The Positive Image- Photography with a purpose

03/22/2017

The Positive Image- Photography with a purpose's cover photo

03/22/2017

The Positive Image- Photography with a purpose

11/02/2016

A letter from 48 year old, on my birthday, to 49 year old me.

The years go by so fast. Stay so close to God so that no more damage is done. Thank you God, so much. For this NYC adventure we are embarking on. Thank you for my husband and for my amazingly beautiful daughter. Thank you for this overabundance and thank you for the precious gift of sobriety.

49 year old me, I hope you have a book published. I hope Anna is caught up in math. I hope she has had a great experience with the NYC co-ops. I hope Martin has done something with his career move to develop his self-esteem and has improved his health. I hope that you have grown out of your comfort zone and made great connections in NYC. Most of all, I pray that you have stayed sober, alcohol and drug free, and debt free, and compulsive eating free. I hope you have grown closer to God and have found a good bible study to develop your relationship to him. I hope you have made 2 new friends.

10/03/2016

Hearing the Voice of God

Hearing the Voice of God

I have some really bad days here in New York. I feel like I am experiencing all of the stages of grief over having to leave this place that I am feeling a deep love for, like I would a family member.  Yesterday was hell.   Funny how some days old grief will resurface, wrapping itself like a snake

10/03/2016

I ask God to use me today. To give me the words and the spirit. To direct my thoughts and my actions. And to guard my heart. And most of all, to keep me sober and to be the mom that Anna needs. He has rebuilt me, and given me a life beyond my wildest dreams. I am not rich, or have an over abundance of money, but if He gave that to me, I would feed the poor and the homeless. But until then, I know that I am richly blessed beyond measure, and I do what I can. I am free today of alcoholism and drug addiction. I do know what it is like to have that relentless monkey on my back. I have been to hell and seen the devil, and I fled to Jesus. He has saved me and I love Him.

10/02/2016

Musings on childhood.

Musings on childhood.

Every September, I get this sweet anticipation for fall.  I pull out the Halloween decorations with excitement, because I can relive every  Halloween I have had since Anna was born, and the excitement felt as we purchased each decoration.  I pull out the skeleton in his cage, and remember the

10/02/2016

She was a world-famous photographer who overcame a very painful childhood. When she was 7 years old, she contracted polio which made her unbelievably sick, and caused her to walk with a limp for the rest of her life. Kids teased her, and even her mother was ashamed of her. To make matters worse, when she was 12, her father left the family and they never heard from him again. Instead of letting it destroy her, she channeled her pain into her photography.

Dorothea Lange

10/02/2016

The tapes we Play- or- songs on repeat.

Listen to the way you talk to yourself. Pay special attention for a day. Write down all of these messages. Don’t worry about how bad they sound inside your head, just get them out and down.

Do a series of self-portraits. Put your favorite one on the page. Go through your family albums and find a baby photo or a happy child photo of your self doing something you loved. Include this, too. It doesn’t have to be boring! Create doodles and colors around your words and images. Make art! Or not. Its up to you.
Ready?

09/20/2016

Timeline Photos

12/23/2015

Liquify Me

Liquify Me

What are your thoughts on this new policy?

12/11/2015

'I Jumped Off The Golden Gate Bridge'

'I Jumped Off The Golden Gate Bridge'

“The millisecond my hands left the rail, it was an instant regret.”

12/09/2015

YMCA of Greater Dayton

#staystrong

12/07/2015

Suicide. The power of God in me.

Suicide. The power of God in me.

When I was 18, I tried to commit suicide. I don't know why I have been struggling for weeks to type those words. Maybe somewhere inside of me I feel a sense of shame, or maybe it is owning a part of my past that is a difficult part of me. Either way, there it is. In all of its glory. I

12/07/2015

Fibromyalgia~ New Year, New Me! (hardly)

Fibromyalgia~ New Year, New Me! (hardly)

For as long as I can remember, I have been an energetic girl. Always looking for the next challenge. In the 80's, I rocked the leg warmers and the shiny stirrup- pant leggings with the body suits that went on top. I did aerobics until my shins felt like they would bleed. Then I had foot

10/03/2015

Geneen Roth

The writer Annie Dillard says, “how you spend your days is how you spend your life”. Be unquiveringly honest. Ask yourself how you want to spend your days. Since you’re going to be reviewing documents anyway, why not be aware of your breath and the ticking clock while you are doing it?

Whatever it offers, the reality of your day-to-day life has to be better than the self-inflicted misery you are creating through the stories you are telling yourself. It has to be better than the nightly binges and throwing yourself into the cycle of self-loathing and promises to stop eating so much.

Come back. Break the trance. Pay attention to your breath. Your arms. Your legs. Listen to sounds. The scrape of a chair. The whirr of the copy machine. Notice colors. The royal blue of a co-worker’s dress. The coffee stain on your boss’ tie. Wake up to the riot of life around you every second. The singer Pearl Bailey said, “People see God every day; they just don’t recognize Him.” What if every day was a chance to see a new version of God? What if what you needed was right in front of you and you were not recognizing it?
You already have everything you need to be content.

You can learn a whole new way to relate to food – and explore the foundation upon which you build your life and your relationships – at my next retreat, this coming November. Six days of immersion in constant support, endless kindness and ever present awareness. Such a blessing. Once you know those things are possible for you, you can never go back to believing that they're not. If this resonates with you, you can find out more here: http://retreats.geneenroth.com/fall/.

