary by Lady Stern Robinson and Tom Corbett, which seemed to interpret my dreams better than other similar dictionaries. I've probably worn out six or eight of these paperback dictionaries over the years. Our souls send us messages couched in these dream symbols. They can be warnings of upcoming challenges, or encouragement when we need it that things are going to be better soon.

2. As noted above, dreams can be precognitive.
Besides many, many personal precognitive dreams, I've had a number of dreams about upcoming events, usually couched in dream symbology. As an example, in 1985 I dreamed about a Delta-shaped aircraft crashing a week or so before Delta Airlines Flight 191 crashed at the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. Shortly before the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on takeoff in 1986, I dreamed of being in a glass capsule high above the earth and then suddenly beneath the ocean. Before 911, I had three dreams: The first one was a biplane crashing-symbolizing two wings. The second one was a passenger jet crashing to the east of Chicago; and the third one was a tornado (my symbol that something bad is going to occur) going across an office building with a line of people sitting in invisible chairs following behind.
By the same token, we will also have many pleasant precognitive dreams, like money on the way, a great change of location, or the love of our life who will soon appear.

3. The practice of recording dreams will help in meditation.
It will help you to receive images in an altered Alpha state. I never really thought I would be able to communicate with "spirit" as I'm able to do now with my own Guardian Angel (GA) that I call Theo, and with Gaia, the soul of the earth. But I look back at the thousands of times I have recorded my dreams when I was in that same Alpha state before becoming fully awake, and I realize that staying in that "zone" is great practice for what I call my "active" meditations. It helps us to recognize images as they appear during meditation, or to receive "thought packets" as my GA Theo calls them.

4. We see whom it is that we assist in the dream state.
Theo tells me that when we are in the dream state, we travel all over the universe to help other beings in solving their problems, since we solve more problems in one day on Earth than many beings encounter in one universal year. There is a group of whole souls, that we call "dream angels," who receive these requests and assign one of us to solve the problem during our dreamtime. Only rarely do we notice that the beings we serve do not appear human. This is done so that we don't become frightened by their appearance. Most of the time we appear during their dreams to help them solve a problem.

5. Ability to view other parallel lives.
Have you ever remembered a dream where it seemed to be the present day, but perhaps you were in some different situation? When we sold our tour business in the early eighties we started an international film and TV program distribution business. Nevertheless, for years I would continue to have dreams of running tours and making those business decisions. Theo explains that there are twelve parallel lives going on for each of our lives on Earth. He calls them "time lines," with the 12 divided into four frequencies and then into twos. We're on Time Line 6-a middle frequency, tied closely with Time Line 5. He told me on Time Lines 4 and 5 I'm still in the tour business. It was the same for Time Lines 1 and 2, but I died of congestive heart failure. On the upper time lines, I became a science fiction writer right out of college, eventually writing esoteric books. Consequently, this all goes to illustrate that we can explore those other parallel lives during our dreamtime.

6. Ability to view our past and future lives.
When I first started recording my dreams, I had many violent dreams of past battles in history. Obviously, I was reliving some of these lives where I was in the Crusades, World War I and many other ancient battles. This went on for about a year, and after that the dreams became much more "normal," as I call them. But I've also had dreams of being on space ships and very futuristic settings. Theo tells me that my next life on Earth will be as a pilot on board one of 17 Earth starships in the 3400 era. Remember that we are in a special space-time continuum, and all of our lives on Earth are occurring at the same time as time is an illusion to us.
If you have a disturbing dream, you can say (or whisper) out loud, "I request a Most Benevolent Outcome for anything this dream pertains to in my physical life, thank you!" I've even requested these MBOs, as I call them, in the middle of dreams. It will mitigate and lessen the challenge that perhaps is coming your way.
In many of these dreams, I've found that we mix past, present and future when we are in a quantum state. This is done to give us information-those messages from our souls that I previously mentioned. Even now, there are still dreams that I have no idea what they mean, but I write them down anyway; and I try and go back periodically and read them as the mere physical act of recording the dreams helps us understand the messages on a subconscious level.

