I am finally in a transformation time. I have peace of mind and am making steps towards recovery. I have been fighting my losses but am freer yet uncertain about the future. I’m changing my perspective to access where I am now and looking for examples of innovation that expand my creative imagination. My steps are to allow my mindset to work consistently to keep moving forward.
I’ve finally realized that I have a lot of issues that need help! I was able to find those resources through the mental health system here at San Quentin. Having no high school education, job skills, or a way to express my inner feelings deep inside my locked gates, I have since been allowed to express myself.
I finally raised my hand for help! I’d like to express my leadership skills with self-help tools. I used accountability, responsibility, compassion, and healing to see change inside myself. I became a student, a teacher, and a team member. I finally broke down the fences I put up as a defense, trying to be “Mr. Know It All.”
I need to keep a positive attitude to reshape and rebuild my character and work on communicating with others. Thanks to the Buddha meditation classes, I can now help the person behind me to see what’s in front of them, to learn and grow. I’m still nervous and afraid, but something keeps telling me to push daily.
I want to use my education and stand up prouder to thank San Quentin, who has turned me into a respected human being again. To Humans of San Quentin, their team took the time to see the “Beauty inside the beast.” I want to connect to all races and genders that might not feel accepted, where social media has given so many people false beliefs about the real dirty life. I’m very thankful we had great support and volunteers who stepped up and helped make it happen on time.
We all need each other to build up in this wonderful world of hope, and love. I would like to send my respect and prayers to Stanley “Tookie” Williams, the founder of the Community Revolution in Progress (CRIP). I truly thank my counselor for this opportunity to be one of the California Department of Corrections’ best Rehabilitation Prisons in California.
