Transcript
January 27, 2019 Time: 2:15 A.M By: Howard McCreary A Healthy Ambition [Part 1: Mentally Stimulation] I thank you all fore taking time out of your day to connect with my Diamond Thoughts on health. It brings me relief to know that people in society are concern or interested in the "condemn" and my salutation of the highest greeting goes to you all. What you all are embarking on is a three part dialogue on the three essential characteristics that make us human: mentality, physically, and spirituality [Or as the cliche goes, "mind, body, and soul".] Mind, body, and soul is what make us a human being. Mind, body, and soul can determine if a person is truly living. Our mind, body, and soul are all respective traits that make us a whole. One would never fully be complete if one of the three parts are weaken. And when I say, "weaken", that's not to say that a person is weak if they lack vitality in a certain part of their mental, physical, or spiritual nature. What I am saying is, in order for us to live up to our full potential, we must gain control, we must gain awareness, we must gain strength in these three aspect of our being. Isn't that the aspiration of living? To be healthy. To make healthy decision. Isn't that what motivate parents when it comes to parenting? Wouldn't you agree thats the goal of a teacher when it comes to teaching? Health is to be whole; sound; functional in mind, body, and soul. Think of a car. And to fully connect, think of a car, truck or SUV that you like, dream of having, or own. Do you see it? Okay, now the frame of that vehicle is called the "body", right? You paint the body; wash the body when it needs washing; enhance its appearance by "dressing" it up with a new bumper kit or some "shoes". The body would depreciate in value if the engine was powerless, yes? So to develop it's energy, you feed it viable things. When the oil needs changing, you change it. When old parts- "mindset"- goes bad, you recharge your vehicle with what? That's right, new parts. Some people even get fancy and chrome their engine out. And to cap this vehicle off, "you", the driver being the vehicle of your choice to life. The driver is the seat of divinity. A vehicle function just as a human function. [Figuratively speaking] Because what happens if the body is wrecked? What happens if the engine is unsound? What is sure to occur if the driver is incompetent? Now imagine these same states in our fellow human. The society we live in all suffer, to some degree, with health issues. We all have something that causes us to thrive as well as become bothered. Mental health- which what I will begin to elaborate on briefly- is one of the main factor in suicide, anxiety, criminal behavior, sexual abuse... The list is too disturbing and extensive. In other cases, obesity- which is a physical issue- is caused by mental illness. Criminal activity, a person with zero regard for the law or humanity, all begin from a lapse in ones mental. Now, we could debate this subject from the ground of religion, and I'm pretty sure the scholars of religion will argue that the issue of humanity- or a prisoner- is based from the neglect of faith of a higher power. [And on that platform, I would entertain and indulge in the conversation.] But thats not this platform. Thats not my intention, and its not the core of this particular discourse. [Stay tune for part III: Spiritual Enlightenment.] Right now, my focus is mental health. Mental health is studied in the realm of psychology. In the field of psychology, questions like, "what causes you to tick" and "how do you view the world" help encompass a variety of complex topics. It shines relevance on emotions, thinking patterns, perception, personality, illness, just to name a few. It help- the ones that's licensed- provide treatment to individuals that seek professional assistance. The study of psychology enlighten a person about themselves which most likely strengthen ones mental prowess. Unfortunately, the world of prison constitute a different outlook. In prison, the dignity is stripped away from an individual. In prison, the system is design to turn people into savages. In this place that connotes "rehabilitation", it is set up to corrupt the mind state of its prisoner. Yes, some would say, "if you landed yourself in jail, your mind state was already corrupted." And in retrospect, I agree whole-heartedly. If you break the law, you have slipped somewhere in your thinking. If you have committed an act of crime, your mentality was in a dark spot that, depending on the harshness of the violating, should earn you a cell in prison. I get it. However, if we succumb to that mindset than, we also have to accept the framework of how these prison's are getting filled and how this industrial complex is being ran. Furthermore, if the above notion is accepted with an ironclad mentality, than lets be mindful of the fact that the Board of Parole and Pardon Release percentage inflates every year. Which means that men and women are coming home after being caged in a mentally deprived environment. Leaving these mentally deprived people on their own to deal with life challenges. Making the possibility of re-offending likely and setting up the chances for our people to