7. Recording our dreams prepares us for an easy transition.
The astral body at death, I've been told, is the same as the one you use during your travels across the universe. You are just no longer tethered. Recording your dreams helps you to feel comfortable and not frightened when you transition.
Let's now look at the practical steps to remembering your dreams. I've heard many people say they don't dream, but that's not true-everyone does. It's just that they don't make it a priority to remember the dreams. First, go to your local variety store or supermarket and buy a notebook containing the largest number of pages. You are making a physical commitment. Next, use a penlight with brightness large enough to see in a dark room and a pen with ink dark enough to see on a dimly lit page.
Each night before bed, open the notebook and write the next day's date and what town or city you're in-again, reinforcing your desire physically to remember your dreams. I normally set my penlight on top of the dream dictionary. At this time, say out loud, "I wish to remember my dreams tonight," or even better, "I request a Most Benevolent Outcome to remember my dreams tonight, thank you!" This lets your guides know you're serious about remembering your dreams.
Then, if you awaken in the middle of the night, get up and take your notebook, light and dictionary into another room so you won't disturb your bedmate, and write the dream, or dreams, down. Use the dictionary to look up the symbols. You might only remember an image, or a couple of words-that's fine, write it down. I still have nights where I don't recall any dreams, but the most dreams I remember writing down in one night were nine. Some dreams will be very detailed and you'll write a whole page about them, yet others, just a sentence.

 

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Personal Growth Project: 10 Small Ways To Improve Your Life In The Next 30 Days

It does not take drastic changes to see improvement in the quality of your life. And, you don't have to wait years to see the measurable results that come from even the slightest positive change.
All you have to do is take small steps, and take them consistently.
In this article I give you 10 small ways to improve all areas of your life in the next 30 days.

Strengthen Your Spirit
Set your alarm a minute earlier every day for the next 30 days. Then make sure that you get out of bed as soon as your alarm rings and use that time for prayer and meditation. In 30 days you'll be spending thirty more minutes with God than you are right now.


Enhance Your Physical Environment
Take a look around your home. What are 30 things you've been "meaning to do?" Fix one of those things each day. Here are some examples:

• A light bulb that has burned out.
• The stack of mail piling up on your desk.
• The plastic food containers that fall out every time you open the kitchen cabinet..

Boost Your Happiness
What are 10 small things you enjoy doing? Make a list and do at least one of these things every day for the next 30 days. Your list can include things such as:

• Taking a bubble bath
• Having a chat with your best friend
• Read a few pages of a juicy romance novel

Enhance Your Personal Development
Make it a point to learn at least one new thing each day: the name of the person who takes your lunch order, a new word in a foreign language, or the capitol city of a state you'd like to visit. If it's time for bed and you can't identify anything you've learned that day, take out your dictionary and learn a new word.

Increase Your Financial Well Being
Use paper money to pay for all your purchases over the next 30 days. Put all of the change you receive in a jar and save it. At the end of the month, see how much money you have accumulated..

Manage Your Time Wisely
What are 5 ways that you regularly waste your time? Over the next 30 days, limit the amount of time you spend doing those things. Here are a few examples:

• Limit your television time to 30 minutes per day
• Spend no more than 30 minutes a day on social media sits
• Spend no more than twenty minutes a day checking your email.

Improve Your Health
Take the 10,000 steps challenge. Wear a pedometer and walk 10,000 steps, every day, for the next 30 days. Every step you take during the day counts toward the 10,000 steps:

• When you walk from your bedroom to the kitchen for breakfast
• When you walk from your car into your office (try parking further away from the door each day)
• When you leave your desk to talk to a co-worker (instead of sending an email)

Build Better Relationships
Identify 3 actions that you're going to take each day, for the next 30 days, in order to strengthen your relationship. These can include the following:

• Say "I love you" and "Have a good day" to your significant other every morning.
• Hug your significant other as soon as you see each other after work.
• Go for a twenty minute walk together every day after dinner; hold hands.

Build Social Connections
Connect with someone new every day for the next 30 days, whether it's by greeting a neighbor you have never spoken to before, following someone new on Twitter, leaving a comment on a blog you have never commented on before, call your mom and ask her about her day.

Enjoy Total Life Well Being
Taking just one small action step a day helps you to build momentum toward a better you.

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Selfies: Why Are Some People Obsessed With Selfies?

