Maria Arpa
This week
Amazing turnaround
Plus…
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
and
the Wednesday Whisper
Transformation
Today, David and I visited a prisoner we trained in 2013. He went on to a therapeutic prison for lifers and has spent 5 years looking at his life. We were invited, along with family members, to celebrate his achievements.
For the first time, we ate prison food as part of the celebration and we sat on the wing dining room with other prisoners and I helped with the washing up!
This man will openly admit that he’d led a life of violent crime for personal gain. Today we met a vulnerable, open hearted man with a desire to help others, who has been on a very intense journey.
There were speeches from other prisoners. They all talked about his determination to make the wing a safe place and some were moved to tears as they described how he had held them through their darkest times.
Don’t get me wrong, I know there are victims and he is the first to say that he knows he has done harm that cannot be undone. But our society asks people to pay their debt through imprisonment and, in that context, he is going beyond paying the debt as required.
Officers also spoke and remarked on his authenticity in coming from the heart.
Change is possible. What better way for a man to pay his debt to society than by showing others the way forward?
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
This man has transformed himself, against all the odds. It would not have been possible without his willingness to seek and receive support.
The Wednesday Whisper
What would you like to transform and where will you get support?
Would you be willing to send this out to anyone you think might be interested in getting a little dose of mindfulness each week?