Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (218)

Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (218 

Welcome! Throughout the time I've been doing this podcast, I've stayed away from looking backwards. Things like prison conditions, abusive guards, sentencing, and other topics related to being in prison are not the purpose of the podcast. I want to put prison behind me and move on with life in a way that proves I am worthy of the second chance I've been given. 

However, that 7 years and 11 months I did, is a reality that can not be denied. I think about it all the time. I think maybe I've been a little too harsh about staying away from all that on the podcast. 

My guest on this episode is Shane Flemmons. Shane did a few a years and has written about his experiences in two books: Conviction and Deep Convictions. The books are are evidence of the disfunctionality of prison and the lessons learned from the experiences and stories of other inmates. Join us as we chat with Shane about these things and more on this episode.

Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (217)

Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (217):

 Hello!  

 Sometimes I think it's good to focus on ourselves. We' are not being overly self-centered when we think about, consider, and execute strategies to improve "anything" about ourselves.  By the word "anything" I mean aspects of our physical and mental health. As we all know, the hurdles to be jumped to achieve successful  reintegration are very, very, tall. In my opinion, taking inventory and addressing our physical and mental health is an important part of life after incarceration. 

My guest this week, Jenny Mannion, has some ideas on how to address these rough spots  - whether they be physical or mental. This is the focus of my chat with Jenny and I think you will find what she has to say insightful and worth exploring.

Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (216)

Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (216) 

Let's do some thinking about expectations.  Is it possible to expect too much from ourselves? Is there a difference between expectations and goals? How about our expectations of other people? How do we keep our expectations reasonable? 

My guest on this episode, Ben Winter, helps us figure out how to manage our expectations. He wrote a book about this, What To Expect When Having Expectations. Check out my interview with Ben Winter.

Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (215)

Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (215): 

Welcome!  I hope you're doing well!

I've been thinking for quiet some time that doing an episode on sex addiction would probably be a good thing to do but frankly, actually going about doing it has seemed a little awkward. I've looked at guests to interview and there are some experts in recovery with professional credentials that I may still try to interview. But ultimately,  I decided to share some facts, look at the negative issues that arise from sex addiction, and share some resources for getting help. 

As we work to become productive citizens, we don't need something like this getting in our way!

Bottom line: Sex addictions are a very bad thing. Nothing good comes from porn in general and I'm convinced it's a one way street that goes nowhere.  If you need help,  it's available for free. I've included three resources below.

 SAA -  12 Step

S anon - for familiy members of addicts

sexhelp.com - povides a self evaluation and therapist search tool

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Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (214) I hope everyone is safe and warm. It has been a rough week here in the Houston area! Three has been record cold, ( 11 degrees a couple of nights ago),  major power outages,  water outages,  and empty grocery store shelves. All of this is on top of Covid. Wow! My heart goes out to people walking out of prison into this mess because while freedom feels great, there is a reality here that can make getting restarted even tougher. 

My guest this week, Lois Hollis will help us to address some the emotions we feel while getting ourselves going again. Namely, we will be talking about guilt and shame. 

Lately, I've been turning down interview requests because I just haven't seen anything we haven't covered before. I can not recall however devoting an entire show to a discussion on how guilt and shame can adversely affect our progress as we reintegrate. Lois talks about the importance of eliminating shame and guilt and how to go about doing that.

Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (213)

Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (213)

I came across a really good article on overcoming adversity I wanted to share. Overcoming adversity is a topic this podcast will always put front and center. Ultimately,  that's what getting out of prison and successfully getting what cased that to happen in our rear view window. How do we get from prison and the action that resulted in prison turned into an experience we can use to propel us forward into a clean life we can be proud of?  That's what overcoming our adversity is. Hopefully there is something in this week's podcast that helps you on your journey to achieving that.

Click HERE  for the article.

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Journey of Hope With Rodney Mathers (212) I wanted to spend some time talking about the National Institute of Corrections. The National Institute of Corrections is an arm of the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I'm sure they do great work...except for issues of reintegration. Inconsistent data and kicking the can down the road are immediately apparent when it comes to this government agency caring about what happens to people when they leave prison. Their general philosophy, appears to me, to pass the buck to an issue of public policy instead of addressing reintegration in any meaningful way for prisoners on their way out. They give lip service, in my view, to the issue to avoid political incorrectness and to keep from appearing to have no empathy. They aren't getting it right and it doesn't appear to me that they really much care to. I point out some things I've noticed about these guys on this episode.

I also wanted to spend a little time talking a little bit about dealing with stress. I hope there is something in that discussion that you can use!