08/17/2015

The Queen Code

Queen, if it's not beautiful, useful or meaningful, release it with love

08/17/2015

A Mighty Girl

Wise words from Adele: "I have insecurities of course, but I don't hang out with anyone who points them out to me."

In our post, "15 Self-Esteem Boosting Books for Mighty Girls," we feature our favorite books that tell the stories of girls overcoming challenges to their self-esteem -- either from questioning themselves or brought on by disapproval from others. These stories will help to reassure your Mighty Girl that everyone wrestles with believing in themselves sometimes but that everyone is valuable in her unique and special own way.

To read our recommendations for children and teens, as well as several additional selections to help parents raise confident Mighty Girls, visit our post at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=4233

07/22/2015

about us

Does anyone you know have a great story of overcoming? It can be anything concerning the human condition and our struggles. Weight, body image, sexual orientation, addiction, whatever! I would just need a bit of your story, and I would come to you to get a great photo. Check out www.thepositiveimage.net if you need an idea of where I am going with this.

By the time I was 26 years old, I had overcome bulimia, alcoholism, and survived a suicide attempt. Now, at 46, I have experienced many more obstacles and challenges with my heath, as well as body image issues all over again. I have a 9 year old daughter, and through her, I have come to

06/08/2015

A childhood interrupted

A childhood interrupted

  The heat of the summer reminds me of my dad. He would always appear as the temperatures warmed, and by the time Fall came he was gone. I remember him dropping me off at Vena Wilburn Elementary school in 4th grade, and telling me goodbye. He was flying home to Texas. When I was

05/09/2015

21 Instagram images that will redefine your understanding of a 'Yoga Body'

21 Instagram images that will redefine your understanding of a 'Yoga Body'

What's a yoga body supposed to look like? We found lots of beautiful real yoga bodies thanks to the recent Instagram movement #myyogabody.

04/03/2015

Fibromyalgia & self-esteem

Fibromyalgia & self-esteem

I am trying to retrain my brain to see me in a new way, or see myself through a different, or healthier, lens. My dad, every where we went, for my entire childhood, was forever commenting on every single woman that walked by. She was "beautiful", or "had great legs", or beautiful toes". Or,

03/29/2015

JEFF BROWN

A depressed, messed up pilot takes his issues out on a plane load of innocents, and people express surprise that the company he works for didn't know. I understand the need to point fingers, but I don't know what anyone who walks past me on the street is thinking or feeling. It is such a masked world! What surprises me is that it doesn't happen more often, given the society wide prohibition against owning and admitting our personal issues, our shadow, our emotional pain and confusion. There is no one answer to the madness of the world, but I am certain that developing a practice of inviting- rather than shunning- people to share their pain with each other would go a long way to easing the suffering on this planet. There is so much misplaced aggression, much of it because we are conditioned to repress our anger, our grief, our confusion, in the name of social acceptability. For God's sake- when are we going to give others permission to take off their masks, disguises and adaptations and share their truths with their fellow humans? When are we going to realeyes that we are all in this together, that we are all hiding something fundamentally human below a needless bushel of shame? When are we going to sit down together and share our shadow freely, like friends on a confusing journey through time? It's like this giant avoid-fest that does little more than perpetuate suffering and insane behavior. I assure you- there are no thoughts, feelings or issues that someone else hasn't experienced. We are all traveling down similar roads. It's time for a new paradigm that begins by throwing our masks in the garbage and inviting one another to share our truths, warts and all. Invited Self-Revealing and Lovingly Supported Release would be a wonderful place to begin a truly authentic new earth.

03/22/2015

We are searching for people in the Triangle area of North Carolina who are willing to share their story. Message me if interested. Thank you!

03/20/2015

Proud2Bme | building a nation where confidence rules

Proud2Bme | building a nation where confidence rules

By Claire Trainor--When most people think about models, they think of tall, emaciated women strutting down the catwalk in clothing very few people would ever dare to wear. But France, the country many consider to be the fashion capital of the world, is beginning to change that.

03/15/2015

The Middle of Things: Advice for Young Writers

Keep it real.

As you age, you’ll notice that time is the weirdest thing in the world, that surprises are relentless, and that getting older is not a stroll but...

03/04/2015

New Year, New Me! (hardly)

Fibromyalgia

For as long as I can remember, I have been an energetic girl. Always looking for the next challenge. In the 80's, I rocked the leg warmers and the shiny stirrup- pant leggings with the body suits that went on top. I did aerobics until my shins felt like they would bleed. Then I had foot

03/02/2015

Shelly Slater

Sometimes these sayings are cheesy. But I liked this one.

02/28/2015

The Positive Image- Photography with a purpose

02/28/2015

The Positive Image- Photography with a purpose's cover photo

02/28/2015

Suicide

Suicide

When I was 18, I tried to commit suicide. I don't know why I have been struggling for weeks to type those words. Maybe somewhere inside of me I feel a sense of shame, or maybe it is owning a part of my past that is a difficult part of me. Either way, there it is. In all of its glory. I

02/27/2015

Real people and real stories designed to promote authenticity in a culture which glorifies perfection. Share your story!

02/27/2015

about us

about us

By the time I was 26 years old, I had overcome bulimia, alcoholism, and survived a suicide attempt. Now, at 46, I have experienced many more obstacles and challenges with my heath, as well as body image issues all over again. I have a 9 year old daughter, and through her, I have come to know

02/25/2015

Timeline Photos

02/25/2015

Timeline Photos