Here's the magic pill!

For many of us, this season seems to be toughest on our relationships. Not being able to escape is requiring that we shift how we engage and interact with each other. “I’m done with this.” “When will all of this stop changing?” “I’m done with needing to constantly change and adapt!”

Oh, how we are creatures of instant gratification…

To help us here, I remember a moment in Criminals & Gangmembers Anonymous (CGA), a 12-step to transform the criminal mindset and gang member mentality. In one session I had the privilege of attending, the facilitator spoke of the work needed to change that criminal mindset. This big dude locked up for 35 years to life - who had, earlier in his life, vowed to never step away from his destructive behavior - added in his burly voice, “There is no magic pill here, folks!”

They then asked me to close that session. While fully recognizing the truth of this incredible facilitator’s words, I also challenged him and them: “There IS a magic pill!”

“This magic pill carries a secret. It’s secret is that this magic pill has to be taken every single moment of every single day for the rest of our lives.”

At the beginning, this may be daunting. It feels like medicine. It’s hard. We fail. And we have to start up again. This phase is only for this small amount of time - because relatively speaking it is a small amount of time. And then, there come a point at which it becomes easier, and even unconscious.

There is a magic pill. We just have to learn its secret.

Invitation: Enjoy taking this magic pill, knowing that there will be a time when taking it will be effortless. And enjoy taking those steps every moment of every day of the rest of your life.

This is part of a series. You see, on April 1st, I realized that I have a unique perspective into confinement thanks to my past 4.5 years engaging several times a week with the world's leading experts on confinement: prison residents. For the month of April, I will provide a daily lesson learned in prison that will hopefully help us to survive and even thrive while confined to our homes. Go forward and back to enjoy each daily lesson.