Who we are & why we are

Welcome to the gallery site of Broken Light Collective. We are artists of all levels and abilities who are affected by mental illness. We create and we share our work for the therapeutic benefits to us, as well as others who may be struggling and feeling scared and alone. Together we can move from disconnected to collective.

Photo taken by contributor Lori Goodwin who has suffered most of her life with Complex PTSD, anxiety, and depression. She has had many people in her family also struggle with mental health challenges — including anxiety, depression, OCD, and schizophrenia. Three of Lori’s four children also suffer differing combinations of anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, and possible Bipolar. Lori is a long-time single mother who’s had very little in the way of resources except courage and resilience. Photography has become a therapeutic outlet, providing a valuable tool for coping and anchoring in the present moment.

About this photo: “Path through trees at Dungeness Split, Olympic Peninsula:

Ancient pain terror grief
stuffed and locked
in a heavy
old
wardrobe

Life
unleashes
a tsunami of debris
and I am
rammed slammed battered
bruised aching

Curled in a ball
on the bathroom floor
heaving with sobs
older than my children

Feel it
Feel it all
What you feel
will move you
change you
rearrange you

The pain is
exquisite
the whole world
shifts

I let it flow right through
me
continue on its journey
Watch in stunned
silence
as light slowly
dawns in the distance”

Find more from Lori at her blog.

_____

**Visit Broken Light’s main gallery here. Currently accepting submissions.

*Facebook & Twitter @BrokenLighCo & @DanielleHark. Follow for e-mail notifications.


6 responses to “Wooded Path”

  1. Tip Crawford Avatar
    Tip Crawford

    Hi Lori. I love your photo and your poem. With it, you wrote the words that I and I’m sure many others, feel. The path is worn and smooth but also, I see the tree ahead, in the center. For me, it symbolizes challenges, obstacles..the difficult times. It also says to me how our paths are rarely ever straight ahead. The crossed branches of two trees in the foreground are those things inside us that try to keep us from going forward. Wishing you and your family bring blessings.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Lori Goodwin Avatar

      Thank you so much for your kind words! Best wishes to you, as well.

      Like

  2. joannejerrell Avatar

    Beautiful job, lovely picture.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Say Cheese Avatar
    Say Cheese

    Lovely!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. traveller310 Avatar

    Reblogged this on traveller310 and commented:
    I’m crying, wonderful poem and picture

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lori Goodwin Avatar

      I’m glad – and sorry – that you can relate. Wishing you deep peace.

      Like

Please Join the Conversation!

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: