Beautiful Women: A View from the Heart: Stories of Inspiration to Help Mend a Torn World

By Charlie Garland

Beautiful Women: A View from the Heart contains inspiring, real-life stories of women who've helped another person - or many others - to uniquely change their life for the better. Each story is told by an inspired individual, about a woman who demonstrates "love-based values," but who has generally not received recognition for their inn

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Release date: May 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798889269649

Book preview

Beautiful Women:

A View from the Heart

Stories of Inspiration to Help Mend a Torn World

Charlie Garland

new degree press

copyright © 2022 Charlie Garland

All rights reserved.

Beautiful Women: A View from the Heart

Stories of Inspiration to Help Mend a Torn World

ISBN

979-8-88926-950-2 Paperback

979-8-88926-964-9 Ebook

This book is dedicated to my mother, Frances Garland Anderegg, for being the first and most consistent source of inspiration throughout my life. She is responsible for my understanding and my appreciation of what I call Love-Based Values. Readers will invariably ask, If your mother is such an inspiration, then why didn’t you write her story in this book? The answer is simple: each story in this book is about both the inspiring beautiful woman and the person whom she inspired. I did not want to write about myself here; rather, I wanted the focus on others. I will tell my mother’s story in a different way. The same holds true for my wife, Pauline Turley, who has given me extraordinary inspiration from the moment I met her. Pauline’s story is of course still emerging, but it will be presented in a truly unique and beautiful way…and in the near future.

Stay tuned.

Contents

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Introduction

Part 1

Living Your Best Life

Chapter 1

Ina Tchala

Chapter 2

Ana Oliveira

Chapter 3

June Tanaka

Chapter 4

Joyce Seidman

Chapter 5

Mary Ann Hornick

Part 2

Loving Others

Chapter 6

Denise Pagacik

Chapter 7

Carol Martin

Chapter 8

Nelda Ortega

Chapter 9

Sheila Ciulla

Chapter 10

Linda Landwirth

Part 3

Learning Life Lessons

Chapter 11

Bena Kallick

Chapter 12

Samira Ben Daly

Chapter 13

Stormy Simon

Chapter 14

Cheryl Pulford

Chapter 15

Allie Middleton

Part 4

Launching Out of Your Comfort Zone

Chapter 16

Mackenzie Newsome

Chapter 17

Augusta Wellington

Chapter 18

Alice Peck

Chapter 19

Thuan Le

Chapter 20

Marie Torre

Part 5

Leading Others on a New Journey

Chapter 21

Lisa Consiglio

Chapter 22

Jeanette Rossetti

Chapter 23

Esther Helfer

Chapter 24

Michelle Ferguson

Chapter 25

Phyllis Ingersoll

Conclusion

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Appendix

Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

—Viktor E. Frankl

There’s no such thing as a bad idea…unless it’s your only idea.

—Anonymous

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

—Margaret Mead

Introduction

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The world we live in is polarized—along political, social, economic, and many other contexts of life. That divide is not just bad, but it’s getting worse. It is creating a dystopian and dangerous place for gentle humans to live. Three months before beginning the formal process of writing this book, I held my two-day-old daughter in my arms for the first time. At that very moment, sitting in the dark silence of a hospital room with my wife sleeping in the bed beside my chair, it struck me. I knew I had to do something—leverage whatever talent and resources I could possibly access—to somehow improve the environment my child would grow up in. For my family and those I love, this became a mission.

The division in our society is fueled a great deal by hatred, fear, and ignorance. But a major reason why it’s getting worse is because of deliberate manipulation by social media and other technological communications platforms. I don’t want to paint too grim a picture for you, and I probably don’t have to, but suffice it to say, it’s not all rainbows, puppy dogs, and candy canes out there. Our world is torn right now, and that tear is hurting a lot of people you and I care about.

Despite this ominous setting, there is still tremendous beauty in the world today. There always has been. Before we begin losing sight of that, I want to highlight not just what it is and where it can be found, but how we can—and I would add that we must—produce more of it. I am driven to not only find it where it already exists, but I am committed to explore for where we, each and every one of us, can begin to create it ourselves. I believe this is possible, and I have chosen this unique platform to help make that positive future vision, ultimately, our reality.

This book is filled with real-life stories of people, all women, who have inspired others to greatness, success, or transformation. These stories are uplifting. They give us all hope. They set examples for how each of us may take up the same or similar mantle. There are some surprises, and you will find a slight amount of humor embedded in others. The individuals receiving the inspiration could be other women, or they could be men. I believe you will identify with at least one, and perhaps several, of them.

