March 4, 2025 • 53 mins
In this inspiring episode of The Hope Matrix Podcast, Kathryn Goetzke sits down with Christopher Hodges, a faith coordinator and special events employee for the Mayor of Chicago. Christopher shares his powerful journey of overcoming adversity—including surviving a life-changing car accident, battling depression, and losing over 300 pounds—all while maintaining an unwavering belief in hope.
Together, Kathryn and Christopher discuss the importance of faith, community, and resilience in navigating life's challenges. Christopher opens up about his work in mentoring at-risk youth, his role in Mayor Brandon Johnson's faith initiatives, and his personal connection to Reverend Jesse Jackson’s call to "Keep Hope Alive." They also explore the role of hope in mental and physical health, the power of positive thinking, and the need for seeking support during difficult times.
This episode is a testament to the transformative power of hope, reminding us all that no matter the challenges we face, we can rise above them and inspire change in our communities.
About Chris Hodges:
Christopher Hodges is currently the Policy Analyst at the Office of the Mayor in Chicago.
Christopher Hodges was born and raised in Chicago, IL to Pastor Jeffrey D. and Evangelist Virgie M. Hodges.
Christopher’s employment began with the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office. Where he served for the past 15 years in the capacity of Assistant Chief Deputy Clerk. He currently serves as the Policy Analyst for the City of Chicago.
Christopher is most famous for his work in the political movement with Faith Leaders across Cook County. He served on serval campaigns such as Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Dorothy Brown, Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Marianna Spyropoulis Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Christopher has been a motivational speaker and a mentor for over 16 years. While being a mentor, he has become very active in his community and church.
He also served as a music choir director and add to Reverend Jesse Jackson and Rainbow Push Coalition. This environment has fired up his passion for community activism. Since his partnership with Rev. Jackson, he has participated in various protests, jail ministry and various community outreach events.
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(00:01):
This is Kathryn Goetzke,host of The Hope Matrix podcast.
We are here to share science, storiesand strategies for how to hope.
I'm the Chief Hope officer of the ShineHope Company.
And SHINE is the mnemonicfor how we teach hope.
So when we talk about hope,we talk about how we use Stress Skills,
(00:22):
Happiness habits, Inspired Actions,Nourishing Networks
and Eliminating Challengeswhich are thinking patterns that
get in the way of our ability to hope.
Hope is a skill.
You can measure hope, you can teach hopeand you can start
practicing skills to activate higherhope in your life today.
(00:44):
And on this Hope Matrix podcast,we aim to bring in guests,
experts in science, people with stories,and those that have strategies
for activating hope in your life.
Hello. Welcome everyone.
This is your host Kathryn Goetzke,host of the Hope Matrix Podcast.
Thank you so much for joining with us.
(01:07):
I am so grateful to, introduceto you,
a new ish, a new ish dear and dear friendand someone
I've been working with at the cityand someone that knows quite a bit
about hope we have today and Mr.
Chris Hodges.
Chris, how are you?
I'm well. Okay.
(01:28):
And thank you for having me here.
And, you're just a joy.
I appreciate you, Thank you.
Well, I appreciate you, too, so much.
It's been really greatgetting to know you better.
And, you know, we've had a few meetingsand the story you told me,
I think it was our second meeting.
(01:48):
Maybe, just about,you know, your journey and challenges
and andreally, all of the amazing work
that you're doing in the world,I knew that I had to have you on here
to speak more.
All things. So. So.
Yeah, I appreciate no problem.
(02:09):
No problem.
I, I consider it an honoredfor an opportunity to share,
my testimony and the experience that,I have experience,
with positive thinking and and,looking up and and having hope
and keeping hopealive as my mentor,
(02:31):
Reverend Jackson says. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And it's a process.
So it's a it's an active process.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So really grateful, to have you here.
So why don't we start byjust you turn, to our listeners
a little bit more about yourself.
Okay. Well,Christopher Hodge is, of course,
(02:56):
an employeewith the city of Chicago
with Mayor Brandon Johnson.
I work as, one of the faith coordinatorsand, special events
for the mayor's office.
And, what we do is we work withthe community,
with faith based initiatives.
(03:17):
so I'm right up the alley with hope,you know, faith, hope
all things work together, right?
yeah. I,my, I grew up in church,
with, my father being a pastor,and, I was the.
(03:38):
Or I amthe music director for the church.
where, my father.
Yeah, my father is the pastor.
And, for 17 years,I, I served as the,
I work for the Dorothy Brownclerk of the Circuit Court
of Cook County.
(04:00):
17 years there.
I became the chief deputy clerk there.
and there I was able to,really see firsthand,
people, that are hopeless.
And, I am so grateful, for, forhave had having the opportunity
(04:28):
to instill hope in those people.
There was a time wheresomeone came to our counter
and she wanted to get inorder protection
against her child's, father.
and she was so broken,just so down and just
(04:49):
just just out of it, you know?
And we had a ton of paperwork.
We had to have her fill outand I told her, I said, but stop.
I said, Mister, let's take a deep breath.
She took a deep breath and I said,let's
think about what your life looks likein a better light.
(05:13):
And I said, just imagine it.
And she begin to think.
I said,you have to choose to think this way.
And she began to think it.
And I literally saying herby even her countenance, her her,
her spirit, her face, herof course, she had a smile.
(05:33):
She started talking about,you know, her children
going to school, preparing for,you know, she started talking
and I seen it firsthand.
I have several stories of bad mencoming out of jail, getting the,
running intoproblems, trying to get stuff expunged.
and then their, you know, when,when they fill out the paperwork wrong,
(05:56):
they like, oh,you're too close, too quick.
Let's go, let's go.
Everyone and I, I,you know, a lot of times, you know, after
conversating with you,I didn't realize the impact
OHP had on the human mindand the human body. Physically.
(06:20):
I didn't realize thatyou brought that to my mind.
And you brought that to my attention.
Even working with Reverend Jesse Jacksonfor pretty much
all of my life, my grandmother was,his, chef for many years.
She served, in the, bread basket.
She serve with Rainbow push.
(06:42):
and she did Saturday morning breakfastis any dinners? They did.
She was a coordinator. So, I wasforced to go to Rainbow Push.
and then over time,I developed to love, you know, anywhere
your parents take you to go,you really don't want to go.
But I developed a love,and they became a family.
(07:03):
And.
Reverend,well, every time he get up,
he will say I am somebodyand keep hope alive.
So I've heard that my entire life.
And it wasn't until,I had an interaction
with you, thankfully, that I.
(07:23):
I noticed what that was,you know, that
that continued remembering,choosing to keep hope alive
even in my own situationswhere two years ago,
I was in a car accident.
I moved to Texas,and I became a worship pastor there.
(07:44):
and I was in a car accidentwhere I broke my leg.
I had to get a rod, and I broke my wrist.
and I was unable to take care of myself.
I was in a very low place, and,my faith in God was still there.
(08:04):
But when you see reality,you know, the church wasn't
financially able to continueto pay my salary as well as hire
a new worship pastor,because it was going to take,
like a long road for me to recover.
And they could not,you know, handle that burden.
So, after, you know,exhausting my savings,
(08:29):
I was at the you know, the barrel.
So I had to move back to Chicagoand stay with my parents,
which is for me, was humiliating.
I thought, you know, were in there.
but,I had to think two different ways.
Either I had two options, eitherI was going to wallow
(08:54):
and the reality of where I am now,or continue to choose to keep
the hope of a better life,the hope of a brighter future,
the hope of a better physical.
life during that time, I was 500and I want to say 30 pounds.
(09:20):
but all during that process,I decided that the people
that we have to make a decision.
I know we should.
There's a decision that has to be made.
And it's just one decision.
That one decision is to keep hope alive.
And you will be surprisedhow making that one
(09:43):
simple decisionwill literally change your life.
I am now down to 300.
2 years later I'm down 310 pounds.
Kathryn, when I get to at the scalesay 299,
y'all don't know me, you hear me?
I'm a be stuck up now.
Just planned, but, I decided,but not only did
(10:07):
I make this decision,then I noticed , that Kathryn, I'm sorry
that I have to continueto make that decision almost to the point
where I have to make it on a daily basiswhen I wake up in the morning
and we have thought my reality hit,life happens, you know?
(10:31):
You know, life happens.
And, I choose to, to have hopeand it is contagious.
Did you know that?
Yes, yes.
Like that.
Joy. I know.
It's contagious.
So me being, the way I was raised,I was raised, in the church, and,
(10:55):
you know, I don'tknow what people feel about,
like, the signs and all that stuff, but,one of my friends says,
oh, you're a Libra.
You're a kind guy.
You're so kind. Whatever.
But I love, like, people.
So when people are down, I don't like it.
You know?
I don't like confrontation.
I don't like none of that stuff.
