The ECHO, Volume 92, Number 11, December 2020 - January 2021 Page: 3
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The ECHO
December 2020 / January 2021
3
Usually I like to make some sort of predictions for
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Be all that
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Source info: “The Runner's High,” by Wendy Lynch,
1
Forward
Each month, The ECHO features articles from contributing writers within TDCJ, as well as from those who have
been released and want to send hope and insight back inside. This page features a variety of columnists. Enjoy!
Deidre McDonald
ECHO Contributor—Released
when you write me. ★
Damon West
P.O. Box 1451
Nederland, TX 77627
but at the same time; closer to the end.
So 2021, who are you? What surprises do you have
and then we began
; as
sources, you are able to pay more attention to other
issues like, “Which productive task can I do today that
will contribute to my well-being?” or “What can I do
with this time in prison that will help me to better
myself once I am released?
Some might say I take my exercising too serious.
Well, I took my addiction to drugs and food
seriously—and all it ever produced were harmful
effects. Not only is exercise a positive activity, but it
has changed my brain chemistry so now I am much
less responsive to stressors — something life is full of.
It takes a lot more to stress me out today than it did
before exercise came into ray life—thanks to the self-
production of dopamine.
Some might even say I have traded one addiction
for another. I beg to differ. Exercise does not make
me lie, steal, or print counterfeit money to buy it— or
eat my entire lockbox. It has never made me feel sick,
depressed or insecure. It doesn’t fill me with shame
or regrets, nor do I need more of it to get the same
I WAS SERVING LIFE ON THE STILES UNIT,
J^JOST OF US CAN AGREE THAT THE REASON MANY OF
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him to elaborate.
“The people who are always stressed out, easily
agitated and seem to have chaos around them at
all times are the ones who are thinking about the
freeworld and things that have not even happened
yet in the future,” he said. “They’re not in the
present moment.”
I listened closer; the person he was describing was I.
I, too, spent a lot of time in “the world,” daydreaming
and stressing about a life that I once had and
desperately wanted to get back to.
“The trick is to live in the moment, the here and
now,” he revealed. “I learned in Ranger School to think
only about whatever it is that I’m doing at the time. For
example, when I wake up in my cell each morning, the
only thing on my mind is breakfast. When I’m done
with chow, my mind is on whatever I do next—then
lunch, then rec, then last chow, dayroom, etc. At no
point do I allow myself to live outside the moment.”
He continued, “If ybu do not live in the moment,
you’ll miss both obstacles and opportunities. The
obstacles are usually something you can go around
withdrawal, increased appetite (“Are you going to eat
the rest of your tray?”), sleeping like the dead (“What
day is it? Or is it night time?”), lethargy (“Can 1 bum
a cup of coffee?”), and of course, the all-too-familiar
feelings of shame and regret.
A couple of weeks later I still maintained that addictive
cycle on a daily basis, the up-and-down cycle of “Is However, thanks to natural healthy exercise, 1
chow time almost here?”, “Where will I get my next cup
of coffee?”, and then making a commissary list over and
over. It kept me in a state of hypervigilance—except
this time with food and caffeine.
Most can also agree that addiction is a neurological
disease rather than a moral failing of willpower.
Scientists point to an imbalance of dopamine, the
“feel good” chemical in the brain. When an addict
takes their first dose (drugs, alcohol, sugar, caffeine,
etc.), it is the dopamine we are craving. Dopamine
moment. Honestly some days it worked; other days,
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Exercise creates a natural high
these behaviors.
After three months in jail, I was
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■ thecoffee bean ©
■b Damon West Is a former TDCJ resident
» and best selling author of “The Change
R Agent" and “The Coffee Bean.” He shares
F a motivational column with The ECHO.
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West prepares for bootcamp workouts
if you see them when they first appear. It’s the states Army brought me into Fort Sill, Okla, for an
opportunities which are the most important to entire week to train troops on resiliency and mindset.
Read that sentence again.
Five years ago, I was sitting where you’re sitting,
reading The ECHO inside the Stiles Unit. If I would
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be present for, however, because they may never
appear again.”
From then on, 1 tried to live with the mental mindset
that the Army Ranger gave me that day: living in the have read something like that, about a formerly
incarcerated man training the United States military
troops, I would have put the paper down, called my
eellie over and said, “Hey! You gotta’ read this.”
Here’s how* it all happened. One of the colonels on
the base read my book, “The Coffee Bean,” and reached
out to me on social media to tell me how valuable he
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reward system” in the brain. This system operates
from an instinctual, short-term, “got-to-get-it-now!” challenges me to reach new heights—not highs. ★
motivation, ensuring that we continue to engage in position. This makes way for use of the “reflective y • *' — ~
these activities. We are then self-taught to repeat reward system,” which delays gratification, helps you Ph.D; Runner's World Magazine (April 2007).
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was
happy, I could think clearly, and what is best, I had a
new- sense of motivation to do something productive.
I couldn’t possibly imagine wanting to dig around in
my lockbox for something to eat, get wired on coffee
or even think about drugs. I had discovered a new,
healthier high.
When you’re exercising, you immediately get a
boost of dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin.
Your brain also starts to build additional connections
flows down the “reward pathway**’ when we engage break the craving of the animalistic “reactive effect. Exercise calms my nerves, opens my mind to
in “feel-good” behaviors. The good times are then reward system” in the brain. This system operates new possibilities, gives me a sense of well-being, and
encoded in regions that control memory and
You know what they say...hindsight is 2020
]ohn Pippen — ECHO Staff
loved one, a friend, a neighbor, or a cellie. This isn’t
meant to bring you down — just a moment to think and the coming New Year, but where do I start? Well, here
reflect. It’s a strange life we live, you and I, but we’ve goes one, anyway: we move on. The story continues,
make considered decisions, and think in the long term
— all behaviors that enhance your motivation to help
you achieve your goals.
