One of Australia’s thought leaders in Western Mindfulness, Russell Sturgess, shares intimate details of his own journey to illustrate his groundbreaking approach for helping people discover the self-worth, needed to manifest a better quality of life. As with most people, Russell had become imprisoned by his fears. The walls of Russell’s prison were made from bricks of depression, obesity, divorce and bankruptcy. All cemented together with a mortar of fear and self-doubt. 

In 2006, Russell had the rare opportunity to unlock mysteries never before revealed from a set of 22 medieval images that he calls The Cathar Code. What he discovered was a process that had the capacity to free people from their prison of fear and doubt. Going on to formulate the code into a program of personal growth, Russell found that people who fully participated in the program were naturally choosing to be more self-loving, since they had become more aware of their true worth. 

Besides creating a better quality of life, these people naturally became compassionate and kind toward others. This was expressed through social justice, forgiveness, unconditional love, while being committed to peace. 

In Get Out of Jail Card, Russell explains how the bricks of his prison were dismantled, which saw his weight becoming healthy (he lost 50kg), his relationships being consistently joyful, his bouts of depression being replaced with clarity of purpose, as well as making significant strides in rectifying his finances. When self-worth and compassion, replaced fear and self-doubt, the mortar that held together the walls of the prison dissolved, making the dismantling a reality. 

The keystone to Russell being freed from his imprisonment, was the understanding he developed of what he called ‘his story’. The ‘story’ is a personally held belief of poor self-worth, that moulds the bricks that form your prison wall. Given its capacity to hold anyone imprisoned for the whole of their life, Russell playfully referred to the story as a life-sentence. In his book, Russell gives you a tool for identifying your life-sentence. It is literally a sentence that describes the unique form that your poor self-worth takes. 

What Russell came to understand was that anytime he was out of stillness, anytime his inner-peace was disturbed, he was running his story. This meant that he was responsible for his own happiness, peace, and joy. They weren’t consequences, they were choices. And in order to choose them, he had to be free of his story. 

In medieval times, when someone sinned seriously enough that they had to pay penance, they would often be sent on a pilgrimage. In 2011, Russell went on a self-imposed pilgrimage. The result saw Russell being granted parole (partial freedom) from his imprisonment. A significant part of Get Out of Jail Card includes Russell’s personal experiences while walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, including the aftermath. Even though he had been paroled, he hadn’t been pardoned. 

While walking the Camino, Russell still wasn’t aware of his story. It wasn’t until almost two years after completing the Camino that he finally ‘got’ his story. Only when he understood his story was it possible for him to be pardoned. Being aware of his story meant that Russell could see his true worth, this meant he could make self-loving choices. Russell finishes his book by describing how the quality of his life improved once he was no longer held prisoner by his ‘story’. 

You know you are free of your life-sentence when you can feel gratitude for it. This happens when you can see the gift in your story and use that gift to bless the lives of others.