I'm not like, you know, saying that.
Oh, my God, I'm all happygo lucky all the time.
(11:17):
No, I deal with problems,but I deal with it. Yes, in.
Making the choices. But,I noticed that when people
would talk to meand they just get to spilling their,
you know,their life stories, and it's all negative
and it's all that's all.
You don't have to be that way.
(11:38):
Here's another way.
There's another option.
And I'll never forget Mrs.
Jacqueline Jackson.
That's Reverend Jackson's wife.
She says Chris,in every situation,
you have to always rememberthere's a God factor in everything.
(11:59):
And having a God factor increasesyour strength
to hold on to hope and faith.
And when she said it,it's like a light bulb.
You know, those cartoonswith a light bulb come over your head
might come.
Down right, right.
And and she said to me,you know, you have to keep the God factor
(12:25):
ever before you, you know, it can.
Your life can be turning down hill.
But as long as you have God,there's a possibility
that your life can change.
Now, for those that do not,you know, whatever
God you serve,whatever you know,
there's rules in life, period.
(12:47):
We have people that don't believe in God.
That's okay.
There's a rule of thumb, period.
What you sow, you reap what you give.
You get back.
So if you keep giving positivethoughts out there,
you're going to start experienceand you don't start experiencing it.
Whatever you sayout of your mouth, positive life
and death is in your tongue.
(13:08):
Whatever you say out of your mouth,that's positive.
You're going to it's going to manifest.
It's going to come back.
Listen, I am 40 years old now.
You can't tell me no differentthat it don't work.
So that's a little bit about me.
And, you know.
Oh, let me just share this.
upon coming back to Chicago,not knowing where I would.
(13:33):
Get my job from,I went to a job interview
and they told me, you know,unfortunately, you know,
you seem to be overqualified.
I said, oh, wow.
Like, you know, I waseither getting
overqualified, underqualified,and I was in a wheelchair
so they could not discriminate.
(13:54):
You stay discriminatory.
You know,reasons why they didn't hire me,
but I'm almost sure,at least that's what I thought you know?
And I'll never forget,mayor Brenda Johnson came to my home.
Supernatural.
He came to my home and asked meto serve on his campaign as the, faith
(14:18):
advisor and a faith coordinatorfor his campaign in my wheelchair.
I was taking him to pastors.
of course, I,you know, gathered me a team,
and I started taking him to pastors.
And and before I knew it,we were polling at 2%.
And I looked up one day,we won the office.
(14:42):
It was just so crazy.
You know how that happened.
But if I was in a placewhere all I thought was negativity.
Yeah.
And I didn't see a brighter futureand I didn't see a,
or keeping imagining abetter life for myself.
(15:03):
Yeah.
I do not believe that God would allowthose things to come to me,
because I would never appreciate it.
Yeah, because my expectation,yeah, would have been negativity.
Yeah.
But because I'm gratefulthat I had a mind
and I surrounded myself around peoplethat spoke positive, that spoke,
(15:25):
encouraging,that spoke about the God factor,
that spoke about,I am somebody keep hope alive
that my father preached every Sunday.
You know,I surrounded myself around that.
It wasn't just me choosing.
I force myself to be aroundpeople that were speaking positive.
yeah.
And God allowed today.
(15:46):
Whom.
God allowed me to experiencewhere I am now.
And now, looking back on it, I realize,like I didn't label it as hope then.
like having that.
I didn't label it as hope.
I justthought I called it positivity,
I guess I don't know, right?
but but now I know,it it was hope.
(16:11):
yeah.
I had a sense of hope and,that hope was manifested, so.
Yeah, that's a little bit about me.
That's amazing. Yeah.
And that's what we knowabout hope, right?
Hope is a beliefthat your future can be better
and the ability to make itso you've got to feel good about it.
You've got to believeand you've got to take action.
So if you just sit aroundand don't do anything, you know,
(16:34):
how can it improve.
And and I think too,bringing up the hopelessness part of it.
I mean, it's so easywhen you look at hopelessness,
it's a despair.
So you feel bad and helplessto do anything about it.
So when you're injured,when you lose a job, it's easy
to dive into hopelessness.
Oh, yeah.
You know, and and to get stuck there.
(16:56):
It's easywhen you live in communities
that are oppressed.
It's it's easywhen you have health conditions.
I mean, there's so many reasonsthat we can be experiencing hopelessness.
Half of our countryright now is is experiencing
a lot of hopelessness.
And it's really about learningwhat it is and learning. Yeah.
(17:16):
How do we activate hopeeven in the most challenging of times,
even in the hardest of times?
I mean, I've, I find itfascinating with you
that you are able to lose the weightduring a time
of such transition for you, too.
That's usually when people gaina lot of weight, you know,
because of the stressand not managing the stress well.
(17:37):
And so I want to dive into thata little bit more.
too.
And, you know, Iit was a really meaningful experience
for me to spend Christmas at the prison.
Where do you all.
Yeah.
And to see and to see the reverend.
Yeah.
I've never seen him do that.
(17:59):
The I am somebody and,I mean, our first of the shine, you know,
the shine framework.
And the first thing is the stress skills.
And then affirming beliefsis a stress skill that we use.
And to me, every child believingthat they are somebody,
every human being having that beliefthat they are
(18:22):
someone is, it is foundational for hope.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, it really is.
I would say that, the reasonwhy your platform is
so, imperativein this time, right now, is because,
you know, there are so many peoplethat are hopeless
(18:45):
for so many different reasons.
and, you know,there's a lot of people, hearts that are
really turning cold towards humanityand there's carelessness, people killing
people justrandomly, you know, Reverend Jackson
went toI go every year with him to the jail
(19:07):
on Christmas.
And I tell my family, hey,you already know the rules.
Chris is going to the jailand to see those men and women
in their here, the,inspirational messages and songs
from the people that we bring with us.
(19:27):
And we go to the door and we stand by,we smile, we shake their hand.
We remind them that they are somebodyand we give them hope.
Do you not know that afterspeaking to one of the sheriffs?
Because I also have a friend who,his name is Larry Roberts Junior,
(19:49):
he goes into,the jail, the county jail, and,
trains inmates how to cut hair.
He has a barber school,and and he does it for free.
They can sign up for his program.
He trains them how to cut hairand, one of the guys that were that
was theresaid, hey, man, guess what he says?
(20:11):
What? He said, I met Reverend Jackson.
He says, really?
He was like, yeah.
And he was.
He said, speech.
You know how you say, keep hope alive?
I am somebody.
He was like, man,he made repeated he like he made a fed,
I said.
And then, he was like, really? Really.
He was like, yeah, man.
He says, man, you you pretty charged.
(20:31):
He's like, I am. He was like, why?
He's like a lot of,you know, like, I don't know.
He says, I guess if he believed thatI shouldn't do, you know, like
if he believe in me,I should too.
So when Larry told me that testimony,I said, I have a responsibility
(20:52):
to not only keep hope alive for myself,but to try to encourage others,
to keep hope alive.
So, while I was workingat the clerk's office,
I also had a mentoring programin our church called Clergy Warriors,
and we would,take guys from off of the street,
and bring them into the church.
(21:13):
We would do steps, you know,like drill team steps and,
you know, teach them life skills,get them back into school,
get them into college, give them a trade,you know, just really help them out.
And one young man said something to me.
He says, Chris,if you can help me
to get a job, I'll stop selling drugs.
(21:35):
So I don't want to sell drugs, he says.
I do thisbecause that's all I have to do.
I said, well, you do knowthat you don't have to do that.
He says, what if I don't sell drugs?
I will eat.
And I said, no, I get it.
(21:56):
I said, but that's what we're here for.
To give you another, option.
You know, there'sanother chance,
there's another opportunity.
But if you don't have the powerwithin you or the decision made
to change your decision about your lifeand deciding to keep hope alive
(22:18):
and within your heart,then you you won't see it.
Yeah.
This I went, I went to Texas.
and this gentlemanis getting ordained as an elder,
(22:39):
and.
Well.
I right now, I, I'mstill all about, you know, pushing, for,
you know, people to to to gainhope, pushing the message.
I am somebody'spersonal message keep hope alive.
But right now,I'm recruiting people to, help
(23:02):
recruit people to keep hope alivefor other people.
Yeah.
And also, God has blessed me with favorat the mayor's office
to lift organizations that do that,like the Bible college.
like these different trade schools.
And having your curriculumto teach us how to communicate hope,
(23:30):
give us guidelines.
So if anybody's listening to me.
This woman here has aphenomenal curriculum
around this word Hope, this movement.
Hope I'll call it like that.
that is phenomenal.
That I think everyone, every cityin the state of Illinois, every state
(23:56):
in the United States of America,needs to sign into it,
because I know for a factthat if you can keep hope alive,
you can also encouragesomeone else to keep.
