Journal Entry: Albert Glenn Hudson-04/24/2024-Are My Thoughts Helping Me?

Journal Entry

Are My Thoughts Helping Me Feel The Way I Want To Feel?

The last 14 months of my life have been a progressive journey. I have just about 3 months left inside federal prison before I make my transition back home to my family. Today I had my last official meeting with my case manager here at the camp. For anyone who has ever been incarcerated, you know the value of having a competent case manager who handles your file, and is essentially your liaison who helps guide you through prison. I compare having a good case manager to working in corporate America, and having a great supervisor who you feel has your back, will vouch for you, document your successes, and reward you with promotions when you’ve done your part to contribute to your success.

Before coming to prison, there was an abundance of prep work involved in preparing my prison release plan, This is a resume blueprint outlining my plans for rehabilitation while in prison. I spent weeks preparing this release plan, and it’s been a tangible guide I’ve followed, and my case manager found face value with my efforts to make a good first impression. I took the first meeting with my case manager in prison like it was an interview I was taking for the most important job of my life. It was a sales call I wanted to knock out of the park to be able to plant seeds and then harvest the yield at a later date. I have been blessed to have case managers who possessed a mind of well tilled soil, and appreciated a good farmer that prepared for the season.

I’ve been rising with my focus on learning applicable tools to be a better husband, father, son, coach, and a positive contributing member of my community. Through the treatment groups I participate in on average of 4 hours per day, I continue to shed new skin and grow as a man.

We have been doing a deep dive into what’s called “The 5 Rules of Rational Thinking”. Rational thinking is right sided thinking, thinking that should lead to right feelings. The opposite of rational thinking is “Irrational Thinking”, which is the wrong end of thinking that leads to incorrect feelings, & those feelings lead to bad choices, and those choices cause a cascade of detrimental consequences.

I quickly came to realize that I would use rational thinking as a foundation of how I will live my life, feel my way through my emotions, and be keenly aware of the way I feel. Applying these rules of rational thinking will arrest the toxicity of negative thinking, and help me control the way I feel.

My assignment in group was to commit to memory the 5 Rules of Rational Thinking, orate these in front of our large group meeting, and then openly discuss which of the 5 rules I feel is the most important and why. After presenting, the floor is opened up to approximately 60 men and a therapist to ask me questions and to provide objective feedback.

5 Rules of Rational Thinking:

  1. Are my thoughts based on objective reality and facts?
  2. Are my thoughts helping protect my life and health?
  3. Are my thoughts helping me achieve my short and long term goals?
  4. Are my thoughts helping keep me out of conflict with others?
  5. Are my thoughts helping me to feel the way I want to feel?

“ARE MY THOUGHTS HELPING ME TO FEEL THE WAY I WANT TO FEEL” ranks of most importance to me.

The basis of every thought and emotion gives birth to “choice”, and the way we “feel” about a situation sets us on a path that we choose to be on, or sets us on a rocky road filled with dust, potholes, and cluster bombs that set off a reaction of events that lead to unfavorable repercussions.

My choice to choose the thoughts that make me feel the way I want to feel is empowering. Each choice carries a certain vibration, and the more I choose correctly, I tap the nitro button of feeling better due to that decision. I want to produce an abundance of nitro fuel flowing through my soul. What does abundance feel like to you? To me, abundance feels light, never ending, liquid, clear, unlimited, resistance free, unhinged, a cup runneth over.

I believe we lose control over the way we feel because we lose control over our vibration. But when we start exercising the control over our vibration, our emotions, our thoughts, and our words, what we will begin to notice is that we can have healthier control over our physical world. We can begin to manifest not just what, but where. Not just where, but who, & not just who, but when. All of this can be accomplished by first controlling the dominant thoughts which lead us to how we feel.

The way we process how we feel can be passed down through generations, or simply ingrained by our environment of what we experience through our external 5 senses on a daily basis. In my present life, and in the future, I want to utilize positive feelings that sparks a domino effect of favorable repercussions. I no longer want to put a yoke of misplaced feelings on my neck that I’m unable to bear that initiates a cycle of negative impacts. I will no longer wear a shoe that pinches me away from the vibration of my creator.

In summary, rational thinking breaks down to the rationing of our thoughts. Rations are the small finite details that present as an appetizer before the main course. Taking small bites, savoring the taste, practicing mindful thinking displaces a heavy load on our mind and leaves room inside for clearer and slower rationalized thoughts. I have been experiencing the real life examples of applying this skillset to my life, and this is a positive feeling that will continue to pay royalties to my life and those around me.