Through the introduction of social media, people have been able to express themselves in ways that were not available in the past. People can share how they feel, where they are and where they are going, amongst others things.
But one is not limited to words when comes to what is taking place in their life, they can also take pictures of themselves. And while one can share pictures of where they have visited or the time they have spent with friends or family, another option is for them to take close up pictures of their face.
When one takes these kinds of pictures, they might be in front of something significant but at the same time, they might not. The primary focus of the image is then their face and what is taking place behind them is therefore irrelevant.
A Matter Of Degree
However, although some people might share a close up image now and then, there are other people who share them on a regular basis. There are also going to be people who don't share many 'Selfies', and then this may change for a certain period of time.
This shows that this is not black and white and how people's photo sharing behaviour can change. And when someone increases the amount of Selfies they share, it is going to stand out more than it would if someone is always sharing them.
A Behavioural Change
It stands out because their behaviour has changed and while another person's behaviour may stand out, it is normal. There may have been a time when their behaviour would have stood out but as time has passed, it is probably what people have come to expect of them.
So when it relates to someone who has changed their behaviour from that of someone who rarely shared them, to someone who is, more or less, constantly sharing them, it could be said that one's emotional state has recently changed.

Emotional State
This could be a sign that something minor has occurred in their life or it could be something far more significant. Their pictures could then be a cry for help and a way for them to receive some kind of support and validation during a challenging time in their life.
And through the responses that one receives from the Selfies they share, one will then be able to change how they feel. The affect they have on their emotional state could make a massive difference and play a part in one being able to get over a tough period in their life.
Example
One may have been through a break up and therefore not only do they feel bad, but their self image may have been affected. The responses they receive from others cause them to feel better and to reinforce their self image.
Another Outcome
This could also go the other way though, as one might not get the responses they desire. Or the external feedback that one does receive from others might work in the beginning but as time passes, it might start to wear off.
The law of diminishing returns is then at work and one will need to do more in order to experience the same effect. So one might start to take more Selfies or they could even go even further and come to the conclusion that they need to change their appearance.
Appearance
This could be a new hair style, different makeup, a tan or even some kind of cosmetic enhancement. Here, one has allowed the opinions of others to define how they feel and their level of self worth.
And while human beings are interdependent and therefore need to receive positive feedback from others, one is going to create problems for themselves when they become dependent on the views of others.
Dependent
Here, one is in a position where they are no longer in control of how they feel or how they see themselves. And when one is always posting Selfies and this doesn't relate to the odd occasion, they could also be in the same position.
The Modern Day World
One argument could be that posting Selfies is just a reflection of the modern day world and is a consequence of modern technology and there is probably an element of truth to this. However, just because something has become normal or is a common occurrence, it doesn't mean that it is therefore healthy.
For one thing, today's society doesn't exactly entourage people to be themselves or to realise that they are enough. And people's childhoods rarely set them up to feel that they are enough or give them the ability to regulate their emotions.
Emotional Regulation
These two factors can then cause people to be dependent on the views of others when it comes to how they feel and see themselves. So when one can't regulate their emotions, they're going to need to find ways to regulate how they feel. And posting a Selfie is one way for someone to regulate their emotions.
Two Sides
And while one may have a self image that is relatively strong in the beginning, through opening themselves up and looking for validation from others, it could start to diminish as time goes by. One can begin to base their value on how people respond to their images.
This shows that it is not just the people who lack a strong sense of self and are dependent on others who can be drawn into this; it can also have an effect on people who were initially strong. The reason they were sucked in could be due to a current challenge in their life.
Conclusion
So then, posting Selfies is clearly not something that is black and white, there are many different factors involved. And taking pictures of oneself and then sharing them with the world is not something that one should feel ashamed of.
One is entitled to share pictures of themselves, however, it will be important for one to be aware of why they're doing what they doing and the affect it is having on their life. And if one is experiencing some kind of challenge, is unable to regulate their emotions and/or has a disempowering self image, then it will be important for them to reach out for the right support.

Prolific writer, thought leader and coach, Oliver JR Cooper hails from the United Kingdom. His insightful commentary and analysis covers all aspects of human transformation; love, partnership, self-love, and inner awareness. With several hundred in-depth articles highlighting human psychology and behavior, Oliver offers hope along with his sound advice. Current projects include "A Dialogue With The Heart" and "Communication Made Easy."

