YOUR PAST MISTAKES DO NOT DICTATE YOUR FUTURE.

As a former felon, I believed my criminal background was a huge mark against me in my employment search - however, I believe that I have reached a point where I can use my negative past towards a positive future. I am not thrilled to have to tell people about my past convictions, but it’d be impossible to explain what I have learned without. explaining how I came to learn these skills.

I used to live with many excuses... I have finally matched my actions with my intentions. I want to leave a legacy that my children can stand on. I want them to know that people can change and that EDUCATION can be a powerful tool to better your life. Change is possible. Every action we have is choice. I have learned to stop excusing my choices. We can change anything about ourselves and I hope to convey that message to others.

In my case, I realized my choices were misalignment’s with my purpose in life. I now live by 2 mantras - 1) Never underestimate the power to change yourself. 2) - Never overestimate your power to change others. We can only control ourselves and our own actions. There are ways to change your habits and change the thinking that supports those habits.

When you correct your mind, everything else will fall into place. If you work at correcting your mind, you can go from someone who has these habits - to being in a very different place, in a very short amount of time. Change doesn't have to be hard. We are conditioned to think that the harder you work, the tougher you are, the more you set goals - the more you will get done... but I don't believe that's necessarily true - it all boils down to simply changing the way you think.

I’ve heard a quote, I don’t know who said this - "A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step." I had to take that step. I had learned to think differently - to think softly, to be humble, to be non-interfering. Mark Twain said "Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed down the stairs one step at a time." I had become stuck in my own thinking - and my thoughts held me there. Basically there are two very large excuses I think we all carry with us - Just because you’ve lived with a particular habit for a very long time, does not mean that it takes a very long time to change it. If you are committed to that change, and believe in it - you can emerge from that staircase, one step at a time.

I had been suffering from a mind virus - thoughts that had accumulated in my mind and spread throughout my being that I had carried around with me since childhood. Mind viruses are just ideas that duplicate, infiltrate and spread - they had become things that I absolutely believed were true, when in fact, they were nothing more than thoughts. I had to reaffirm positive messages to myself every time a negative thought entered my mind. I learned to think rationally and calmly. I still struggle with self-doubt and some self-esteem issues, but I am much better than I had been... its a process - but its not as hard as I imagined it would be.

There is a wonderful quote from the original teachings of Buddha - "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts. It is made up of our thoughts. If one speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows like a shadow that never leaves." If I could tell other ex-offender's one thing - it's : CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK.

You don't have to be addicted to drugs or alcohol, or have gone to prison to relate to what I have come to believe... Maybe you are newly divorced, maybe you just have been laid-off...When a relationship or job ends, look at it as being pushed out so you can be pushed up. It may not feel good right now knowing you've got to start all over again. it may seem unfair and frightening, but just begin to realize there is a reason and season for everything. Great things, new things can happen if you can just hold on to your faith, positive attitude and self-determination to rise again. Sometimes a kick in the butt pushes us forward.