METAMORPHOSIS

Self-Confidence Journal exercise: Getting reconnected with your gifts
Make a list of all of your gifts, all of the abilities that are especially yours. If you don’t remember what they are then think back to your childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. What did you enjoy doing? Singing,  dancing, drawing? How did you like to express yourself? [...]

First record what you are ashamed of. For example, “I am ashamed that my daughter does not live with me.” Then write down the reasons you are ashamed. For example, “A mother should have custody of her daughter; people will think I did not fight for her, that I gave up. People will think that [...]

“The mission of Face Forward is to provide facial surgical reconstructive services for women and children who have been victims of violence through gang aggression or domestic violence.”
Face Forward was established in 2007 to provide pro-bono physical reconstruction for battered women and children victimized by domestic or gang related violence. What a wonderful way to [...]

Living with DV often leads us to focusing on the struggles, focusing on the problems, and or focusing on the negative.
These struggles are necessary to make us stronger so we can progress. Problems give us an opportunity to grow. Every struggle makes us stronger.
Every setback gives you and opportunity to step up.

In support of the definition of domestic violence that states that domestic violence happens in all economic strata, the former mayor of White Planes New York and the actor Mel Gibson were both recently sentenced for domestic violence. Unfortunately, such light sentences hardly serve as a deterrent. Yet it is still gratifying to know that some victim has [...]

Domestic abuse teaches you to lie.
You lie to yourself in the form of denial to protect yourself from the horrors you have experienced.
You lie to your friends, family, and coworkers to spare them from being burdened by your ordeal.
You lie to your abuser in an effort to keep him/her happy so you wont get hurt.
Did [...]

Journaling is a wonderful way to combat denial. By keeping a journal you can hold on to just how severe events really were at the time, even as your mind struggles to diminish them. A journal allows you to establish a more reliable history. You will find that as you begin journaling about current situations [...]

It may sound a bit cliché but counting your blessings really works. Focusing on the positive helps you stop dwelling on the negative. The more you think about good things the more prominent they become and the more you ignore the bad things the more inconspicuous they become. You cultivate this optimistic attitude by taking [...]

All of your emotions are OK. Don’t let anyone, even you, tell you that you “should” feel this or “shouldn’t” feel that. Your feelings are not to be controlled but understood as a message to you about your experience. So instead of reacting try being still and figuring out what your feelings are trying to [...]