We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chris Shanks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Chris, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
My story is messy for sure. To pickup at the beginning of my career, it starts at the end of my last. My last career came to an end when meeting a client at a gas station. We were about to go to a hotel to do business when a horn sounded, and all these people appeared with guns screaming at me to get on the ground. My drug dealing career was over, and so was my drug addiction. My bond was set to that of a murdered (700k) the state of Texas wanted me locked up for a long time, as I was caught selling a lot of drugs. My original sentence was 32 years and 9 months. While in solidarity confinement I was exposed to mindfulness and meditation. My world started changing. It changed dramatically over the next four years. When I was released I had no clue what to do. I was attending the Austin zen center recovery meetings and I was encouraged to help others. The doors opened to going to college and getting a degree in addiction counseling. I have a very successful practice in helping drug addicts turn their lives around. It’s not a normal approach in the field but it succeeds where other methods fail. Meditation and mindfulness are powerful tools in changing your mind which changes your reality. www.shankscounseling.com
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
For those who have tried 12 step faith based approaches and not had any luck, this approach might work for them. Mindfulness is not about having faith to generate hope and translate that to behavior changes. Mindfulness is experiential. No belief required, it’s the opposite. It’s an examination into how thoughts become reality. The nature of consciousness behind your mental chatter. The nature of thought and emotions and how they become cravings. It’s basically learning how your reality actually unfolds moment by moment. Most people have no idea about this. Fact is this. The next thought that appears in your head as you read this, is not a thought “you” chose. Be still and notice. Thoughts just flood in and you have no idea what’s coming next. You don’t choose your thoughts. Science shows around 6,200 thoughts a day, and it doesn’t feel like this because it’s always happening. Your thoughts dictate your reality and your not even aware that it’s happening. Most are fine. But in the cases of anxiety, depression and addiction, these thoughts are destructive. So training to change your relationship to your thinking mind is what awakening from you psychological patterns is all about. That’s what I do.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
My work is influenced by eastern philosophy and neuroscience. Non dual mindfulness is the entry point and I recommend Sam Harris waking up app to all my clients.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I ended up in the Ellis unit in Huntsville texas. As far as prison go, it’s like Shawshank redemption movie. It’s the old death row unit so it’s not pleasant. No air conditioning, working in the fields, violence, etc… I was more at peace here than I had been anywhere in my life due to mindfulness. My mind creates my reality, and when it started to work, I knew I was going to be okay when I got out because I was okay in there. The mind must be trained or you will continue to get more of the same psychological patterns dictating your emotions and behaviors.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shankscounseling.com