Survival, Healing and Choices

I have been following a very interesting, sad yet uplifting, blog recently.   BuckWheatsRisk is an abuse survivor, and her blog details some of her story, what she endured, how she survived, her healing process and her steps to her new future as an abuse survivor.

She was today awarded “The Versatile Blogger Award” and she has only been writing for a few weeks.  This is testament to her courageousness to risk,  disclose and put ‘pen to paper’.

If this blog tells me one thing it is that everyone has a choice.  Yep, life can be good, bad and ugly.  However, everyone has the choice to:

• issue punishment or extend forgiveness
• inflict wounding or bring healing
• curl up and ‘die’ or become strong and live
• speak curses or pronounce blessing
• harbour a poverty mentality or open our minds up to abundance
• hide in the darkness of our shame or step out into the light and experience some freedom
• reject others or ourselves, or receive/give acceptance
• cut ourselves off from others or enter into relationship/community
• live out of our old life, or experience a new life.

Bringing positive choices into our lives is not always easy, but we all have a choice.  It is up to us.

Congratulations BuckWheatRisk on your award.  I hope you continue to make positive choices in your life and be a leading example to many others.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Down

I had several photos that I felt could have matched this week’s theme.  In the end, I decided to post a photograph of me looking down the side of a canyon.  I spied this vehicle, which had also made a trip down into the canyon, probably as a result of a wanton act of destruction.  Unclaimed, rusting and lonely, this vehicle could also be described as “down and out”.

Down and Out

Weekly Photo Challenge: Regret

I think eating all these chillies would bring about a moment of regret the next day!!!

Photography from Germany by lindenstrasse

Reblogged from art-profiles.com:

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Beautiful photography by lidenstrasse where you could lost yourself. See more in www.lindenstrasse.at

Really loved these photographs so have reblogged so that you can enjoy too.

Guest Post: Kris Mathis

Reblogged from Nick Exposed:

Young Boy Baffles Reporters Last week my wife and I were sitting at home watching T.V. together. As I began to flip through the channels I caught a reporter beginning to tell a story about a man who nearly drowned in a swimming pool. I found this story to be very powerful and I want to share it with you. The reporter began to tell about a man who jumped into a pool head first. He didn’t realize that he jumped into the pool on the wrong end. Instead of diving in on the deep end of the pool, he dove in on …

Thanks to Kris, and to Nick Exposed for posting this. Very moving and inspirational. I hope I am the person who says “Go on, give it a go”.

The One Lovely Blog Award

Wow, I have been given the One Lovely Blog Award by Carol at Adjusting Your Focus

What an honour.  I am so thankful that my photographs have inspired another in some small way.  I’m still learning and developing my photographic skills every day.  The Weekly Photo Challenge from WordPress is a great discipline for me.  I’m also posting photos as My 2012 Photo Challenge.

One of the things I love about blogging is the ‘relationships’ that you start to make.  People take time to encourage and that is inspiring in itself, when so many people live such busy lives.  Thank you to everyone who has commented on my photos and provided encouragement.

I am following several sites that are of interest to me, and because of the way that they inspire me, I’m passing on this Lovely Blog Award to them too.

David Heilman

Photo Nature Blog

Project 365 by Kenneth Todd

Creative Mom who Loves Photography

Nick Exposed

IngaPhotography

Weekly Photo Challenge – Hope

I love the way nature fights to survive.  It plans ahead.  Here is my interpretation of hope;  there is a hope in knowing that there is a cycle to things.

Winter will turn to spring, spring will blossom into summer, summer will wilt into autumn, autumn will mellow into winter.