harm someone else as well as themselves. Prison is not the answer in all cases. Given a person who has a dis-ease mentally a short sentence- or long sentence- in jail without the proper treatment is only saying, "you are a disgrace and your life is not of any value." We are not born mentally incompetent to do wrong. Doing wrong is a learned behavior that is polished in such behavior over a long period of time. But what happens if the behavior can be confronted and corrected early before becoming seasonal? That's a question that needs to be propose and discussed openly. Nevertheless, sending a person to prison to get "healthy" is not and should not be the bottomline. By the grace of God most high, I am healthy in mind, body, and soul yet, I will never recommend someone to endure the life of prison to get health. Also! I, humbly speaking, are apart of a small community of the prison population that is sound in mind, body, and soul. The majority, across the globe is malpractice, accepting the tenets of this place, inside and out, to be the focal point of their lives. Why?... Because the penal system is a psychological warfield, created to annihilate the health of all waged in the battle of prison. Its warfare when a person sits in a pool inhabited with dispirit, aggressive, low-self esteem people who core focus is manipulation. Its warfare being amongst a class who gave up on life; letting the terms and conditions of oppression claims them as if its a natural inclination of their living. The warfare become apparent when inmates gets to their destination of confinement and fine a person eighteen years of age- just graduated high school- barking orders to strip to their nakedness...Along side a line of men. The mental health of a prisoner becomes ill- or even more sick- by the psychological tactics of this caste system. Then one would think: what is this to a man lost in his own vanity? How can you explain this to the people deep in the ocean of self- gratification? Alot of us in prison do not care about our mental health. We refuse to see the clear reality. We manifest our problem yet bury the silent cries for assistance under the gravel of stupidity. "It's stupid to talk to a psyche doctor. They don't go through what I go through. They're successful and only get paid to talk like they care." I've heard this line of thinking countless of times. We been programmed to think like that. Its a bacteria of the mind that so ridden and deadly. I recently was studying amphibian's and can cross a fascinating little creature in the South America region. The Golden Poison Frog of Colombia. What's so alluring- and damn right petrifying!- is a single touch from this small golden frog could kill you! And as I was reading it, I'm seeing a similar deadly poison being orchestrated in the penal system. We have people suffering from different personality disorders, anxiety, dissociative disorders. Individual that's suffering from post-traumatic stress... what? You think that only our decorated soldiers suffer PTSD? Tell that to the person that walked into the chow hall and another guy gets stabbed in his neck in front of him, initiating a race riot. Or try to explain that to the single mother that work for the system who comes to the work every other four days. And one unexpected day she's at work, some mentally challenged men decide they want to kill another inmate because this particular inmate didn't do "good business". And this innocent working mother happen to be in the sally port when the attack is waged. She gets "fired" because she's didn't do what was "required" of her which was to used chemical agency on three muscle bound grown ass men with knives! The irony, huh? Yes, and the sad part is, its life. People suffer from these mental illness and it begins in emotional trauma and ends even worser in emotional trauma. Alot of times we are fearful of something which spiral out of control. People fear the unknown; so they live a mindset as, "I don't give a f**k" about tomorrow. Some of us fear learning; so the very sight of knowledge, whether it's being taught or lived out, it provokes the mind of the ignorant. Whatever the situation may be, getting healthy is hard and a challenge for the people behind the wall. But! It can be accomplished. Wanting to be healthy starts with self. The great Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov showed us in his famous, impactful work of classical conditioning that all behavior learnt through association. Whether we agree on the scientific experiment he showed us through "Pavlov's Dogs", or not, what we all can concord to is, learning to be healthy in mind comes through applying good goals, good professional treatment, good energy. When you surround yourself with productive people, you will be productive. When it's time to set plans for yourself or others, the fluidity of your idea will be consistent based off that energy. And when hurdle do show up in your "minefield", you being conscious of this will allow you to use the positive source to gain advice or simply be able to vent. It show you the other side of being healthy and doesn't mean you're weak. It makes you human, and more importantly, it shows that you are mentally in a right place. Peace