And the the change startstrickling down to the point
where you can start seeinga real change
(24:19):
in your neighborhood where you live.
Kathryn, the mayor went to,he did some,
an initiative called The Day in a Ward.
And there was a young man,it was like a group of them
on the, on their Grahamon his grandmother's, porch.
And it was just hanging out.
Just being just hanging out.
(24:40):
And so, the the,neighbor two doors down told the mayor
he knew him.
Boys over there, that's all they dois hanging on the street.
That's all.
They they ain't no good. Hang on.
Never beat.
Y'all need to take a look at it.
So the mayor walked over to theand says, hey, guys, what you're doing?
(25:01):
What do y'all do on a daily basis?
Like, you know, what's going on?
A positive note, he says, hey,if any one of you all
want to change what you're doingand don't want to do this anymore,
contact this person.
So as one of his handlers,one of the young men
took the handler's card.
He says, I've always wanted to.
(25:23):
He was a I'm an artist.
And he says, I don't know what we can do.
He was like, well, can you draw?
He was like, yeah, I can draw.
He was like,have you ever thought about
drawing like haircuts?
Like, you know, like it'sthe same kind of, you know, skill?
He was like, oh, that's easy money.
I'll do it. I'll do it.
He's he was, he's 19.
(25:44):
So we hooked them up with LarryBarber College.
Larry Barber College has an opportunitywhere they can get federal
federally funded to pay for the schoolhousing, and they get a stipend.
This young man went there,been in the program,
(26:06):
is on the verge of graduatingand has been enrolling
people in his neighborhoodto this program.
They're living on the campus.
I so when we go back over there.
That neighborhooddoes not look the same.
You want to know why the mayorcould have took what that lady said
(26:26):
and had the the police officersinvestigate that area,
but he changed that.
And I'm not I'm not givinga shameless plug for the man.
I'm just telling youwhat I can experience
of what hope can do for a community.
And that's why I appreciateyou taking your curriculum
to the government side of itand getting this legislation
(26:50):
and giving this and the career,the curriculum
in the government sideto help us with this,
because it can literally change,and it also dives into mental health.
Yeah.
It does into mental health.
It ties into physical health.
so yeah, you know, Kathryn,you have a huge responsibility
(27:14):
and you're literally changing the world.
So I applaud you.
I, I appreciate you taking this.
Yes.
living out your purpose,and encouraging others to do the same.
It's so inspiring to see you do this.
And, you know, be bold enough to go.
(27:36):
I mean, let's be real.
When you first came to me, Kathryn,you said Chris,
I have an idea about hope.
I was like, oh, good.
Like, you know, I just love be to.
But when you start talking.
About about it as passionatelike as you did.
(27:57):
And then you start, you know,peeling back the layers
of how positive hope can,a positive role
hope can play in the lives of peopleI start seeing in my own life personally,
where I didn't know what to label it,I didn't know what to label it,
(28:22):
but it was hope all along,and it was hope
that got me to where I, you know,I'm not saying I have arrived.
I am still growing,but I am not where I used to be.
I'm not what I used to be.
I think I'm not what it says.
I'm not what I want to be.
But I thank God I'mnot what I used to be.
It was hope the whole time.
(28:43):
so you in this paper, I am committedto help you push this narrative.
You know this as it takes this person.
But don't tell himI gave you my this,
my, I do this, you know, I want to.
I want to help this because, Reverend,he must have known.
(29:05):
He must have known about it.
He must have had aa prophetic strategy to
to continue this work with, you know,not even really
peeling the onions where you did it.
See, everybody got a purpose.
and your reference purposewas to get that word out.
and you can stand on his shoulders.
But now, with a dayand age where we need to see
(29:29):
and understand and explain,this generation needs to know
we're in the of the know.
oh. Don't just tell me what to do.
You need to tell me whyI'm walking down the street
this direction.
And your platformand your curriculum is doing that.
And if mayors around this country wouldadhere to and really embrace it
(29:57):
and really take time to hear you out.
They'll be bought in.
They just need to hear you out.
Thank you. Yeah, yeah.
You are so sweet.
I mean,this is not a plug for the hard work.
I mean, I'mso grateful you're making me cry.
(30:17):
You know, I'm.
I know in a good way.
And just such a touching, meaningful way.
I, you know,I want to tell you when we do,
you know, we've been doing thiswork around the world
and in the US specifically.
I have teachers come to me to say,and we have them
create their nourishing network, likeright down, you know, fill this out.
Who's and and identifyat least one
(30:39):
trusted adult in your lifethat you can count on in times of need.
And, you know, half of our kidsdon't have anyone.
And when you think I know,think about you.
Think about what Mayor Johnsongoing up to that youth.
That's potentiallythe first time that kid ever had someone
that believe in them,that believed in their potential.
(31:02):
And to me and and, you know,I want to work
to get more of the reverendsome of what he did into how we teach up
around the world.
I mean, I think it's, you know,making that claim of
I am somebody having that beliefthat the future can be better
than the person'sidentifying people
that you can count on in times of need.
(31:22):
It's so critical.
How can weexpect our youth not to be in jails
when they're not getting guidancefrom adults and love from adults?
Oh, yes. And you know.
Absolutely. Wow. Yeah.
So I know,I know, it's not like,
I know you're asking the questions,but I do have a question.
Can I ask. Okay. Of course you can. Yes.
(31:45):
what made you diveinto creating a curriculum around,
the idea of hope?
And I know this podcastmight not even be about hope, but
I'm sort of. Yeah.
Okay. I'm just so excited about.
Yeah, this newfound revelationthat you brought to our table,
I'm just excited about it,but I, I do want to know, like,
(32:06):
what made you say, okay,there's strategy around here.
There's there'sthere's a possible movement here.
Like what? What took place.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, it came from looking atwhy do some people die by suicide
and others not when they have,you know, similar challenges.
(32:29):
What what really is it that drive.
So I initially wanted to get to the rootcause of
why do people choose to take their lives.
And so I got into the researchand looked at study
after study after study that was doneand and suicides and hopelessness came up
(32:50):
as the single consistentpredictor across every study.
And then not just suicide, also violence.
Violence is drivenby hopelessness, a sense of despair
and a feeling of helplessnessthat you have the power
to change anything.
Wow.
And the primary symptom of depression.
Yeah.
And I said, well, then why don'tI have a suicide attempt myself?
(33:15):
My dad decided when I was 18 years old.
So I super committed to reallyunderstanding this
at the root cause of it.
And if we want to solve it,you know, how do we do that?
And so once I found outit was hopelessness, I thought,
why don't I know what it is?
And why don't I know how to get to hope?
(33:35):
And, you know, they were measuring hope,but they weren't teaching you
how to hope.
And I thought, well,if they're measuring it
and if we know what hopelessness is andand when you break down hopelessness,
it's emotional despair.
So you feel sad, angry, afraid.
You can always manage those emotions.
You can. Yeah.
You can learnhow to manage them in healthy ways.
(33:57):
And you can alwaysget out of helplessness and into action.
Might not. Yeah.
The action might not be the goalyou want.
You might have to wriggle, you know.
So I realized you canit's something
that you can teach as a skill.
So I had the hypothesisand I proved out the hope.
And as we increased hope,anxiety and depression went down.
(34:17):
You know, confidence went up.
Connection with others,with all of these things.
And I thought, if you can teach,this is a skill.
We have to teach the like,we have to ensure,
everyone knows what hopelessnessis, how to manage it,
and how to get to hope.
And you know, that's a building.
The whole framework isI want people to just,
you know, the more challenges you have,the more you have to shine,
(34:40):
the more you haveto practice the framework. Do.
It's like you say, it'san intentional decision every day.
You know, it's and biologycomes into play.
So you have to understandyour stress hormones, how they work
and what they do to your health.
And you know,when you're in stress,
when you're in chronic stressand you're violent,
(35:01):
you get dopamine,you get a dopamine hit
from that violence.
Well, that feels betterfrom your place of despair.
And soyou know what you all are doing,
and what you illustrated perfectly withyour example
is you're giving kids other waysto get their dopamine.
Really? Yeah.
Help your ways,you know, through art or through
(35:22):
drawing or throughconnection with others
or through actual work.
But it's, you know, sobut it's about teaching
these skills to kids and not shaming themfor ending up in jail
because we're not teaching them.
And these are all, like,really important things
to learn at a very young age.
(35:42):
What is our stress response?
How do we manage it in healthier ways?
You know, what are our happiness habits?
How do we get our happy hormonesand healthy ways versus unhealthy ways?
You know, all of all of these things.
And until we startdoing this and society
and ensuring everyone knowsand we practice together as a community,
(36:02):
we can't expect for violence toand we can't expect for addiction.
You know, all of these things.