 

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Why We Should Celebrate Failure More Often

It is not every day that we get to celebrate failure. Yet, to succeed, we must also learn to acknowledge failure. Every major athlete, businessperson, or politician, has had at least one devastating failure that catapulted them to success. Think about the years when Steve Jobs was in the wilderness, typically between 1989 and 2002. This time allowed for self reflection, before eventually coming on to relaunch Apple, which has grown to be among the world's most recognizable brands. Now, Apple has sales of over 400 million dollars a day, and shows no signs of stopping, despite the death of its founder.

And yet, we are often inundated with images of success by the media, that we often think that the stars we see on our media are products of overnight success. So, how can one learn from failure, embrace it, and then ultimately, use it for success later on in life?

1. It is important to acknowledge that you have failed.

This is the first step in the journey to success. Accepting your failures enables you to learn in which areas you made a mistake, and in that way, you can correct those mistakes slowly by slowly. Albert Einstein once said that stupidity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. This couldn't have been truer. Too often, we deny that there could be a problem, or that everything is fine, but in the end, this bottling up can lead to depression if not handled well.

2. Work on the areas where you have failed.

Once you have acknowledged that you have failed, you can then begin to work on the areas that need improvement. This may involve a counselor, or trainer, or therapist. A friend who has your best interests at heart could also help you. However, you should be open with the people who are helping you, so that they will not use it against you, or backbite you, even as they are helping you.
Failure is something that should be celebrated, for it is the springboard to success. Too often, we are shielding our young people from failure, and ironically setting them up for failure. A butterfly is only able to change from lava form to an insect because it struggles hard to get through the small hole in the egg. If one opens the egg for the lava, it will drop down and die. So too must we view failure.

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The 3 Most Charismatic Attitudes

Recently my single friend, Tobe, was recalling a story of his current wife, Jen, of 15 years. She told of how the two first met. Just the previous night before they met, she told of how she was on a date with another man. After that first date with the other man, she came away thinking that other man was the most clever person on the planet. Then the very next night on her first date with my friend Tobe, Jen told of how he made her feel. She said and I quote, 'He made me feel as if I was the most clever person on the planet.'
Wow what a difference in those two dates, huh?

It sounds as if Tobe did a lot more listening and focusing on Jen as a person than the other fellow. Needless to say he took a real interest in her and created a lasting bond. Jen walked away from their first date with a much deeper connection and a lot more memorable experience than her first date with the other fellow.
What are the 3 most charismatic attitudes? Humility, Enthusiasm, and Curiosity.
Without even being on that first date with Tobe's wife, I imagine that the other fellow did a lot more talking about himself than focusing on her. I'm sure he probably had a great time and came away feeling good about himself. But what about Jen? How do you think she came away feeling from that date? Probably feeling pretty good about him but not so much about herself. That first date fellow probably overlooked the humility part of one of the 3 most charismatic attitudes.

Have you ever watched a TV interview where the interviewer or the host did more talking about themselves than their guest? It is really boring and the ratings are not very good. After all, the interview should be focused on the interviewee. The other date fellow should have focused on Jen and not himself. The ground rules for connecting with another person are pretty much the same as when interviewing. Get the person talking, actively observe, actively listen, give feedback and encouragement, and make sure you listen more than you talk.

The 2nd great attitude is enthusiasm. As far as enthusiasm is concerned, that's pretty much self-explanatory. What I mean is not very many people (as least not many people I know) are attracted to non-inspiring, non-passionate, dull, uninformed, aloof type people. Now don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily mean total gungho, all out type A personality about everything. Simply just very interesting and full of life about certain things. A certain interesting, caring attribute about something certain in your life. That person can be enthusiastic about an idea, enthusiastic about your children, enthusiastic about your spouse, enthusiastic about your future, enthusiastic about your job, and so on. You get the picture.
The 3nd great attitude is curiosity. Do you remember being a curious child? You know what I'm talking about. As a child or adolescent growing up we were always asking 'Why?' Why this and why that and why did that happen this way. Why, why, why. Always asking 'Why' is a curious attitude that is attractive when combined with enthusiasm and humility.

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