Via Wikimedia Commons
By Iftekhar Murtaza
Mentally rehabilitating oneself is not an easy task for everyone. There are certain steps I took. I do a lot of self-reflecting on my past, finding out why I behaved the way I did, and focusing on changing my present and future. Fortunately, I found a method which is working for me. Maybe it will work for you too.
Self-reflecting on the past was a difficult task to accomplish. My past was full of drugs, steroids, and violence. I enjoyed the feelings drugs brought me. But it led me to damage my brain and be prone to violence. Plus I had untreated schizophrenia because my mother starved herself and used drugs during her pregnancies. My older brother by 15 years was dealt the same hand. My father said he was too embarrassed to have two sons with the same illness, so he decided not to take me to a psychiatrist. It was difficult for me to achieve metacognition with my underlying condition. So I picked up this book called Breaking the Habit of 
Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza, and it’s making a world of difference. The magic word is creation.
I noticed that when I’m in the midst of creation mode, something as simple as Lego’s, I forget about myself. I disassociate from my known world. I am no longer somebody who associates my identity with certain things I own (the TV in your cell), particular people I know (from my past), certain tasks I do (busy fighting your own negative thoughts), and different places I lived at specific times (Los Angeles). I could say that when I am in a creative state, I forget about the habit of being me from the past. I lay down my ego and become selfless.
When I am in creation, I am activating the brain’s creative center, the prefrontal cortex. In the process of creation, the function of the prefrontal cortex is to become self-aware. Because we have metacognitive capabilities—the power to observe our own thoughts and self—I can decide how I no longer want to be, to think, act, and feel, especially when my mind drifts off to negative thoughts like my past. This ability to self-reflect allows me to scrutinize myself and then make a plan to modify my behaviors, so I can produce more enlightened or desirable outcomes. My attention is where I place my energy.
The purpose of becoming self-aware is so that I no longer allow any thought, action, or emotion I don’t want to experience to pass by my awareness. The goal here is to unlearn the negative aspects of who I used to be (for example me taking shortcuts in my past life) so that I can free up energy to create a new life and mindset (100% commitment). The more I think about something happening the more it will fire those neurons in my brain. Hebb’s law states that neurons that fire together wire together. Currently, my mind is immersed in creating a website to influence others to follow in my steps. I’m 100% focused on my education (I just earned a college degree in Liberal Arts and Humanities from Feather River College and am now pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees), mental health courses, and contributing to society by feeding the homeless and orphanages through my mentors. I intend to accomplish a rehabilitated mindset by repeating what I just stated, enabling my brain to unlearn the past and build a better future. Because of my rehabilitation through the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, I’m more self-aware, I can hold myself accountable for my past, heal myself through forgiveness, help others, and advance my station in life.