So yeah, from a veryit comes from a very deep
spiritual place too.
I mean, I just I feel so called toand to learn from
the most brilliant mindsand then incorporate it
into a waythat the normal person can understand.
(36:26):
You know, as much as possible.
So yeah.
And I feel likewe all have a right to hope, you know,
we all have to dream of a betterfuture for herself and her kids.
so I want to ask aboutyour Shine skills quick.
We won't go, like, deep into it,but I do want to know them. Yes.
(36:48):
So your stress skills.
So how do you manage your stress then?
And especially the way,I mean, losing that much weight.
I mean, so many people strugglewith that.
Yeah. Daily basis, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.
Soyou know we get triggered by things
sadness, anger, fear.
Like how do you managethose emotions in healthier ways?
(37:11):
when I was about, I would say like 17,16, 17,
I was in high school, I was overweight,very depressed.
you know,and then you come, you come to a place
of when you want to kill yourself,there's no reason to live.
And you label itand it's labeled as hopelessness.
(37:34):
There's no hope to live.
There's no you have no expectationof a any positive coming to your life.
But my mom, my dad called my momand this is the scar I want to,
you know, so the scar on my wrist,I don't know if you guys can see it, but
it's there.
(37:55):
my dad called my mom and was like,you know, hey, I'm bringing
McDonald's home for the kids.
And so she told everybody, clean up,you know, you know,
you put your toysaway, dance, coming home
with some McDonald's.
So I she yelled that through the house.
I'm sitting here bleeding, and I'm like,I have McDonald's coming.
(38:19):
I don't want to die,you know, like, oh, it's so embarrassing.
But it heals my struggle at the timebecause food was a struggle for me
when I was a teenager to save my life.
What that taught me was.
Whatever state I'm in.
Because I have hope.
(38:41):
I know there's two things I can have.
I can either fail and learn,or I can succeed and learn.
Either way I go, I'm winning.
When when my mother died,I was very hopeless.
My heart was broken.
She was my rock.
My father is my rock.
(39:02):
But I'm a mama's boy.
I don't, I'm just. It is.
I love.
My mom to pieces.
And I thought I couldn't imagine mylife without her. But
what I decidedto do is because I.
Because I'm a Christian,I decided I love her so much.
(39:25):
Let me live my my lifeaccording to the Bible to see her again.
So the hope I begin to live foris to see my mother again.
so my tragedy.
I find a way to turn it aroundto benefit my life.
(39:54):
There's a scripture that I usethat helps me deal
with every problem that I face,and it says.
It says all things, all things.
It's very important to understand thatall things, the good and the bad,
(40:14):
work together for the goodof those that love the Lord.
Everything you go throughcan be a positive situation in your life
if you allow itand choose to think that way,
it becomes very comfortableto think and wallow and to embrace.
(40:40):
Now don't get me wrong, when trials comeand when frustration or hurt come,
I don't ignore it.
Like, you know, I acknowledge that hurts.
Yeah.
I know that that hurts. Yeah.
But what's the next step for me?
Yeah. So,I, you know, over time,
(41:04):
the way I choose to handle my stress.
And my problem is with the knowing,nothing stays the same forever.
Yeah. And this fivelast fret, ninth business.
So if you're in a bad situation,I promise you, I,
(41:26):
if you're in jail,if you are in jail listening
to this podcast, I promiseyou're going to have
some enjoyable moments in jail.
You will keep hope alive.
And I practice that.
does trials come?
(41:48):
Does stress come?
Does pain come? Yes.
But just like my trainer said, Chris,no pain, no gain.
And I'm like.
I don't want to,you know, like, I don't care about that,
you know?
Like but he's true.
In order to gain muscle,you lift the weights, right?
(42:09):
Yeah, I do it the same way emotionally.
But I will say this a captain out,and we're going to go there.
I did, seek counseling.
so I want to encourage everyone.
You don't have to do this alone,because sometimes
it can be very difficult to,in the beginning,
(42:33):
you know, in the beginningstages, you try,
you know, change my life.
And and I was trying to do it alone.
But, you know, you know,it's better to do it
with someone that can help you dissect.
How you feeling?
You know, we may feel one way,and it may be the wrong
(42:56):
way to view that you know,and someone can come along and help you.
A professional can help you,and it don't mean you're crazy.
And would you tell the worldyou got a cancer?
Play your courage.
I know you know, not everyone.
Yes, everyone needs a therapist.
My rich friend. yeah.
(43:18):
And they help you train your mind?
Yes, I know.
You need we we we need that help.
Yeah, we know that.
That's the way I would.
I go for help, I seek out helpif my back is against the wall,
I cry out for help because I refuse to.
And and with negativity.
(43:40):
Good for you.
Yes. Yeah.
And your your your happiness habits.
Are you nutrition like?
Did you have to changeyour nutrition, exercise,
all of that to get on a regimefor getting healthier?
Yeah. So,so with eating, because I found out
that it was alike a stronghold controlling my life.
(44:02):
I did what is called intermittent fastingwhere I would not eat
for a certain period of time.
from I would only eat frommaybe like three
till like four hours within a day.
And then the rest of the dayI would find other activities
that I enjoyed and I would do them.
(44:24):
Good for you. Whatever.
Yeah, yeah.
I had to fall out of shape with food.
Yes. Yeah.
And with other things,you got to replace it
with healthy substitutes.
Absolutely.
I was a smoker once.
I had to run instead.
And like when you can't run and smoke.
(44:45):
Yeah, yeah.
And it just, you know becauseit can't breathe. So.
Yeah it was pretty amazing. Ohyeah.
yeah. Definitely awesome.
Yeah. Well, I am someone.
Yeah.
I was going to say this one thingabout, healthy habits.
my counselor helped meidentify what I really enjoyed.
(45:10):
I do what I enjoy,but she really said, Chris,
you like to watch TV and watch movies.
You like to read books? You.
And she just tells me what brings me joy.
Me. And she says, why don't you do that?
And I was like, why don't I do that?
I'm going to, you know, like,I know he did that for me.
(45:33):
And so I urge,I encourage, I encourage therapy.
Yeah, I do too.
Absolutely.
It doesn't meananything's wrong with you.
To me, it means you're smart.
And, you know,when you look at all of the
Ian knows all the challengesthat our brain does to,
like, trick uslike automatic negative thoughts.
And when we ruminateand when we worry and like,
(45:54):
there are all of these negative, biasedand therapists can help us see through,
see through all that,and help us get to thinking
more clearly,more rationally, getting present,
helping with any traumawe all have trauma.
It's just a matter ofhow much trauma, you know,
and that stays with usuntil we really heal it.
it really does.
(46:15):
And surrounding yourself with people,that's positive.
That encourages you to closeyou accountable.
Don't let you wallow.
You know, you have to surround.
If you have friendsthat misery loves company.
You run.
You have to choose to run.
You have to really find your life.
(46:35):
Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Yeah. And it's, Yes.
Yeah. It's not.
Quantity of friends is quality, you know.
Are they are they nourishing you.
Are they getting where you,where you want to go in life.
Are they are they holding you back right.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh. Absolutely.
(46:57):
And so wonderfulChristopher talking to you.
Do you have any final thoughtsor anything else you want to share
before we check off?
I know I've kept you very long.
I'm so grateful.
I know you're very busy.
I do want to encourage everyone,to, like, I know
(47:20):
everybody have their religion and stuff.
But for me personally, I have to speakon my relationship with God.
And without having God in my life,I know for a fact I would not have hope.
Like I wouldn't be able to see it,you know, and embracing
(47:42):
and accepting the love of Jesus.
I just want to encouragethose that may hear my voice
that are in a low placeand that is down.
I want to remind youthat there is one that loves
you exactly the way you are,right where you are,
(48:06):
and to remember thathis love is strong enough to pick you up
from where you are, and supernaturallychange your life and your situation.
And I want to encourage everyoneto lean into God.
(48:27):
and I only can say that because that'swhat I mean.
Find another religionthat works for them, for you.
Great.
But I'm telling you my truthand my truth that Jesus Christ
was a stitch changer for me.
It's almost emotional because.
He literally changed my life.
(48:49):
And it started here, starting in my mindand my.
There's a songthat my mother used to sing.
It says, my hope is builton nothing less.
Than JesusChrist and His righteousness.
I dare not trust no other sweetest frame,but only lean on Jesus’ name.
(49:17):
And I want to leave everyonewith that frame
that all things work togetherfor the good of those who love the Lord.
Thank you Kathryn.
Thank you so much.
That was wonderful.
So much from talking to you.
I just adore you.
I'm so grateful. I know you. Yes.
(49:39):
And soI love working with you in Chicago.
We're going to doso many great things together.
I'm super excited.
I, you know, let'slet's set up a meeting.