I deliberately exclude stories or individuals who are overtly political. Why? Because such a domain is simply too emotionally charged. It is a lightning rod for hatred, fear, and anger. We should acknowledge that these may be going on all around us, but the focus of this book is meant to be just the opposite. I don’t want that diluted. That said, many of the stories certainly include some level of controversy, uncomfortable subject matter, and even provocation. The title of this book is intended to be at least a bit provocative. A man writes a book on what’s beautiful about women. But he does so using a definition of beautiful that is not at all the first meaning that comes to mind, for most. The second part of the title—A View from the Heart—adds a bit of irony. Now, that’s not what I was expecting. This delivers an immediate lesson to the reader: Things are not always what they seem at first glance.

Unconventional very aptly describes my style. The unconventional twist is a common characteristic found in the fields of creativity and innovation. The innovation domain is perhaps the single most relevant term to describe my own world as my chosen business practice for the past twenty years. Throughout these stories, I reference elements of this innovation and creative thinking domain. These include tools, methods, principles, values, definitions, and guidelines common to those like me who practice and teach innovation, creativity, Creative Problem Solving (CPS), and the like. One of the simple mantras of creative thinking is to challenge conventional wisdom, and these stories of beautiful women do just that.

It’s important to correct a common misconception here. Innovation is not only about business, technology, designing products, or even making money. In its purest form, innovation is simply about creating new value. It is not exclusively used by corporate executives, professors, scientists, or computer geniuses. Innovation is something anyone can do. In fact, in the most intriguing scenarios, most people are already doing it. They just don’t realize it. Most of the people in these stories don’t realize they’re innovators, either. But they’ve looked at common situations, everyday objects, and ordinary people differently. And they’ve put them together in unique and surprising ways to create beautiful, new value for others.

A key part of my vision is to inspire people to behave, not just think, differently. Without action, little, if anything, will ever change in this profoundly challenged world. Intelligence, knowledge, strategy, values, and inspiration are wonderful elements for solving problems. But they alone are not enough. Nothing happens without execution. If new and desirable behaviors don’t occur, then we ultimately fail. Mending a torn world is neither a one-man, nor a one-woman, job. But it certainly does require us to take action. An integral part of my recent professional focus includes a priority around helping others to drive new behaviors. The models and methods I use have been heavily informed by research I’ve learned about through Stanford University Researcher B. J. Fogg, PhD. The insights he has shared from his twenty plus years of exploring human behavior and habits have significantly contributed to the underlying theme of hope this book intends to deliver.

Just one example of how I envision these new actions taking place is by way of the unwritten story within this book. That story is the one I believe will take place when I begin introducing these beautiful women, and their storytellers, to each other. At the point when this manuscript has already been written, edited, and approved for publishing, the plans are in the earliest stages of creating a network of this book’s beautiful, powerful, inspiring women. All of them demonstrate love-based values, and some of them have extraordinary synergies with each other, which is where future collaboration just makes great sense. I have pre-confirmed with each of the book’s participants that they are interested in being introduced to all the other participants, and especially those who have a clear, natural relevance to and alignment with each other. I believe, as you read this book, some of those natural synergies will become apparent. Some will inspire you. And one of the future opportunities for this book’s readers is to also get introduced to this same network. You can read more detail about these plans in the epilogue at the end of this book.

Each story is produced from a combination of online research and at least one interview with the storyteller. In most cases, that storyteller is the person who was directly inspired by the beautiful woman. Each storyteller brings their own interpretation to the stories of these special women. Through my interviews and research, I have been guided by the following question: What were the core values that drove this beautiful woman’s beliefs, thinking, choices, and, ultimately, her behaviors? Highlighting those values is a key part of how this book is constructed. The intention behind that structure is, of course, for the reader to be inspired to change their own thinking and behavior.

The lived values of each beautiful woman has resulted in some degree of success in the storyteller’s life. Thus, their own story is inseparable from the beautiful woman’s story. The reader benefits by understanding how the storyteller has been inspired by, and benefits from, the beautiful woman. My hope is that the benefit comes in the form of inspiration to the reader—to repurpose the same sort of values-driven behavior in their own and others’ lives.

I was motivated to write this book by many sources. I have had the gift of tremendous inspiration, myself, from many different women. Each one has played a different role in that inspiration. That said, I have chosen not to include my own beautiful woman story in this particular book. I will be sharing those stories through different means. I far prefer to shine the light on the many others who do show up for this book. Their powerful experiences, values, and story lines include a diversity that provides an intriguing portfolio of different inspiration flavors. From my own vantage point, however, realize that I have already mentioned one future beautiful woman in my life who is responsible for inspiring at least the timing of this book’s publication—my newborn daughter.

