Benefits of a Positive Attitude...About-Me

Benefits of a Positive Attitude…About-Me

As the owner of this site, respect-relationships, it is my honor and privilege to have you visit.

My name is Angela H. McGowan and for the past 15 years, I have worked in social services. My educational background is in Psychology and Counseling. Primarily I've been working with victims and their families. Victims such as children, teens and adults who have experienced rape, abuse, domestic violence, dating violence, and the list goes on.

My passion and desire is to help others have healthy relationships and to teach the benefits of a positive attitude in order to avoid the life experiences that I have personally endured.

Education has helped me understand most of it, but experience has allowed me to live it; therefore, it has definitely given me an understanding of what I am talking about concerning healthy relationships and the benefits of a positive attitude!

The purpose for the site is to promote HOPE and HEALING! I have been through the process! Doesn't everyone long to develop healthy relationships. Understand how to change your attitude into a positive one, therefore, reaping the benefits of a positive attitude...

Sure you do, although most people don't understand how to attain a healthy relationship, positive attitude, in order to live in the benefits of a positive attitude.

I come from feeling rejected to now rejoicing in the person I have become.

If I can do it, anyone can!

I was once a very negative and rebellious individual. Therefore, I was prone to having extremely poor relationships. Now I've turned all of that around and pour myself out to others, dedicated to help and assist with your healthy relationships and teaching the benefits of a positive attitude.

My life as a child was full of pain, rejection, and self-doubt. Being abused, physically and sexually, exposed to domestic violence, spending several months, which seemed like years in The Department of Children and Families. I was 15 years old, and my life had no meaning.The trauma I experienced while in-group homes and foster care was an unforgettable one.

At least now, I have the experience to relate to those who are there or have been there.

No matter where you've been, yesterday is gone and today is a new day!! Use your experiences in a positive way to help others feel loved and understood. Everyone desires to know that they matter and that someone cares...

I was not “taken” from my mother. At that time, you could take your “ungovernable” child to the Department of Children and Families and simply tell them you could not handle her and leave them there. So that is what happened with me. I had never been in trouble with the law, never been suspended from school, but did have a smart mouth... which apparently was a real threat to society...

I was a Rebellious Teenager looking for someone to understand me, tell me that "I mattered," and simply love "me". I had a brother at home that seemed to be getting the love and healthy relationship that I craved for but never felt.

However, on the outside, what you would see was a difficult child, because I was going to get you before you had an opportunity to get me.

This was my survivor mode.

I learned how to protect myself from rejection because it was so painful for me to deal with; therefore, I had to be the one to make you think I didn’t care.

In reality, I longed for healthy relationships and a positive attitude. It wasn't until the transformation that I began to understand the benefits of a positive attitude. I just someone to love me and let me know that I mattered and belonged, especially when I made mistakes.

I tried so hard to be "good" that I seemed to mess up everything I touched. Any relationship I developed crashed and burned. Always doing something to hurt the ones that I loved the most. So I gave up trying because I couldn't figure out how to make it work. They were right, I wasn't worth loving and so who cared what I had done.

The only people who seemed to accept me were the other rebellious kids like me. They weren't judgmental and their homes were dysfunctional so they accepted everyone. Kids with higher standards who came from homes of structure, saw people like me as bad influences and were not allowed to hang out with me.

On the inside, I craved attention, love, and acceptance. Not only when I was good but also acceptance when I had done something wrong! After-all, I am only human.

Have you ever tried to be good and never make a mistake?

Yeah..., not an achievable task. It's like trying to be quiet when everyone is asleep? You get the picture, all you do is make noise because that is all you're focused on. Seems like you make less noise when you don't try to be quiet. I was much like the old saying goes "a bull in a china shop".

Oh how I longed for someone to let me know that I was a good person; guide me and let me know that my actions needed to line up with who I really was. was desperate to understand how to become a positive person and reap the benefits of a positive attitude.

Unfortunately, no one saw that person...except for my Nanny. But she died when I was 8 years old. Nanny demonstrated the benefits of a positive attitude by living the example of a healthy relationship in the eyes of this child.

She gave me unconditional love, which would prove to be my foundation.

The first 8 years of my life, she poured so much love into me that I believe it helped mold me into the person I am today. Regardless of my trauma, pain, rejection, and misfortunes, nothing surpassed the love that she poured into me from the beginning of my life.

She believed in me and complimented me all of the time. I was the "apple of her eye" and she made sure that I knew that. I could tell her anything and it never changed the way she felt about me. If I was bad and had done something wrong, I wasn't afraid to go to her and let her know because I knew that she loved me and would never hurt me.

My experience left me longing to become a positive influence and show others how to enjoy the benefits of a positive attitude.

Again, only looking for a healthy relationship and seeking the understanding of changing my attitude and reaping the benefits of a positive attitude.

I felt like “broken relationships” should have been my middle name. Actually that is how I felt most of the time; broken, unloved, undesired, and useless! All I was looking for was a healthy relationship but I didn't know what that looked like or how to make one work.

Going through continued heartache guided me to where I’m at today. For me, when I was in my middle twenties, I began to seek change. I wanted to change in order receive the benefits from a POSITIVE attitude.

I will disclose many of my practices throughout the site, as well as, what I experienced while going through this ongoing process. Yes, it is an ongoing process. It was not an easy one, but it worked, and now here I am helping others to overcome their fears, insecurities, pain, hurt, guilt, rejection, and whatever else that holds them back.

However, I must confess I still have to practice what I preach. My daily practice consists of good thoughts, positive people, and positive internal communication...

In addition to needing a complete emotional and mental overhaul….I had two children to raise, by myself! With very little support and guidance, I certainly did not have the parenting role-model on how to raise children in a positive environment. Nevertheless, we survived; they are still living and now I have three beautiful grandchildren.

Almost forgot, I went to college during the time I was raising my children, overhauling my perspective and finding my purpose in life…whew, those were the days!

Helping others discover their destiny, purpose and happiness is one of the most fulfilling rewards for me. Therefore, I have dedicated my life to help others be all they can be while fulfilling their dreams and goals.

Let go of the past and press toward the future. It is understanding who you really are, not what you have been through in your past that makes you an awesome person.

My philosophy is much like the “pay it forward movement.” Do something good for someone else because it is the right thing to do. You can tell whether your motive is right whenever you do something for someone out of a desire to “do the right thing” because you never expect anything in return. If you are in need and they don’t “return the favor”, you are not offended. That is when you know that your motive was pure.

Thanks again for visiting my site and I hope that you will find it helpful. Please write and let me know if there is anything that I can help you with; questions I can answer or comments I can clarify. Please continue to visit and review the new material that will be posted weekly.

Best Regards,

Angela :-)

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