Yes. Get stuff going. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
We will do that.
And listenerslistening in, thank you so much for
for sharing this time with us.
And please,you know, go ahead and share
(50:00):
those that so inspired.
And you are not alone. You know.
Oh yeah.
We are all in this together. Absolutely.
And it does get better.
I mean eventually,you know those emotions do pass.
So you can't stay in that sadness foreveror the anger.
And we've got to channelthat into innovation.
(50:21):
Positive. Yeah.
For humanity.
So let's work together to do that.
Yeah. Thank you so much.
All right everyone stay. Thank you.
Thank you all for listening into the Hope Matrix podcast.
We want to shine a lightthat hope is teachable.
Hope is measurable and teachableand provide you with actionable insights
(50:44):
for how you can start activatinghope in your life today
and provide a framework so you can starttalking about hope with other people
and practice these skills togetherbecause we are better with hope.
Please feel freeto check out theshinehopecompany.com,
where we list all of our resources aroundhow to Hope.
We have a lot of free programsfor how to hope, including the five day
(51:07):
Challenge, our Hope infographicwith a lot of skills
that showcase how to hope and articlesof how to incorporate hope in your life.
We have The Hopebeat Weekly,which is a weekly newsletter
that shares strategies for hope.
We have a My Hope Story templates soyou can write your own Hope story today.
Also my Hope Hero so we can sharewhat our heroes are doing to activate
(51:31):
hope in their lives.
And this is especially good with youthso they can start looking up
to people that have overcome similaror challenges to them
and seen how these heroes use the ShineHope framework.
We have a Hopeful Minds for Teens programand Hopeful minds Overview
Educator Guides.
We have a new evidencebased college course so you can activate
(51:52):
Hope on the college campus.
There are programs in the workplace.
Overview courses 90 minute coursesfor learning the what,
why and how to hope.
What I want you to know about hopeis it's a skill.
You've got to practice these skillsto become hopeful.
It's easyto fall into despair and helplessness
when we deal with challenges in life,and it takes intentional work
(52:15):
and practice to get to hope.
And yet it is always possible.
So no matter what life brings.
Keep shining hope.
Thanks so much for listeningand have an awesome day.
And of course, I've got to add this, thatthis program is designed to assist you
in learning about hope should not be usedfor medical advice, counseling,
(52:36):
or other health related services.
iFred, The Shine Hope Company and myself,Kathryn Goetzke
do not endorse or provide any medicaladvice, diagnosis or treatment.
I am not a medical doctor.
The information provided hereshould not be used for the diagnosis
or treatment of any medical conditionand cannot be substituted
(52:57):
for the advice of physicians, licenseprofessionals or therapists
who are familiarwith your specific situation.
Consulta licensed medical profession or call 911.
If you are in need of immediate assistanceand be sure to know the crisis Hotline.
988. If you are in need of support.
(53:18):
Thanks so much for listening.
Take good care of yourselfand keep shining hope.
This is Kathryn Goetzke,host of The Hope Matrix podcast.
We are here to share science, storiesand strategies for how to hope.
I'm the Chief Hope officer of the ShineHope Company.
And SHINE is the mnemonicfor how we teach hope.
So when we talk about hope,we talk about how we use Stress Skills,
(00:22):
Happiness habits, Inspired Actions,Nourishing Networks
and Eliminating Challengeswhich are thinking patterns that
get in the way of our ability to hope.
Hope is a skill.
You can measure hope, you can teach hopeand you can start
practicing skills to activate higherhope in your life today.
(00:44):
And on this Hope Matrix podcast,we aim to bring in guests,
experts in science, people with stories,and those that have strategies
for activating hope in your life.
Hello. Welcome everyone.
This is your host Kathryn Goetzke,host of the Hope Matrix Podcast.
Thank you so much for joining with us.
(01:07):
I am so grateful to, introduceto you,
a new ish, a new ish dear and dear friendand someone
I've been working with at the cityand someone that knows quite a bit
about hope we have today and Mr.
Chris Hodges.
Chris, how are you?
I'm well. Okay.
(01:28):
And thank you for having me here.
And, you're just a joy.
I appreciate you, Thank you.
Well, I appreciate you, too, so much.
It's been really greatgetting to know you better.
And, you know, we've had a few meetingsand the story you told me,
I think it was our second meeting.
(01:48):
Maybe, just about,you know, your journey and challenges
and andreally, all of the amazing work
that you're doing in the world,I knew that I had to have you on here
to speak more.
All things. So. So.
Yeah, I appreciate no problem.
(02:09):
No problem.
I, I consider it an honoredfor an opportunity to share,
my testimony and the experience that,I have experience,
with positive thinking and and,looking up and and having hope
and keeping hopealive as my mentor,
(02:31):
Reverend Jackson says. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And it's a process.
So it's a it's an active process.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So really grateful, to have you here.
So why don't we start byjust you turn, to our listeners
a little bit more about yourself.
Okay. Well,Christopher Hodge is, of course,
(02:56):
an employeewith the city of Chicago
with Mayor Brandon Johnson.
I work as, one of the faith coordinatorsand, special events
for the mayor's office.
And, what we do is we work withthe community,
with faith based initiatives.
(03:17):
so I'm right up the alley with hope,you know, faith, hope
all things work together, right?
yeah. I,my, I grew up in church,
with, my father being a pastor,and, I was the.
(03:38):
Or I amthe music director for the church.
where, my father.
Yeah, my father is the pastor.
And, for 17 years,I, I served as the,
I work for the Dorothy Brownclerk of the Circuit Court
of Cook County.
(04:00):
17 years there.
I became the chief deputy clerk there.
and there I was able to,really see firsthand,
people, that are hopeless.
And, I am so grateful, for, forhave had having the opportunity
(04:28):
to instill hope in those people.
There was a time wheresomeone came to our counter
and she wanted to get inorder protection
against her child's, father.
and she was so broken,just so down and just
(04:49):
just just out of it, you know?
And we had a ton of paperwork.
We had to have her fill outand I told her, I said, but stop.
I said, Mister, let's take a deep breath.
She took a deep breath and I said,let's
think about what your life looks likein a better light.
(05:13):
And I said, just imagine it.
And she begin to think.
I said,you have to choose to think this way.
And she began to think it.
And I literally saying herby even her countenance, her her,
her spirit, her face, herof course, she had a smile.
(05:33):
She started talking about,you know, her children
going to school, preparing for,you know, she started talking
and I seen it firsthand.
I have several stories of bad mencoming out of jail, getting the,
running intoproblems, trying to get stuff expunged.
and then their, you know, when,when they fill out the paperwork wrong,
(05:56):
they like, oh,you're too close, too quick.
Let's go, let's go.
Everyone and I, I,you know, a lot of times, you know, after
conversating with you,I didn't realize the impact
OHP had on the human mindand the human body. Physically.
(06:20):
I didn't realize thatyou brought that to my mind.
And you brought that to my attention.
Even working with Reverend Jesse Jacksonfor pretty much
all of my life, my grandmother was,his, chef for many years.
She served, in the, bread basket.
She serve with Rainbow push.
(06:42):
and she did Saturday morning breakfastis any dinners? They did.
She was a coordinator. So, I wasforced to go to Rainbow Push.
and then over time,I developed to love, you know, anywhere
your parents take you to go,you really don't want to go.
But I developed a love,and they became a family.
(07:03):
And.
Reverend,well, every time he get up,
he will say I am somebodyand keep hope alive.
So I've heard that my entire life.
And it wasn't until,I had an interaction
with you, thankfully, that I.
(07:23):
I noticed what that was,you know, that
that continued remembering,choosing to keep hope alive
even in my own situationswhere two years ago,
I was in a car accident.
I moved to Texas,and I became a worship pastor there.
(07:44):
and I was in a car accidentwhere I broke my leg.
I had to get a rod, and I broke my wrist.
and I was unable to take care of myself.
I was in a very low place, and,my faith in God was still there.
(08:04):
But when you see reality,you know, the church wasn't
financially able to continueto pay my salary as well as hire
a new worship pastor,because it was going to take,
like a long road for me to recover.
And they could not,you know, handle that burden.
So, after, you know,exhausting my savings,
(08:29):
I was at the you know, the barrel.
So I had to move back to Chicagoand stay with my parents,
which is for me, was humiliating.
I thought, you know, were in there.
but,I had to think two different ways.
Either I had two options, eitherI was going to wallow
(08:54):
and the reality of where I am now,or continue to choose to keep
the hope of a better life,the hope of a brighter future,
the hope of a better physical.
life during that time, I was 500and I want to say 30 pounds.
(09:20):
but all during that process,I decided that the people
that we have to make a decision.
I know we should.
There's a decision that has to be made.
And it's just one decision.
That one decision is to keep hope alive.