This book is not written just for my child. It is written for all those who have a similar hope for the world they and their loved ones live in. This includes people of all ages and walks of life. It is for those who see polarizing hatred all around, and may be losing hope, but have not yet given up.

Above all, this book will be especially valuable to those assuming a position of leadership in teaching, raising, coaching, mentoring, and otherwise inspiring children and young adults. These leaders may already be imparting education of skills, knowledge, and various tools or methods for applying them. But I see a particular challenge in how we are teaching the young people of the world about values. I am concerned about what values they are learning. I am concerned about the sources of these lessons. Some of the default teachers of values out there are the terrible events of the world that we all see. I believe educators want to teach the very best values to their students, and they want to do so in the most effective ways. The power of story should be one of those go-to tools in each leader’s toolkit. If you are in a position to teach life lessons to others and you would like to use stories with clear values to do that effectively, then you can find your favorite love-based values inside the many stories in this book to help make that happen.

This book is primarily organized by the values that are prominent in each beautiful woman’s story. The values, and thus the underlying chapters—stories—containing each, are grouped into five different parts: Living Your Best Life; Loving Others; Learning Life Lessons; Launching Out of Your Comfort Zone; and Leading Others on a New Journey. These five categories were inspired not only by a number of powerful books I have read in the past, but also by my having listened to, written down, and reflected on each of the stories I have heard from these amazing people.

Do I believe one book filled with inspiring stories, each highlighting the beautiful impact of love-based values, will really make a difference? Will such a resource all by itself mend a torn world? Of course, I don’t believe this book will do all that on its own. But it is meant to begin a process that compels the reader with a powerful sense of the possible and positive emotions, personified by real people, and focusing on both existing and future impact that there is hope. This is not a solution, in and of itself. I must admit, at best, all this book will do for now is move the needle. But ask any seamstress, and they’ll tell you: there’s no better way to mend something torn than by starting with moving the needle.

Part 1

LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE

1

Ina Tchala

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Giving Back to Your Community

Rural West Africa is among the most dangerous and life-challenging regions on earth. Olowo-n’djo—pronounced "olo-wand-jo"—Tchala was born and grew up here in Togo. His country is surrounded by Benin and Nigeria to the east, with Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire to the west. In recent years, all these countries have experienced dire poverty, poor infrastructure, lack of access to quality health care and education, and frequent violence as their norms (Nyssa 2019). Olowo-n’djo’s home near the town of Kaboli—a.k.a. Kambole—in the remote east-central region of Togo offered few of the opportunities common to most other developed countries (Information Technology Associates 2022). His people have always had to make do with what little value they could scrape together from the resources available to them. Life was a constant struggle to survive, let alone for any individual to thrive. Despite these challenges, Olowo-n’djo was being taught some of the most valuable lessons in life that anyone has ever learned. He would soon apply these lessons to his own life and the lives of many others around him.

You have to work hard; hard work is fundamental, Olowo-n’djo recalls his mother telling him repeatedly. And respect your family and our community.

Olowo-n’djo’s mother, Ina—her full name was actually Ina Abiba Agbanga Tchala—had an even more difficult life. She grew up an orphan after losing both parents in a car accident at the age of two. She worked as an indentured servant for the family that took her in and was denied even the basic right of education. At a young age, she worked in the fields, walking three or four miles each way, carrying anything she needed to have on her head. She worked constantly, both in the house and in the fields. She later worked in more skilled and productive labor, in other words, making things like clothes, jewelry, baskets, and food items to be sold at local markets (Alaffia, Inc. 2022).

Ina spent most of her life learning to process locally-available agricultural products into foods and other usable products. She learned, primarily from her mother-in-law—Olowo-n’djo’s paternal grandmother—to weave textiles into some sort of functional design that might make its way into another person’s end product, such as a purse or a trinket. Ina’s specialty skills and knowledge focused around food and indigenous resources. Some examples of these would be gathering wild honey and harvesting medicinal tree wood for dental care.

Ina developed these skills over years of learning and practice. She eventually used her knowledge to help other girls and women around her to learn, to apply, and to further enhance their own skills into useful activities through which they could all make a meager, but productive, living. She would sit with them in working circles for hours. She would show them how she did each activity, and then she would watch each of them try it themselves. Ina was their teacher, their coach, and their mentor. She shared her precious skills so others could benefit through using them. She also took in orphans, as well as young girls abandoned by their parents, and taught these young ones her trade.

Ina’s life, like virtually all others around her, was filled with challenge and stress, which was pretty much a constant state of being. Still, she persisted, she maintained her composure, and she did her very best to raise a family with good morals, values,