Prison for the Innocent
Imagine laying in bed one night when all of a sudden intruders break in and kidnap you.
They cover your head in a hood then when you reach your final destination you find yourself trapped inside a cage.
There are literally thousands of people in these cages. Both young and old. Both men and women. People of all ethnicity, religions, and social-economical backgrounds.
“Why are we here?” you ask your fellow prisoners. “You haven’t done anything wrong, we’re just unlucky.”
Three times a week the guards give you a crowbar. If you can pry the bars wide enough to get out then you’re free to leave.
It’s been a couple of months now and while you’ve bent the bars, it’s still going to take months more work to free yourself. The crowbar is not a guarantee either.
Some will be inside this prison for the rest of their lives.
Then you hear a rumor.
While most of the cages have padlocks on their doors there are some who have combinations.
You hear that there is a guy who can teach you to pick your combination lock in seconds.
The fellow prisoners tell you he’s a charlatan. ‘We don’t do that here.’ ‘It won’t work.’ ‘It would be dangerous.’ ‘Only the crowbar works. Everything else is a fraud.’
However, you decide that you have nothing to lose so you hire him.
Then this ordinary guy without a college education (who is both charming and handsome), teaches you to pick the lock to your combination.
Magically the gate swings open and the guards tell you to leave.
Nothing is impossible now. Romantic relationships. Work. Study. Your family will be overwhelmed by the transformation.
People will want to know ‘what the hell’ you did.
Sometimes you still find yourself in the prison cages. But it takes just a few seconds to pick the combination.
Instead of using the difficult and expensive crowbar, you just punch in the combination.
Your time in the cage only lasts 5 minutes a day now.
- The cage is your Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
- The crowbar is traditional therapy (including Exposure Response Prevention therapy.)
- The cages with combination locks are those with Safety OCD Checking.
- And I the dashing, handsome, and ignorant uneducated hero who saves the day.
Enamored with the Underworld
When I was a young boy I remember seeing a movie poster of Chuck Norris in the lotus position meditating.
There was something mystical about the poster. Magical. Even eerie.
I’ve always wondered about what’s possible. I’ve always wondered about the potential of man. What we are all capable of.
This led me to read books on:
- psychology
- psychotherapy
- metaphysical
- spiritual
- new age
- neuro-linguistic programming
Part of my journey included reading books on memory improvement.
I was surprised about how easy it was to improve my memory.
From the very first exercise of Derren Brown’s ‘Tricks of the Mind’, I managed to improve my recall by 400 percent.
I was hooked.
However, it wasn’t until years later that I managed to find the correlation between my safety OCD checking and memory systems.
I’m not sure how I feel about fate. Destiny. Or synchronicity.
To be honest I’m a newly minted atheist.
But I can’t stop thinking about how my life turned out. What happened to me in the psych ward and going through “Hell Month’s.”
Maybe it was for a purpose.
To help pick those locks.
My Mission Statement
I don’t want to sound arrogant but I have this belief that goes something like this.
“If you can’t find your way out of trouble. If nothing helps. Then create your own path.”
When I was going through my ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ I had this thought.
“In order for my life to make sense, I have to do better than before I was medicated and hospitalized.”
This was a time when I was obese, chain-smoking, and suicidal.
I think it was Steve Jobs who said “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards; So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
I’ve been medicated for 30 years now. I’ve had ten sessions of electric convulsive therapy.
I live in Section 8 housing.
But I am so happy.
I want you to have the same.
To break the code of your safety OCD checking.
All the dots have lined up. Now it’s time to serve others.
All it takes is four steps to leave your cage.
Arohanui Chris.