And you will be surprisedhow making that one
(09:43):
simple decisionwill literally change your life.
I am now down to 300.
2 years later I'm down 310 pounds.
Kathryn, when I get to at the scalesay 299,
y'all don't know me, you hear me?
I'm a be stuck up now.
Just planned, but, I decided,but not only did
(10:07):
I make this decision,then I noticed , that Kathryn, I'm sorry
that I have to continueto make that decision almost to the point
where I have to make it on a daily basiswhen I wake up in the morning
and we have thought my reality hit,life happens, you know?
(10:31):
You know, life happens.
And, I choose to, to have hopeand it is contagious.
Did you know that?
Yes, yes.
Like that.
Joy. I know.
It's contagious.
So me being, the way I was raised,I was raised, in the church, and,
(10:55):
you know, I don'tknow what people feel about,
like, the signs and all that stuff, but,one of my friends says,
oh, you're a Libra.
You're a kind guy.
You're so kind. Whatever.
But I love, like, people.
So when people are down, I don't like it.
You know?
I don't like confrontation.
I don't like none of that stuff.
I'm not like, you know, saying that.
Oh, my God, I'm all happygo lucky all the time.
(11:17):
No, I deal with problems,but I deal with it. Yes, in.
Making the choices. But,I noticed that when people
would talk to meand they just get to spilling their,
you know,their life stories, and it's all negative
and it's all that's all.
You don't have to be that way.
(11:38):
Here's another way.
There's another option.
And I'll never forget Mrs.
Jacqueline Jackson.
That's Reverend Jackson's wife.
She says Chris,in every situation,
you have to always rememberthere's a God factor in everything.
(11:59):
And having a God factor increasesyour strength
to hold on to hope and faith.
And when she said it,it's like a light bulb.
You know, those cartoonswith a light bulb come over your head
might come.
Down right, right.
And and she said to me,you know, you have to keep the God factor
(12:25):
ever before you, you know, it can.
Your life can be turning down hill.
But as long as you have God,there's a possibility
that your life can change.
Now, for those that do not,you know, whatever
God you serve,whatever you know,
there's rules in life, period.
(12:47):
We have people that don't believe in God.
That's okay.
There's a rule of thumb, period.
What you sow, you reap what you give.
You get back.
So if you keep giving positivethoughts out there,
you're going to start experienceand you don't start experiencing it.
Whatever you sayout of your mouth, positive life
and death is in your tongue.
(13:08):
Whatever you say out of your mouth,that's positive.
You're going to it's going to manifest.
It's going to come back.
Listen, I am 40 years old now.
You can't tell me no differentthat it don't work.
So that's a little bit about me.
And, you know.
Oh, let me just share this.
upon coming back to Chicago,not knowing where I would.
(13:33):
Get my job from,I went to a job interview
and they told me, you know,unfortunately, you know,
you seem to be overqualified.
I said, oh, wow.
Like, you know, I waseither getting
overqualified, underqualified,and I was in a wheelchair
so they could not discriminate.
(13:54):
You stay discriminatory.
You know,reasons why they didn't hire me,
but I'm almost sure,at least that's what I thought you know?
And I'll never forget,mayor Brenda Johnson came to my home.
Supernatural.
He came to my home and asked meto serve on his campaign as the, faith
(14:18):
advisor and a faith coordinatorfor his campaign in my wheelchair.
I was taking him to pastors.
of course, I,you know, gathered me a team,
and I started taking him to pastors.
And and before I knew it,we were polling at 2%.
And I looked up one day,we won the office.
(14:42):
It was just so crazy.
You know how that happened.
But if I was in a placewhere all I thought was negativity.
Yeah.
And I didn't see a brighter futureand I didn't see a,
or keeping imagining abetter life for myself.
(15:03):
Yeah.
I do not believe that God would allowthose things to come to me,
because I would never appreciate it.
Yeah, because my expectation,yeah, would have been negativity.
Yeah.
But because I'm gratefulthat I had a mind
and I surrounded myself around peoplethat spoke positive, that spoke,
(15:25):
encouraging,that spoke about the God factor,
that spoke about,I am somebody keep hope alive
that my father preached every Sunday.
You know,I surrounded myself around that.
It wasn't just me choosing.
I force myself to be aroundpeople that were speaking positive.
yeah.
And God allowed today.
(15:46):
Whom.
God allowed me to experiencewhere I am now.
And now, looking back on it, I realize,like I didn't label it as hope then.
like having that.
I didn't label it as hope.
I justthought I called it positivity,
I guess I don't know, right?
but but now I know,it it was hope.
(16:11):
yeah.
I had a sense of hope and,that hope was manifested, so.
Yeah, that's a little bit about me.
That's amazing. Yeah.
And that's what we knowabout hope, right?
Hope is a beliefthat your future can be better
and the ability to make itso you've got to feel good about it.
You've got to believeand you've got to take action.
So if you just sit aroundand don't do anything, you know,
(16:34):
how can it improve.
And and I think too,bringing up the hopelessness part of it.
I mean, it's so easywhen you look at hopelessness,
it's a despair.
So you feel bad and helplessto do anything about it.
So when you're injured,when you lose a job, it's easy
to dive into hopelessness.
Oh, yeah.
You know, and and to get stuck there.
(16:56):
It's easywhen you live in communities
that are oppressed.
It's it's easywhen you have health conditions.
I mean, there's so many reasonsthat we can be experiencing hopelessness.
Half of our countryright now is is experiencing
a lot of hopelessness.
And it's really about learningwhat it is and learning. Yeah.
(17:16):
How do we activate hopeeven in the most challenging of times,
even in the hardest of times?
I mean, I've, I find itfascinating with you
that you are able to lose the weightduring a time
of such transition for you, too.
That's usually when people gaina lot of weight, you know,
because of the stressand not managing the stress well.
(17:37):
And so I want to dive into thata little bit more.
too.
And, you know, Iit was a really meaningful experience
for me to spend Christmas at the prison.
Where do you all.
Yeah.
And to see and to see the reverend.
Yeah.
I've never seen him do that.
(17:59):
The I am somebody and,I mean, our first of the shine, you know,
the shine framework.
And the first thing is the stress skills.
And then affirming beliefsis a stress skill that we use.
And to me, every child believingthat they are somebody,
every human being having that beliefthat they are
(18:22):
someone is, it is foundational for hope.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, it really is.
I would say that, the reasonwhy your platform is
so, imperativein this time, right now, is because,
you know, there are so many peoplethat are hopeless
(18:45):
for so many different reasons.
and, you know,there's a lot of people, hearts that are
really turning cold towards humanityand there's carelessness, people killing
people justrandomly, you know, Reverend Jackson
went toI go every year with him to the jail
(19:07):
on Christmas.
And I tell my family, hey,you already know the rules.
Chris is going to the jailand to see those men and women
in their here, the,inspirational messages and songs
from the people that we bring with us.
(19:27):
And we go to the door and we stand by,we smile, we shake their hand.
We remind them that they are somebodyand we give them hope.
Do you not know that afterspeaking to one of the sheriffs?
Because I also have a friend who,his name is Larry Roberts Junior,
(19:49):
he goes into,the jail, the county jail, and,
trains inmates how to cut hair.
He has a barber school,and and he does it for free.
They can sign up for his program.
He trains them how to cut hairand, one of the guys that were that
was theresaid, hey, man, guess what he says?
(20:11):
What? He said, I met Reverend Jackson.
He says, really?
He was like, yeah.
And he was.
He said, speech.
You know how you say, keep hope alive?
I am somebody.
He was like, man,he made repeated he like he made a fed,
I said.
And then, he was like, really? Really.
He was like, yeah, man.
He says, man, you you pretty charged.
(20:31):
He's like, I am. He was like, why?
He's like a lot of,you know, like, I don't know.
He says, I guess if he believed thatI shouldn't do, you know, like
if he believe in me,I should too.
So when Larry told me that testimony,I said, I have a responsibility
(20:52):
to not only keep hope alive for myself,but to try to encourage others,
to keep hope alive.
So, while I was workingat the clerk's office,
I also had a mentoring programin our church called Clergy Warriors,
and we would,take guys from off of the street,
and bring them into the church.
(21:13):
We would do steps, you know,like drill team steps and,
you know, teach them life skills,get them back into school,
get them into college, give them a trade,you know, just really help them out.
And one young man said something to me.
He says, Chris,if you can help me
to get a job, I'll stop selling drugs.
(21:35):
So I don't want to sell drugs, he says.
I do thisbecause that's all I have to do.
I said, well, you do knowthat you don't have to do that.
He says, what if I don't sell drugs?
I will eat.
And I said, no, I get it.
(21:56):
I said, but that's what we're here for.
To give you another, option.
You know, there'sanother chance,
there's another opportunity.
