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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 11, 2005 Finding success in happiness By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Despina Gurlides still can't parallel park. Eight years after Gurlides quit her job in the corporate world of New York City, divorced her husband of seven years, made a blind move from the East Coast to Marin County, Calif., and learned how to drive, the 51-year-old author and editor would rather walk than take her car. Despina Gurlides had one definition of success during her life in New York as the vice president of an entertainment company, but discovered happiness when she gave up the hustle and bustle of the big city to work for the Leela Foundation. Gurlides wrote about her experience in an anthology entitled "The Soul of Success." Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings On foot, Gurlides can make the short jaunt from her cottage on Fifth Street to all of the things she loved about the Big Apple - good restaurants, movies and theater - without the pressures she felt in New York as the vice president of an entertainment company and the wife of an investment banker. "All my life I wanted to be successful, accomplished, respected and wealthy - and by the age of 37 it looked like I had achieved my goals," she wrote in her contribution to "The Soul of Success: A Woman's Guide to Authentic Power," a compilation of stories that redefine the paradigm of success. "I should have been happy, but I wasn't." Each story in the book represents a type of success, and Gurlides' story is about freedom, she says. "I had all of this stuff, but it all fell apart," Gurlides said. "Now, basically, I love my work." Gurlides began working for the Leela Foundation when she lived in Marin County and, in November, the organization moved its staff and offices to Ashland. She came to the Rogue Valley after spending just a couple days "checking it out in Ashland" last August. "People are open here," Gurlides said. "They have an open mind, an open heart, and people can be really grounded." She, too, feels grounded. For the first time in her life she says she is "truly happy" and loves the opportunity the book has given her to share her experiences with other women. Jennifer Hawthorn, the co-author of "The Soul of Success," approached Gurlides a couple of years ago at an enneagram retreat after Gurlides talked about nine different personality types or egos. Gurlides' speech about the fear of failure that had plagued her for years struck Hawthorne as a strong story for "The Soul of Success" compilation. "I heard a story and knew that the woman behind it represented something I wanted to emulate," Hawthorne said. "I intuitively felt that she was a remarkable woman when I met her, but when I heard her tell the story that's shared in my book, I knew she had something important to share with other women." A long-time writer, Gurlides had no apprehension about writing an eight-page essay titled "What Do You Really Want?" that shared her experiences - good and bad - with others. When the book, published by Health Communications Inc., came out in 2004, she sent more than a dozen copies to old friends in New York and the Bay Area. She hopes other women are inspired by all of the stories included in the book, not just hers. "People need to listen to their hearts," Gurlides said, "even when your heart is telling you to do something that makes no sense." Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc libor rate Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress afsa studentloans home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms fasa student loans Matchmaking & Dating Scripts African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation wholesale diamonds Currancy Exchange web conferencing Online Casinos Community Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams