No matter what your perspective is, your perspective is right. The person who has hope, faith, vision, and optimism about the future, their perspective is right. The person that who is pessimistic, needs to see it before they believe it, and always questions themselves, sees things from a limited point of view. One perspective has discernment, given from light. The other perspective has unclarity, given from darkness. Both perspectives are right.

I often get asked by friends. What’s a day in the life look like, while in a Federal Correction Camp? People love to hear stories so they can try to imagine what it would be like, to lose the privileges of the free world. What it’s like to live in a large dormitory unit with the same sex, separated by a small 6 foot wall between each room.

You’re housed in a 5 x 8 room, that’s shared between you, and someone you don’t know, and don’t have a choice to be with. Each room consists of 2 iron beds, 1 iron desk with an iron seat to match, 2 plastic chairs, and white colored walls. Each day, you’re on a schedule dictated by the Bureau of Corrections of when you will awake, eat, and sleep.

Every two hours, the department of justice enforces correction officers to do what’s called a “count.” The officers come into the dorm. You must be standing at attention beside your bed while they walk through with clickers, and count up the herd to make sure no one has escaped between the various counts throughout the day. On the weekends, we are counted every 2 hours on the hour.

At night time, the lights go off at 10:00 pm, but the count will continue throughout the night. Correction officers come in pairs, flip all the lights on, and make their counts. To try and digest what this feels like…..set your alarm to go off every 2 hours at home, and then have all the lights in your home matched in accordance to all come on bright at the same time. People can’t even imagine what that does to one’s sleep cycle. It’s a consequence of making a bad choice. I’ve learned a valuable lesson, but I’m grateful for the “perceived” hardship.

When I’m back home with my family, I won’t ever have to worry about being a light sleeper again. I’ll be sleeping soundly. I dream in a humorous state of mind about when I will lay on my Tempur-Pedic mattress and place my head on soft pillows. If I had to describe the feeling of a Federal correction bed, I would say it’s similar to what I learned when I pledged my fraternity in college. The prison bed is hard but fair, and sad but true.

In federal prison, people are no different than those in the free world. It’s all about perspective. Most people in the free world, and in federal corrections, walk around unaware of their state of mind. Some people are positive, and some are negative. Some people inside are highly driven for personal development and their future. Some people on the inside are highly driven to control the TV room for 6-8 hours a day.

Some people read books, take classes, and frequent the library. Some people choose to sleep the day away, or stand outside in huddles and talk about their neighborhoods. Some people work out. Some people gorge themselves on 5 star Federal Correction Culinary foods. Don’t sleep on what I stated. I’ve had meals made inside this camp that will blow your mind. These guys can cook!

Despite the compare and contrast of the perspectives, neither one is right or wrong. They’re both right if the person choosing that vibrational entity feels it’s right. Just because you choose a certain navigational route, and I choose another, doesn’t mean either is wrong. It’s important we accept our differences.

Don’t allow our differences to cause gaps. Allow our differences to build bridges. Evolution of mankind is to shift the perspective to work together for equality and advancement of our worlds.

Each day in this institution, or in the free world, we wake up and have the freedom to make choices. Choices are easy. Either the choice I make advances my life forward, takes my life rearward, or keeps my life in neutral.

I believe a neutral day to slide me backwards. A day wasted idling, is a wasted day, from my perspective. Am I right? Yes! Can you feel the polar opposite? Is it okay for you to think neutrality lends it’s ear to moving your life forward? Yes! Are you right? Yes!

I suffered from migraine headaches for countless years. I have used Excedrin migraine medicine, and other therapies for almost a decade. People who are close to me, know I would get antsy if I left home without my migraine medicine. Bottles were kept in every vehicle. Downstairs in the kitchen. Both sides of the nightstands at home. In the boxing gym bag when traveling to tournaments. On the gym floor in a box for emergencies. In both desks in the office gym. Upstairs at our gym in the bathroom. You get the point. When you live with migraine headaches, you try and catch these puppies before they fester into wild animals.

To shift to what happened while in this Federal correction camp, let me try and explain. I first changed my mind set on how I was dealing with headaches. I didn’t really have a choice because medicine wasn’t available. Secondly, I shifted my perspective of thinking, and eradicated the pain of my migraines from the inside of my body, without medicine.

My toughest day in Federal corrections came on a day filled with sledgehammer pulses of pain in the rear of my head. I didn’t know if I could bare it anymore. Being without medicine, we’ve also been without sunshine. Out of 8 days here, we were allowed to go outside twice. The two times we’ve been outside, it really isn’t a true reflection of recreational time we are supposed to be allowed. They won’t allow us access to the outside track, handball courts, basketball courts, horseshoe sandpit, etc. Recreation time is considered humane in the Bureau of Prisons, and something they promote. The fact we are all facing punitive punishment for wrongful acts of others is for another writing.
On my 4th day here, they let us outside to the inside walking area. I had to run. I teach and train our boxers, kids, young adults, and adults at our gym, exercise is critical. I’m often quoted speaking the words, MOTION RELEASES TENSION.