But if you don't have the powerwithin you or the decision made
to change your decision about your lifeand deciding to keep hope alive
(22:18):
and within your heart,then you you won't see it.
Yeah.
This I went, I went to Texas.
and this gentlemanis getting ordained as an elder,
(22:39):
and.
Well.
I right now, I, I'mstill all about, you know, pushing, for,
you know, people to to to gainhope, pushing the message.
I am somebody'spersonal message keep hope alive.
But right now,I'm recruiting people to, help
(23:02):
recruit people to keep hope alivefor other people.
Yeah.
And also, God has blessed me with favorat the mayor's office
to lift organizations that do that,like the Bible college.
like these different trade schools.
And having your curriculumto teach us how to communicate hope,
(23:30):
give us guidelines.
So if anybody's listening to me.
This woman here has aphenomenal curriculum
around this word Hope, this movement.
Hope I'll call it like that.
that is phenomenal.
That I think everyone, every cityin the state of Illinois, every state
(23:56):
in the United States of America,needs to sign into it,
because I know for a factthat if you can keep hope alive,
you can also encouragesomeone else to keep.
And the the change startstrickling down to the point
where you can start seeinga real change
(24:19):
in your neighborhood where you live.
Kathryn, the mayor went to,he did some,
an initiative called The Day in a Ward.
And there was a young man,it was like a group of them
on the, on their Grahamon his grandmother's, porch.
And it was just hanging out.
Just being just hanging out.
(24:40):
And so, the the,neighbor two doors down told the mayor
he knew him.
Boys over there, that's all they dois hanging on the street.
That's all.
They they ain't no good. Hang on.
Never beat.
Y'all need to take a look at it.
So the mayor walked over to theand says, hey, guys, what you're doing?
(25:01):
What do y'all do on a daily basis?
Like, you know, what's going on?
A positive note, he says, hey,if any one of you all
want to change what you're doingand don't want to do this anymore,
contact this person.
So as one of his handlers,one of the young men
took the handler's card.
He says, I've always wanted to.
(25:23):
He was a I'm an artist.
And he says, I don't know what we can do.
He was like, well, can you draw?
He was like, yeah, I can draw.
He was like,have you ever thought about
drawing like haircuts?
Like, you know, like it'sthe same kind of, you know, skill?
He was like, oh, that's easy money.
I'll do it. I'll do it.
He's he was, he's 19.
(25:44):
So we hooked them up with LarryBarber College.
Larry Barber College has an opportunitywhere they can get federal
federally funded to pay for the schoolhousing, and they get a stipend.
This young man went there,been in the program,
(26:06):
is on the verge of graduatingand has been enrolling
people in his neighborhoodto this program.
They're living on the campus.
I so when we go back over there.
That neighborhooddoes not look the same.
You want to know why the mayorcould have took what that lady said
(26:26):
and had the the police officersinvestigate that area,
but he changed that.
And I'm not I'm not givinga shameless plug for the man.
I'm just telling youwhat I can experience
of what hope can do for a community.
And that's why I appreciateyou taking your curriculum
to the government side of itand getting this legislation
(26:50):
and giving this and the career,the curriculum
in the government sideto help us with this,
because it can literally change,and it also dives into mental health.
Yeah.
It does into mental health.
It ties into physical health.
so yeah, you know, Kathryn,you have a huge responsibility
(27:14):
and you're literally changing the world.
So I applaud you.
I, I appreciate you taking this.
Yes.
living out your purpose,and encouraging others to do the same.
It's so inspiring to see you do this.
And, you know, be bold enough to go.
(27:36):
I mean, let's be real.
When you first came to me, Kathryn,you said Chris,
I have an idea about hope.
I was like, oh, good.
Like, you know, I just love be to.
But when you start talking.
About about it as passionatelike as you did.
(27:57):
And then you start, you know,peeling back the layers
of how positive hope can,a positive role
hope can play in the lives of peopleI start seeing in my own life personally,
where I didn't know what to label it,I didn't know what to label it,
(28:22):
but it was hope all along,and it was hope
that got me to where I, you know,I'm not saying I have arrived.
I am still growing,but I am not where I used to be.
I'm not what I used to be.
I think I'm not what it says.
I'm not what I want to be.
But I thank God I'mnot what I used to be.
It was hope the whole time.
(28:43):
so you in this paper, I am committedto help you push this narrative.
You know this as it takes this person.
But don't tell himI gave you my this,
my, I do this, you know, I want to.
I want to help this because, Reverend,he must have known.
(29:05):
He must have known about it.
He must have had aa prophetic strategy to
to continue this work with, you know,not even really
peeling the onions where you did it.
See, everybody got a purpose.
and your reference purposewas to get that word out.
and you can stand on his shoulders.
But now, with a dayand age where we need to see
(29:29):
and understand and explain,this generation needs to know
we're in the of the know.
oh. Don't just tell me what to do.
You need to tell me whyI'm walking down the street
this direction.
And your platformand your curriculum is doing that.
And if mayors around this country wouldadhere to and really embrace it
(29:57):
and really take time to hear you out.
They'll be bought in.
They just need to hear you out.
Thank you. Yeah, yeah.
You are so sweet.
I mean,this is not a plug for the hard work.
I mean, I'mso grateful you're making me cry.
(30:17):
You know, I'm.
I know in a good way.
And just such a touching, meaningful way.
I, you know,I want to tell you when we do,
you know, we've been doing thiswork around the world
and in the US specifically.
I have teachers come to me to say,and we have them
create their nourishing network, likeright down, you know, fill this out.
Who's and and identifyat least one
(30:39):
trusted adult in your lifethat you can count on in times of need.
And, you know, half of our kidsdon't have anyone.
And when you think I know,think about you.
Think about what Mayor Johnsongoing up to that youth.
That's potentiallythe first time that kid ever had someone
that believe in them,that believed in their potential.
(31:02):
And to me and and, you know,I want to work
to get more of the reverendsome of what he did into how we teach up
around the world.
I mean, I think it's, you know,making that claim of
I am somebody having that beliefthat the future can be better
than the person'sidentifying people
that you can count on in times of need.
(31:22):
It's so critical.
How can weexpect our youth not to be in jails
when they're not getting guidancefrom adults and love from adults?
Oh, yes. And you know.
Absolutely. Wow. Yeah.
So I know,I know, it's not like,
I know you're asking the questions,but I do have a question.
Can I ask. Okay. Of course you can. Yes.
(31:45):
what made you diveinto creating a curriculum around,
the idea of hope?
And I know this podcastmight not even be about hope, but
I'm sort of. Yeah.
Okay. I'm just so excited about.
Yeah, this newfound revelationthat you brought to our table,
I'm just excited about it,but I, I do want to know, like,
(32:06):
what made you say, okay,there's strategy around here.
There's there'sthere's a possible movement here.
Like what? What took place.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, it came from looking atwhy do some people die by suicide
and others not when they have,you know, similar challenges.
(32:29):
What what really is it that drive.
So I initially wanted to get to the rootcause of
why do people choose to take their lives.
And so I got into the researchand looked at study
after study after study that was doneand and suicides and hopelessness came up
(32:50):
as the single consistentpredictor across every study.
And then not just suicide, also violence.
Violence is drivenby hopelessness, a sense of despair
and a feeling of helplessnessthat you have the power
to change anything.
Wow.
And the primary symptom of depression.
Yeah.
And I said, well, then why don'tI have a suicide attempt myself?
(33:15):
My dad decided when I was 18 years old.
So I super committed to reallyunderstanding this
at the root cause of it.
And if we want to solve it,you know, how do we do that?
And so once I found outit was hopelessness, I thought,
why don't I know what it is?
And why don't I know how to get to hope?
(33:35):
And, you know, they were measuring hope,but they weren't teaching you
how to hope.
And I thought, well,if they're measuring it
and if we know what hopelessness is andand when you break down hopelessness,
it's emotional despair.
So you feel sad, angry, afraid.
You can always manage those emotions.
You can. Yeah.
You can learnhow to manage them in healthy ways.
(33:57):
And you can alwaysget out of helplessness and into action.
Might not. Yeah.
The action might not be the goalyou want.
You might have to wriggle, you know.
So I realized you canit's something
that you can teach as a skill.
So I had the hypothesisand I proved out the hope.
And as we increased hope,anxiety and depression went down.
(34:17):
You know, confidence went up.
Connection with others,with all of these things.
And I thought, if you can teach,this is a skill.
We have to teach the like,we have to ensure,
everyone knows what hopelessnessis, how to manage it,
and how to get to hope.
And you know, that's a building.
The whole framework isI want people to just,
you know, the more challenges you have,the more you have to shine,
(34:40):
the more you haveto practice the framework. Do.
It's like you say, it'san intentional decision every day.
You know, it's and biologycomes into play.
