Oh my, yes, life is full of challenges and going to prison for me was not an easy ordeal to live with; and I surely never wish it on anyone.

Too many people are feeling trapped in life as though they can’t find inner peace for the life they truly want.

Being stuck in life is when foolish things happen, so let’s learn how to climb over that life challenge.

For me, personal transformation started molding me for a brighter future when I let go of a weird belief.

I’m saying, I had to surrender and forgive myself for trying to make something of myself that I was not meant to be.

Life is full of challenges when we let the world’s judgement bring us down.

And worse again for me, as from prison six months later, I read the front-page news about my lawyer’s death due to a drug overdose.

Many once-loved ones shy away when someone goes to prison, or simply feeling stuck in life.

The words here today are about prison and life; but also about the life of the imprisonment much of the “outer” world lives in.

I mean, too, with the world itself as our jailor.

More important, this article is about self-forgiveness. Yes, so we can release ourselves from the prison we made that binds us.

As you read on keep in mind this lesson from the Course in Miracles:

• Our shining footprints point the way to truth, for God is our Companion as we walk the world a little while. 

When we’re up against the idea that life is full of challenges problems occur.

We get far too stressed and make wrong decisions.

I was nervously treading water, watching my boat sinking fast, and without a life preserver.

My world was going down like the Titanic, due to my own seemingly deadly errors.

That was until the summer of 2007, when this overdue personal transformation seemed to take charge.

It did so by forcing its way through the obscurity I had spent so much energy maintaining.

Life is full of challenges when we feel stuck in life.

This undoing entailed the gradual, ongoing obliteration of a man-made thought system. I mean the one I had been buying into for most of my adult life.

At the time, I felt myself drowning in a sea of disbelief, terror, and confusion.

The funds were my responsibility and tough times had left my bottom line near empty. So I did not have the ability to repay the money– at least not right away.

I would be sent to prison. To this day it still seems like a dream. Well, a nightmare for sure!

Going to prison is not an easy ordeal or adversity to live with, and I surely never wish it on anyone.

I use the word adversity because the material world that had consumed me for my entire life had just vanished in an instant.

I had received terrible legal advice from a lawyer who was ill equipped to be honest enough about my case.

Likewise, was no match for the well-polished prosecutor and a judge who wanted to be known as tough.

The Judge set an example, all right, by dishing me out a ten-year prison sentence.

My lawyer gave me a nod and a wink. And then whispered into my ear that he “should” be able to get me an early release.

But he so obnoxiously added that, the money needed to be right.

I later hit more proof that life is full of challenges. I found out that I would not be eligible, so I did serve 8 long years in prison.

And worse again, as from prison six months later, I read the front-page news about my lawyer’s death due to a drug overdose.

Searching for a new lawyer from prison would not be an easy task unless I could get some outside help.

(Here’s another related article to see: why there are too many life challenges and easy to fall into in a rut instead of to live life to its fullest.)

Of the people in my life, only a few had stuck with me, and those few continue to encourage me with their support.

Many once-loved ones shy away when someone goes to prison.

I don’t mean this as an attack or accusation toward anyone; it is merely a fact of life for a group of individuals who become destitute by being imprisoned.

The Course in Miracles has this profound lesson I like so well:

• Learn to be quiet in the midst of turmoil, for quietness is the end of strife, and this is the journey to peace. 

The words here, again, but in a different way than I’d said above, are about being stuck in life.

But also about the life of the imprisonment much of the “outer” world lives in, with the world itself as our jailor.

More important, this article and my ever-developing book series is about forgiveness, so we can release ourselves from the prison we made that binds us.

I’m talking about forgiving yourself, first by overlooking the illusions you and much of the world live by.

When life is full of challenges for you start forgiving yourself.

For myself, it has always been a mind full of fear and unanswered questions.

A continuous state of turmoil and misery always seemed to be just around the corner. It seemed as though danger was always lurking nearby, ready to grab me.

The unforgiving world shows us life is full of challenges.

It’s this which helped us make the mind that we think is who we are, sees no errors or mistakes, but only sees sins.

It has eyes that see through dark glasses and wants to live, yet wishes it were dead.

Final Note on Life Challenges:

Sure life is full of challenges so review this article again if feeling trapped in life and imprisoned as much of the world lives by with the world itself as our jailor.

It doesn’t know how to escape and can’t figure out that this prison cell we live in is not locked.

(I also suggest another related article on: So why do things happen the way they do especially when trying to overcome life challenges?) 

To living the life you truly want,

James Nussbaumer

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