Really meditation is about your state of mind and finding peace within yourself. In our meditation class, I am learning the true meaning of words like generosity, forgiveness, compassion and control. True generosity isn’t only towards your friends and family. It is in helping fill any person’s need, whether it be time, food, teaching or even just listening. I have learned forgiveness is ultimately to let go of the bad thoughts and feelings towards the people I feel have wronged me. That one is a work in progress because you can’t just say it and be done—you have to mean it. Compassion is simply looking at a situation from multiple perspectives and having an understanding of where another person is coming from. Control is something I always thought I had over myself, but I learned that I almost always allowed everyone else a measure of control over me by reacting to their actions. Not reacting and taking the time to process a problem before doing anything is real control.
People have been in here twenty years, and they still blame the cops who caught them, the DA who prosecuted them, the judge who sentenced them and the system that imprisoned them. They still haven’t come to terms with themselves and what they did. They have to get angry at themselves, understand how they created their own fate and get through that.
