Today I got a letter from my father. we haven't talked in over 15 years. In fact, I have little to no memory of him from my childhood. It's like I grew up basically without a father. I decided since I have so much time on my hands, I should use some of it to get to know him.
It was pretty strange reading a letter from a man I know nothing about, but who is my father. It was short and he offered his support to me. I am looking forward to finding out if we have anything in common.
Today was also the first day of a 7-day speed-reading program I started. The results blew me away. Today I read two books (about 600 pages together) in about an hour and a half! Everyone I have talking to about this is amazed at the amount of pages I read, but assumes that I must have comprehended very little of what I read. The TRULY amazing part of it was that I was able to comprehend just about EVERY thing in the second book and most of the first book!
I am so excited about my new found speed-reading ability. I'm practically bouncing off the walls. Usually when I am really excited about something I get really animated when I talk about it. People usually just kind of look at me like I am crazy. I am extremely enthusiastic when it comes to self-improvement. I just can't ever get enough of it and I have a burning desire to share all of my successes with everyone else. I figure, if it brings that much joy and helps to improve the quality of my life, then it should do the same for others, right? I mean - how awesome is it to be able to speed-read!
My mind is reeling with all the potential knowledge I can cram into my head in a tenth of the normal reading time. I am ADHD and for some reason, I seem to get way more out of reading using these new techniques than I did reading the old way. The trick I am learning is how to read down the center of the page, instead of reading from right to left.
You can bet that I am going to be telling everyone about this. How many people do you think I can get to take this 7-day program? I will update my progress. I already have one guy super excited about it, too.
I am still going strong on Operation Success. I believe this is day 6. Only 22 more days until they officially become habits. Remembering to accomplish all of them is becoming easier and I am loving not only all the writing I am doing, but also all the spiritual growth I have been experiencing. By staying consistent to not only the daily scripture study, but also taking the time each day to specifically study Jesus Christ.
Church is allowed to be held on Wednesdays in here. I am noticed that I could feel the Spirit stronger and I felt more like I had a direction in my spiritual path of progress.
Another thing that is making a difference is the breathing techniques and meditation I am doing. I have not talked about this much. I read about a way you can control your breathing to activate the body's lymph system in one of Tony Robbins' books. The lymphatic system works with the circulation system and immune system. It's basically a waste transportation system. By breathing a certain way, you can "jump start" it, in a way.
Being locked up, my concern with my health and the desire to preserve my body has increased dramatically - as I am sure you can imagine. Being around some many people, constantly in a closed environment, is pretty much a breeding ground for disease. The last thing you want is to get really sick in prison.
Tony Robbins said if you do this breathing exercise two times a day, once in the morning and once at night, you will be supercharging your immune system. It helps your body accelerate its process of purging toxins.
The key is 1-4-2.
Breath in for 1 count
Hold for 4 counts
Breath out for 2 counts
For example – if you were to breath in for four seconds, then you would hold your breath for sixteen seconds and then breath out for eight. You wold want to do this about 10 times.
I have had a few people try this exercise and they have gotten sick right away. this is because their body's waste system is being charged up and starting. There are a lot of toxins in our bodies and they need to be eliminated. Staying consistent and developing this into a habit will be one of my core strategies to maintaining my health.
I knew I should obviously include daily exercise, but lately I have just been lazy when it comes to that. today I finally was able to get my "real" shoes. I am going to run a couple of laps this weekend, if my visit does not go through.
In prison, the issue you these really crappy deck shoes that last about three months. they have no support in them and are very painful to walk in and next to impossible to run with. I was told that during the summer months, they melt.
We have a Commissary in prison where you can purchase additional, prison approved items if you have money on the "books." Now that I have some real shoes, I am more motivated to get out there and start building up my cardio. the only thing that would prevent me from running this Saturday is if I get a visit from my family in the morning. It will be my first visit ever since I have been here. I am so excited to talk to someone who is not a felon.
My whole family is visiting near by these first two weeks of February. All of my sisters had babies in the last five months of 2010. I am sure they are having a blast together. I think it is a blessing that they had them so close together.
It goes without saying that my family is my lifeline. I'm ashamed to admit I completely took them for granted before I self-destructed my life. we were always close, at least we were what I THOUGHT was close, at the time. Now that I am in prison, we have become closer than I ever dreamed possible. I had no idea I was so loved and cherished by my family. It was unfortunate that it took something like this to facilitate it, but I am so grateful that we are close now. This life is but the blink of an eye and the only thing we are taking with us, when we leave it, is our relationships.
Make sure you take the time to tell your family that you love them. Love equals time. Write an email. Make a phone call. talk only about them. I am terrible about constantly talking about myself. People love to talk about themselves, so give them the blessing of asking them questions so they can do just that. I promise you, it will make their day. They might even be curious as to why you are suddenly so interested in them!
I want to end this day with a prayer in my heart that we can all take a moment this week and express our thanks to our loved ones, by giving them the one thing they want most...our attention.
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