Exercise acts like a drug on the brain chemicals,
many pounds yet it’s a good reaction because it enhances systems
heavier and realized the need for balance. At first, the that are in deficit. It re-regulates brain functions that
motivation behind my decision to exercise was just to would have otherwise been stuck in the “reactive”
us aren’t still trapped in the web of drug and lose weight, but looking back at it now, there was so crave mode. When you start to produce your own
alcohol addiction is because we have been removed much more to the depth of that realization for a need levels of dopamine, rather than depending on external
from it and placed in a sanctuary of sorts (TDCJ) for balance than I knew.
where it can’t be obtained. Going back to the first After my first session, I recognized a very familiar
days of my incarceration, I clearly remember the feeling of euphoria - almost as if 1 were high.
told me he always lived in the here and now; in the ’ _ . - .
moment. That sounded kind of vague, so I asked that Ranger’s mindset message to its home. The United
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it did not. But, and this may be one of the greatest
takeaways from doing time, I had the powrer to start
my day over anytime 1 chose. Having a bad day was a
choice. Also, having a bad day usually meant that my
mind was not in the moment.
With the coffee bean lesson from Mr. Jackson in
, Dallas County Jail and the Army Ranger’s incredible loved “The Change Agent,” beg
. , there w-as an Army Ranger who gave me some tip on mindset, I was able to find opportunities in planning a week of training for as many troops __
great advice about doing time. I once asked him how adversity; avoid obstacles and turn the pot of boiling possible at Fort Sill over a five day span. I asked him
he stayed so calm in the chaotic world of prison. He water called prison—into a pot of coffee. if it would be possible for me to go through basic
Three weeks ago, I had the opportunity to return training and workouts (boot camp and PT) with the
troops every morning. He assured me I didn’t have to
do that. I told him 1 wanted to do it so I could earn
the respect of the men and women with w’hom I was
going to be speaking.
“Think about it. If I’m willing to do what they do
every day; they will be more likely to do what I do every
day; A perfect opportunity to get on their level,” I said.
The mission was a huge success. After the first
day speaking, base commanders were calling the
headquarters to see if I could train their platoons and
divisions. In all, I trained over 3,000 men and women
that week, went through basic training and was able
to help turn Fort Sill into a giant pot of coffee. It was
such a productive week that the Two Star General in
command of the entire base, General Kamper, invited
me back to train in December. He told me one of the
best things I did was making myself vulnerable by-
getting into the PT drills each morning.
“The troops loved that you were willing to walk in
their boots,” he said.
1 told General Kamper that, as physically demanding
as it was for a 45 year old to get out there with all of
those 17-20 year olds, it was easy compared to going
out on the rec yard those first few months of prison to
earn respect on the basketball court.
You see, it was prison that trained me for everything
I’m doing in life now. If you choose to allow it, prison
can be the training ground for you as well. It all starts
with changing your mindset, from looking at prison as
a punishment to looking at prison as an opportunity.
What will you do with your opportunity today?
Be a coffee bean!
Writing Me
I love receiving your letters, so keep them coming,
thought the lesson in the book was. I messaged him p^ease llse mY P«O« Box below to write me. The only
back and asked him if he would read my other book, rules with letters are 110 le9al requests, no favors and
“The Change Agent.” Then, I explained to him about ™harm. Remember, I am on parole the rest of my life,
the way I did my time in prison, the way I developed such, I follow all rules in society. What this means
a mindset to always find opportunities in adversity; c^° no^ send me something that puts you, someone
and how I only try to control the controllable. 1 n short, e^se or me anY danger or threat of freedoms. What
I said, “If you liked “The Coffee Bean,” you will love Fm sa>ing is that you cannot expect confidentiality
“The Change Agent.” Moreover, the mindset training
I learned in prison would transfer over well to the
military.” I even told him about my Ranger buddy.
A few days later, he got back to me, said he indeed
REETINGS MY FRIENDS!
vJT It has been an
unprecedented year. You
know what else has been unprecedented, the use of made the choice and now we live with it...or die with and we keep moving forward. I always look ahead to
the word “unprecedented.” That, along with the word it. No one wants to think about it, but it is a fact of our the New Year because it brings me closer to freedom,
“historical.” I’m worn out on both. existence in this place.
It has been quite the year of change here in our Nobody saw this chain of events coming for 2020,
world and in the freeworld as well. Now, not all change but everyone will be glad to see it leave. I can’t help in store? I think we’re all ready to put this one behind
is bad, at least that’s what I keep telling myself. You but wonder what changes over the last year will now us, and get on with the adventure. The final days of
can move me three cells down the run and I can’t sleep become permanent—the “new normal” as everyone this year are in motion. We are masked up, six feet
for a week. Change affects us all in different ways, but is so fond of saying. I can certainly see some good apart, and looking forward.
it does affect us. things that have come out of this so far. Some things So this is a final farewell to those of us who didn’t
I’d like to take this space to recognize those of us who that w ere slow to change got fast-tracked, and some make it. If you know someone of whom I speak, raise
didn’t make it to see this “unprecedented / historical” just got eliminated altogether. For those of us who live your cup. We all die someday—but not all today. Today
year’s end. Condolences to every resident who lost a here, I feel there is still more change to come. we live! See ya in 2021.★
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West visits with General Kamper.
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Texas. Department of Criminal Justice. The ECHO, Volume 92, Number 11, December 2020 - January 2021, newspaper, 2020-12/2021-01; Huntsville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1364359/m1/3/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.