March 11th, 2026

Sending and Receiving Personal Signals

“If you will resolve to work each day for self-realization, your whole world can change…The two women you are, they can make you over.”

Pond’s Cold Cream Advertisement (Good Housekeeping, December 1947)

“Each of us transmits personal signals about our self-esteem very day in myriad ways.”

“But there is an important reason why we should give a second thought to our personal appearance, even when we’re alone: the inner joy we experience when we look our best.”

“Many women feel in their hearts that they have missed full realization. Yet they need not accept this–help is within themselves. You can feel it within you–an inner drive for happiness. The close interrelation between this Inner You and this Outer You, the almost uncanny power of each to change the other–can change you from drabness to joyous self-fulfillment.”

Pond’s Cold Cream Advertisement (Good Housekeeping, March 1949)

“…one of the most marvelous lessons you learn on a path of personal transformation is that when your heart is open to change, you’re able to recognize the personal signals of encouragement your authentic delf is constantly sending, no matter how unlikely the source.”

“Before my story began…” (Heather Houston 3-11-22)

“It is do coincidental, the Pond’s cold cream reference to a beauty tip my paternal grandmother shared with me. Grandma Houston had the most porcelain of skin well into her 70s. She shared that all she ever used was Pond’s cold cream at night. Amazing!” (Heather Houston 3-11-22)

“I found I took on another beauty technique from my Grandmother Houston, witch hazel. I have never been able to use an astringent as it always stripped my natural oil and made my skin shiny and irritated. The witch hazel is forgiving and still cleans the bacteria and surface oils without stripping my face. Thank you grandma!” (Heather Houston 3-11-26)

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–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 78-79 of 501.

I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.