I was given Vishen's book, "The Code Of The Extraordinary Mind," during one of the darkest times in my life.
In September of 2016, I had given up on myself, falling back into addiction, and eventually getting arrested on January 12th, 2017. The next day I woke up in a jail cell, not knowing it would be the first day of an entirely new existence. If I rewind the tape to 3 years ago, I'll share a little of my life story, if you don't mind. I got into a car accident 3 years ago. My dominant right arm forever paralyzed... Nerve roots pulled from my spine, 3 of the 5 nerves in my brachial plexus, (right shoulder), were severed so severely that I had to find a doctor willing to take my case before they would go through with surgery...
Sadly, I didn't find one in time. So for the rest of my life, my arm will be paralyzed from the elbow down. 90 days after the accident, I wanted to commit suicide... But I have a resilient soul.
This is just one of a long line of traumas I've survived in my life. As a child, I was sexually abused by two of my older cousins, abandoned by my father due to his addictions that led to a federal prison sentence during the entire span of my abuse. As an adolescent, I continued the cycle by dabbling in substance abuse, and as an adult, I fell into drug addiction and criminal behavior that led to a federal prison cell, just like my father. I continued to victimize myself, refusing to invest in myself, let go, and carry on Thank The Universe that I didn't give up. . .I did in some ways by falling back into addiction, but it was in March of 2017, as I was sitting in treatment, that I was sent this book. This book has changed my perception forever, and it's still changing, adapting, growing, and learning to this very day!
I got out of treatment on April 26th, 2017. I'm Native American and my reservation is overwhelmed with addiction, abuse of every kind, suicide, and overdoses... My People are hurting. So I started a drug & alcohol awareness conference. In 6 weeks I raised over $46,000 and brought speakers from all over the nation last year. This year I built a team and we started a tour across our communities (6 events in total), called "Empower Our Future Speaking & Concert Series," where we have a team of speakers and hip hop performers travel and speak to students 4th-12th grade about addiction, bullying, recovery, leadership, speaking their own truth, voicing their hurts, seeking help, and communicating.
The impact was so great that we're expanding the tour to 9 events for the upcoming year, and we're receiving requests to travel outside our area. We're at the infancy stages of birthing an entire movement.
I've reached past the Brules that have confined my existence (well some of them, I'm still learning). I've learned how to let go of the modes of reality that no longer serve my greater purpose, and applied new systems of living to increase my quality of life! I'm extremely humbled, and grateful to introduce myself and share how a man can come from the darkest depths of survival mode, and begin to live a life of fulfillment, as a phoenix rises from the ashes, after reading a book, reaching out to loved ones, believing in my own self, and ever reminding myself, "That the Universe is always for me, never against me. A presence that is never an absence," as Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith would put it.
I'm SUPER excited to take the next step in The Mindvalley Community. I can feel the energy stirring within me as I write and I know in my spirit that this is the right move. My name is James Pakootas, and I'm happy to be a part of something that's so much bigger than I can even imagine.