Re-Imagining Life on the Outside

Designed as a quick and fun read, this powerful little pocket guide helps ex-offenders jump-start their lives by re-imagining an alternative reality within their grasp -- a positive and hopeful future filled with purpose, passion, meaning, empathy, and love. It’s a “get-up-and-go” guide for those experiencing the dark side of life – in this case, serving idle time in an often mind-numbing and stressful human zoo. Being locked in a cage changes many things, especially one’s mindset. Fear, distrust, boredom, loneliness, anger, grief, depression, and hopelessness frequently characterize the mental state of inmates. While it often scrambles minds and exacerbates “mental drift,” prison also offers opportunities to rethink, refocus, re-imagine, and repack one’s bags for pursuing a meaningful life. Indeed, anxious and curious minds behind prison bars seek answers to these two knee-bending questions that serve as clarion calls for taking life-changing actions – “Is there more to life than this?” and “What should I do with the rest of my life?” These questions serve as clarion calls for self-transformation. This self-directed pocket guide shows ex-offenders how to change their thinking about who they are, what they want to do, and where they want to be. Nine key sections – filled with a rich collection of revealing self-tests, exercises, questions, insights, and strategies – provide a strong foundation for developing one’s purpose: 1. Happiness 2. Gratitude 3. Mindfulness 4. Attitude 5. Anger management 6. Values 7. Passions 8. Motivated abilities and skills 9. Goals and objectives. Rich with analyses and insights, the book shows how to join the growing number of mindful people – especially those with restless minds who struggle with boredom, loneliness, anger, and depression – who have transformed themselves into happy, healthy, resilient, wise, kind, loving, self-compassionate, socially connected, and successful individuals. They’ve discovered one of the great secrets to re-entry success -- how to live a meaningful life on purpose and with passion, a life centered on one’s most important values, skills, and goals. A terrific resource for re-examining and re-building the troubled lives of ex-offenders.