Title of Tip: Open Your Mind to New Things
Name: Ashley Hackworth, 35
Description: By opening your mind to new things and different spiritual beliefs, you can see the world differently, which can help you get out of bad situations, meet new people, and have different experiences. I believe in God and that there is a power greater than us. I have also studied other spiritual beliefs to be true. I use all of them to help me get through, and because I’m open, good things happen to me. I know that something is guiding me when I ask for help. Insights come to me, different principles that I have learned to be a better person, and I share them with others.
Instructions: You must first determine your own beliefs to understand how you can expand upon them and open your mind to different spiritual principles. If you don’t believe in anything, start trying to learn and determine what empowers you spiritually. Then, begin taking negative experiences and see the positive in them. Ask yourself, what can I learn from this? It’s a spiritual awakening—seeing negative things positively, not just getting down on yourself and thinking that is the end. It’s not easy, but it may help you grow stronger or help someone in the future.
Learning: I always believed in God but did not truly understand what that meant until a friend, Ner, who was Jewish, got me interested. His family is from Israel. He talked about everything his family went through and their beliefs. Then, I went to prison and started reading books and attending classes about different religions. I can’t pinpoint it, but things from each of them are true. It just makes me want to be different. Learning new things feels like magic. I have had many difficult experiences in my life; I realized I have gone through hard times so that later in life, I can use those lessons to persevere or help someone else. Everything has happened for a reason. Now, as I look back at every situation, I can learn from each one; it’s like, Oh my gosh, this is why this happened, you know? It was like my eyes were open to something new. It’s unexplainable until you experience it. I just saw the world differently. I saw myself differently. I quit beating myself up all the time. I tried to start seeing the good in myself and other people.
Story: One day, I was in a house in Dayton and I just kept having this gut feeling to leave. A voice in my head was getting louder and louder. It scared me, so I finally left. And literally, within an hour, everybody in that house was dead or shot. A drug dealer came in and shot the place up because supposedly he was robbed by someone there. It was crazy; something told me to go, and there was no reason. We were just relaxed in the house, sitting around. So, moments like that started opening my eyes because something saved me that day. It’s not just that one-time experience. Things like this happened before I went to prison. It doesn’t even have to be something bad. I know something is coming, and it’s weird. It’s like someone telling me, “I’m here.” And I listened to that, and it sent me on a journey, thinking, Why do I have these feelings? I went on a mission to figure out if I was crazy. But really, it just led to good things happening.