On this day, I walked up to the correctional officer and asked if it was okay if I jogged around the area. He obliged. He didn’t realize my head hurt so bad, I couldn’t focus on his face. My left eye twitched uncontrollably each time the pain pounded to the rear of my brain with this headache.

I took off running at an abnormal fast pace. My body was really wanting to move. The enclosed circular area was pretty heavy with camp members, but my brain was like an F-16 fighter pilot scanning the runway for my path to not break my speed. I would notice someone up two corners ahead of me. I talked to myself to run them down and pass them. I talked to myself over and over again telling my headaches to go away. Headache, be no more. Headaches, you will no longer dominate my life.

After mile 1, the headache loosened. 7:15 pace. Mile 2, a little less pain. 7:09 pace. Mile 3, I barely felt the hammering pain anymore. 7:03 pace. Mile 4, I feel amazing, and my headache is gone. 6:57 pace. My endorphins were flowing like a leaky faucet.

What I became consciously aware of, was that although the pain was heavy, I was in route to massive breakthrough. I had 2 choices to pick from in dealing with the situation.

Option 1.
Crawl in the hard iron bed of my top bunk, and whine to my roommate about how bad the pain was. My roommate and I are really cool, but I can tell you right now at this present moment, he wouldn’t care. Not saying he’s heartless, because he’s not. But inside Federal corrections, everyone is trying to manage their own well-being. He was new just like me, and thrown into the environment. His eyes cast a haze of, I’m surviving just like you.

Option 2.
Move my rear end! To know something, but don’t do it, means you don’t know it. My body subconsciously was wanting the medicinal fix of the migraine medicines, which I always fed my body on command. There was no medicine available. What’s the solution? Look within, and use the God strength within all of us to defeat the mountain of headaches in my head.

After the body realized it couldn’t have what It wanted. My body hit control, alternate, and deleted itself for a HARD RESET. Once the pain reached a climax my body was capable of no longer handling. Oh how great our amazing God intervenes and performs his miracle. I just had to let go, and let God go to work.

Man’s only limit, to overcoming any difficulty, or attaining peace in our lives, solely lies in the limits man places on himself, by virtue of not knowing themselves.
Arkansas is called “The Natural State”. Arkansas is beautiful, lush, green, affordable, safe, and a state I’m happy to reside in. As a kid, we often went camping at Petit Jean Mountain National Park. One of the scenic trails to hike on Petit Jean Mountain, ends at a reservoir filled with water, sourced down a breathtaking waterfall. The waterfall is supplied it’s source of water by an inexhaustible reservoir on the other side. Knowing the source of supply for the water hole, we now know the influx of water is from a larger, more powerful source.

It is a fact, that the smaller water hole’s water, is in characteristic of that in the larger reservoir. The only difference between the sources, is the water from the inexhaustible source, from the other side, transcends the smaller water hole. The larger source transcends the water hole, because the larger source can supply a limitless number of similar waterholes, and still remain inexhaustible.

There is profound meaning for me in my quest for searching for the infinite source to all things in the universe. As a kid, I only saw the water hole and waterfall, which in itself, is amazing. The noises it makes and the coolness of the water on a hot, humid Arkansas summer day is refreshing. Climbing back behind the waterfall and letting your hands feel the power of the water coming down over the rocks was always exhilarating.

As an adult, I now find myself wanting to find the trail to hike to the higher water source and relish in its beauty. I wonder if I will be able to follow other trails to see the other water holes, or other waterfalls it may be supplying. How big is this source? Is it fed from a higher source on the “other side”? How deep is this higher source of water? Is the water clean, or does it have a murky color? Are the fish bigger here? Do certain wild life make their homes here to always have this inexhaustible water source at its side?

Our source is omnipotent. Source is radiating within all of us. All we have to do is seek it. Seek her power, guidance, intuition, favor, grace, and understanding. Our job is to be ready, to be ready, to be ready. We are ready. We were born ready. We just need to relax our minds, and listen for the gentle words to follow sources path. Source is always for us. Source is always with us. Source is never against us. Source’s ways are beyond our own understanding.

Source’s answer comes in 1 of 3 vibrations.

1. Yes. It’s for me. Its granted. If feels good.
2. No. It’s not for me. Source is shielding a hedge of protection offering his rear guard.
3. In Time. Source is wanting us to learn a tool, or lesson before releasing it to us.

Source’s timing is always on time. We can never get it done, and we can never get it wrong.
Once we accomplish any desire, the source within us, immediately places in us, a new desire. This process continues until we transcend our physical bodies. We can never get it wrong, because as long as we learn from our mistakes, and help others to not follow in mistake’s crossroads, our mistakes are the guiding light for others. I’m thankful for where I sit today. I’m in chains for him. My chains will assist in advancement of well-being.