Relapse Prevention

I am a former felon who paroled July 3rd 2001 on good behavior. The recidivism rate for former felons is over 75% in the U.S. today. Recidivism is basically relapsing into a former condition or behavior. I have not been back to prison since I paroled nor engaged in such behaviors. This is not due to luck but intention. When I was in prison I decided that I would get out and never return. This is how you choose an intent. You assess, make a choice, and then cultivate that choice with actions.

The simplest way to cultivate a choice with actions after deciding is to get with people doing what you just decided to do. Upon my parole, I decided to hang with all non-criminals: People that didn’t break the law and believed in being a decent person. I hung out in churches, network marketing conferences, community meetings, city colleges, libraries, and with elders. I volunteered, read books on changing behavior, talked to former inmates that successfully got acclimated into society, received spiritual counseling, etc. Any suggestion made to me by those not going to prison, I considered. Rich or poor, I did not care. I was not going back to prison.

As I hung out in these environments and met people who were not career criminals, I began to learn that I had to change my thinking. Without doing this I would have never been able to stay in this new world of people I found. I would have eventually went back to old ways. I had to learn to assess myself, how to critique myself, as well as receive constructive criticism, then adjust or change what I did not like or want in my life anymore. It was a day by day, step by step process. I literally saw myself transform before my own eyes. I became a different man: a man that wanted to know how to build a stable, healthy, happy, and fulfilled life. I’m still learning and practicing this 18 years later because you should never stop learning and growing better.

1. Assess

2. Make a decision

3. Get with people living the decision you just made.

4. Be humble like a child and learn all over again from people and books.

5. Implement and repeat.

When I learned to do this, I learned how to break stats that say over 75 percent of people that parole return. I have not returned because I am not the same man anymore. I am constantly pushing myself to evolve and become more.

No matter your current state you can change, evolve, and break stats!

#eternal