A couple of years back, SkinnyBitch.net was looking for weight loss success stories from people who had read the book, Skinny Bitch, so I sent mine in.

Shortly thereafter, I received an email saying that I was chosen to be featured on the site! To say I was excited was an understatement. They were going to put together a video about little ole me and put it on the site. I had a phone interview (for the voice over) and then sent in some before and after pictures to be featured. I waited for about a month before contacting the woman again and last I heard, they were "in the midst of the production on my video and it should be done in a month or so". That was a couple of years ago and I still haven't seen that video. I also noticed that they hadn't added any new videos to the page, since, so maybe they decided to not do them anymore for whatever reason.

I found the email that I sent, recently, so for those of you that don't know my story, I figured that it'd be a worthwhile share:

Most people don't know the day their life changed, but I do: May 17, 2008.

Farm Sanctuary was having their annual gala and, compelled to check out the celebrity arrivals after hearing that one of my favorite actresses would be there, me and a group of friends decided to go check out the red carpet arrivals.

The events of that day changed my life forever.

A little history: I had been overweight almost my entire teenage/adult life. My weight never prevented me from enjoying my high school years--I had great friends, participated in the high school band, plays and other activities, but it did stop me from trying unfamiliar things and stepping out of my comfort zone. This continued even after I graduated. Throughout my twenties I had a good group of friends, but I still missed out on a lot because of my weight. It held me back from going after so many things I'd wanted to do and from achieving my full potential. Throughout my life, I tried many different diets, but none ever worked in the long term. This history, combined with the fact that most of my family is overweight, led me to believe nothing could be done--this was part of my biology, simple as that.

By January 2008 I'd hit a rough patch. I had just turned 30 and, standing at 5'7" and weighing at least 215 pounds, I was not in a good place mentally, emotionally, spiritually or physically. I knew I needed to do something to fix things, but what?

The answer came in May of that year, waiting outside that Gala.

Shortly after arriving, we met a photographer and his friend, Kyle. As we passed the time chatting, Kyle asked me if I was vegetarian (which I wasn't at the time) and then suggested that I read a book called "Skinny Bitch". I remember laughing at the name and thinking, "What kind of name is that for a book?" But the title stuck with me and I mentally filed it away to look into later.

The next day my friend and I went to pick up a copy of the book and it took me less than a day to devour the contents. Captivated by the material, I spent the next two weeks researching everything I could on veganism, weight loss, nutrition and animal advocacy and on May 29, 2008, I officially banished all animals products from my life and my body.

One year later, I was a totally different person. I was down 70+ pounds, felt happier and healthier than I'd ever been before and for the first time, I was fully at peace with who I was. My weight was no longer holding me back from being who I wanted to be and a whole new world was opening up to me: I was getting out there and trying new things, having new experiences and was more conscious of things going on around me and of what I put into my body.

Now, almost four years later, I'm proud to say that I have successfully maintained the weight loss and try to give back by, as much as I can, by volunteering and helping others to improve their own lives. Everyday is still a learning experience for me and I try to educate friends and family about nutrition, weight loss and conscious eating as well as try my best to open people's eyes to what goes on on Factory Farms, in an effort to help improve the lives of people and animals alike.

I often wonder where I'd be now if the day of the gala had gone differently. What if I hadn't gone to the gala in the first place? Would I still have discovered Skinny Bitch on my own? All I know is that my life would be vastly different than it is today and I will forever be grateful for the second chance, that I've been given, at an amazing life because of Skinny Bitch! <3

Thought this was written a few years ago, the sentiment is the same. I have gained about 10lbs, which I've been battling to take off again, but overall, I still feel as great as I did when I initially lost the weight and am still extremely grateful for everything that has come my way.

If we changed our thinking, could we change the world?

Over the past 5 years, I've read a lot of books on everything from dieting and nutrition to getting what you want out of life. Out of them all, there are three that have really resonated with me: Skinny Bitch, Naturally Thin and Meeting Your Half-Orange. If Skinny Bitch and Naturally Thin were the books that helped me to transform my body, then Meeting Your Half-Orange was the book that helped me to transform my soul.

Meeting Your Half-Orange is marketed as a guide to dating optimism but it's so much more than that. The author, Amy Spencer, talks a lot about the law of attraction and using dating optimism, to not only lead you to finding the perfect person for you, but to also get what you want out of life. It's a great read for anyone who wants more of life in general - single, dating or even married.

When people think "The law of attraction" they tend to think about The Secret, so naturally, when I was having a conversation with a friend about this book, it segued into a discussion about it. I've been wanting to read it but never seemed to have a chance and then she reminded me that the movie was streaming online. I found myself with a bit of free time this weekend, so I decided to sit down and watch it.

The basics of it is are that like attracts like: positivity attracts positivity, negativity attracts negativity. It makes a lot of sense. When things are going good, everything just seems to fall into place then one bad thing happens and everything seems to go down hill. Once that one bad thing happens, how do you react? I know that my whole attitude would change and I'd go from feeling like I was on top of the world to thinking that the world was going to end. Of course I wasn't going to attract anything good when all I was putting out was negative energy.

I find the law of attraction fascinating. I could go on and on about this stuff, but there was  one section of the movie, that really stood out to me: how to use The Secret to change the world. You think I've lost my mind, right? Let me explain.

"I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there." ~Mother Teresa

Thought can be a very powerful thing; I'm sure you've experience this before yourself. You think about a person that you haven't seen in a while and shortly thereafter, someone else brings up their name in conversation, they contact you or you just happen to randomly run into them.

People are so intent on fighting for what they believe in, but do we ever stop and think about what type of energy we're putting out there? For the most part, we're "anti-this" and "anti-that" and no matter how good the cause, "anti" anything just brings about negative feelings. With all these people putting those type of feelings out there, can you imagine how powerful that is? By trying to help, we're actually just adding to the problem.

What if we came from a place of love rather than than a place of hate? What if we just changed our thought patterns and wording? We'd still be standing up for what we believe in, but going about it in a different way. Instead of imbuing the negative with power, we'd be imbuing the positive with it. Instead of being "anti-war", what if we were "pro-peace"? Instead of  being "against the death penalty", what if we were "for life in prison"? What if instead of being "against animal cruelty" we were "for the humane treatment of animals"? As Newton states in his third law, "To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction; for every 'anti' there is a 'pro', so why not embrace it?

We all have choices and how we choose to react shapes our lives. If we all chose to live our lives by coming from a place of love and compassion instead of a place of hate and judgment, I really do think we could make the world a better place.