So you have to understandyour stress hormones, how they work
and what they do to your health.
And you know,when you're in stress,
when you're in chronic stressand you're violent,
(35:01):
you get dopamine,you get a dopamine hit
from that violence.
Well, that feels betterfrom your place of despair.
And soyou know what you all are doing,
and what you illustrated perfectly withyour example
is you're giving kids other waysto get their dopamine.
Really? Yeah.
Help your ways,you know, through art or through
(35:22):
drawing or throughconnection with others
or through actual work.
But it's, you know, sobut it's about teaching
these skills to kids and not shaming themfor ending up in jail
because we're not teaching them.
And these are all, like,really important things
to learn at a very young age.
(35:42):
What is our stress response?
How do we manage it in healthier ways?
You know, what are our happiness habits?
How do we get our happy hormonesand healthy ways versus unhealthy ways?
You know, all of all of these things.
And until we startdoing this and society
and ensuring everyone knowsand we practice together as a community,
(36:02):
we can't expect for violence toand we can't expect for addiction.
You know, all of these things.
So yeah, from a veryit comes from a very deep
spiritual place too.
I mean, I just I feel so called toand to learn from
the most brilliant mindsand then incorporate it
into a waythat the normal person can understand.
(36:26):
You know, as much as possible.
So yeah.
And I feel likewe all have a right to hope, you know,
we all have to dream of a betterfuture for herself and her kids.
so I want to ask aboutyour Shine skills quick.
We won't go, like, deep into it,but I do want to know them. Yes.
(36:48):
So your stress skills.
So how do you manage your stress then?
And especially the way,I mean, losing that much weight.
I mean, so many people strugglewith that.
Yeah. Daily basis, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.
Soyou know we get triggered by things
sadness, anger, fear.
Like how do you managethose emotions in healthier ways?
(37:11):
when I was about, I would say like 17,16, 17,
I was in high school, I was overweight,very depressed.
you know,and then you come, you come to a place
of when you want to kill yourself,there's no reason to live.
And you label itand it's labeled as hopelessness.
(37:34):
There's no hope to live.
There's no you have no expectationof a any positive coming to your life.
But my mom, my dad called my momand this is the scar I want to,
you know, so the scar on my wrist,I don't know if you guys can see it, but
it's there.
(37:55):
my dad called my mom and was like,you know, hey, I'm bringing
McDonald's home for the kids.
And so she told everybody, clean up,you know, you know,
you put your toysaway, dance, coming home
with some McDonald's.
So I she yelled that through the house.
I'm sitting here bleeding, and I'm like,I have McDonald's coming.
(38:19):
I don't want to die,you know, like, oh, it's so embarrassing.
But it heals my struggle at the timebecause food was a struggle for me
when I was a teenager to save my life.
What that taught me was.
Whatever state I'm in.
Because I have hope.
(38:41):
I know there's two things I can have.
I can either fail and learn,or I can succeed and learn.
Either way I go, I'm winning.
When when my mother died,I was very hopeless.
My heart was broken.
She was my rock.
My father is my rock.
(39:02):
But I'm a mama's boy.
I don't, I'm just. It is.
I love.
My mom to pieces.
And I thought I couldn't imagine mylife without her. But
what I decidedto do is because I.
Because I'm a Christian,I decided I love her so much.
(39:25):
Let me live my my lifeaccording to the Bible to see her again.
So the hope I begin to live foris to see my mother again.
so my tragedy.
I find a way to turn it aroundto benefit my life.
(39:54):
There's a scripture that I usethat helps me deal
with every problem that I face,and it says.
It says all things, all things.
It's very important to understand thatall things, the good and the bad,
(40:14):
work together for the goodof those that love the Lord.
Everything you go throughcan be a positive situation in your life
if you allow itand choose to think that way,
it becomes very comfortableto think and wallow and to embrace.
(40:40):
Now don't get me wrong, when trials comeand when frustration or hurt come,
I don't ignore it.
Like, you know, I acknowledge that hurts.
Yeah.
I know that that hurts. Yeah.
But what's the next step for me?
Yeah. So,I, you know, over time,
(41:04):
the way I choose to handle my stress.
And my problem is with the knowing,nothing stays the same forever.
Yeah. And this fivelast fret, ninth business.
So if you're in a bad situation,I promise you, I,
(41:26):
if you're in jail,if you are in jail listening
to this podcast, I promiseyou're going to have
some enjoyable moments in jail.
You will keep hope alive.
And I practice that.
does trials come?
(41:48):
Does stress come?
Does pain come? Yes.
But just like my trainer said, Chris,no pain, no gain.
And I'm like.
I don't want to,you know, like, I don't care about that,
you know?
Like but he's true.
In order to gain muscle,you lift the weights, right?
(42:09):
Yeah, I do it the same way emotionally.
But I will say this a captain out,and we're going to go there.
I did, seek counseling.
so I want to encourage everyone.
You don't have to do this alone,because sometimes
it can be very difficult to,in the beginning,
(42:33):
you know, in the beginningstages, you try,
you know, change my life.
And and I was trying to do it alone.
But, you know, you know,it's better to do it
with someone that can help you dissect.
How you feeling?
You know, we may feel one way,and it may be the wrong
(42:56):
way to view that you know,and someone can come along and help you.
A professional can help you,and it don't mean you're crazy.
And would you tell the worldyou got a cancer?
Play your courage.
I know you know, not everyone.
Yes, everyone needs a therapist.
My rich friend. yeah.
(43:18):
And they help you train your mind?
Yes, I know.
You need we we we need that help.
Yeah, we know that.
That's the way I would.
I go for help, I seek out helpif my back is against the wall,
I cry out for help because I refuse to.
And and with negativity.
(43:40):
Good for you.
Yes. Yeah.
And your your your happiness habits.
Are you nutrition like?
Did you have to changeyour nutrition, exercise,
all of that to get on a regimefor getting healthier?
Yeah. So,so with eating, because I found out
that it was alike a stronghold controlling my life.
(44:02):
I did what is called intermittent fastingwhere I would not eat
for a certain period of time.
from I would only eat frommaybe like three
till like four hours within a day.
And then the rest of the dayI would find other activities
that I enjoyed and I would do them.
(44:24):
Good for you. Whatever.
Yeah, yeah.
I had to fall out of shape with food.
Yes. Yeah.
And with other things,you got to replace it
with healthy substitutes.
Absolutely.
I was a smoker once.
I had to run instead.
And like when you can't run and smoke.
(44:45):
Yeah, yeah.
And it just, you know becauseit can't breathe. So.
Yeah it was pretty amazing. Ohyeah.
yeah. Definitely awesome.
Yeah. Well, I am someone.
Yeah.
I was going to say this one thingabout, healthy habits.
my counselor helped meidentify what I really enjoyed.
(45:10):
I do what I enjoy,but she really said, Chris,
you like to watch TV and watch movies.
You like to read books? You.
And she just tells me what brings me joy.
Me. And she says, why don't you do that?
And I was like, why don't I do that?
I'm going to, you know, like,I know he did that for me.
(45:33):
And so I urge,I encourage, I encourage therapy.
Yeah, I do too.
Absolutely.
It doesn't meananything's wrong with you.
To me, it means you're smart.
And, you know,when you look at all of the
Ian knows all the challengesthat our brain does to,
like, trick uslike automatic negative thoughts.
And when we ruminateand when we worry and like,
(45:54):
there are all of these negative, biasedand therapists can help us see through,
see through all that,and help us get to thinking
more clearly,more rationally, getting present,
helping with any traumawe all have trauma.
It's just a matter ofhow much trauma, you know,
and that stays with usuntil we really heal it.
it really does.
(46:15):
And surrounding yourself with people,that's positive.
That encourages you to closeyou accountable.
Don't let you wallow.
You know, you have to surround.
If you have friendsthat misery loves company.
You run.
You have to choose to run.
You have to really find your life.
(46:35):
Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Yeah. And it's, Yes.
Yeah. It's not.
Quantity of friends is quality, you know.
Are they are they nourishing you.
Are they getting where you,where you want to go in life.
Are they are they holding you back right.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh. Absolutely.
(46:57):
And so wonderfulChristopher talking to you.
Do you have any final thoughtsor anything else you want to share
before we check off?
I know I've kept you very long.
I'm so grateful.
I know you're very busy.
I do want to encourage everyone,to, like, I know
(47:20):
everybody have their religion and stuff.
But for me personally, I have to speakon my relationship with God.
And without having God in my life,I know for a fact I would not have hope.
Like I wouldn't be able to see it,you know, and embracing
(47:42):
and accepting the love of Jesus.
I just want to encouragethose that may hear my voice
that are in a low placeand that is down.
I want to remind youthat there is one that loves
you exactly the way you are,right where you are,
(48:06):
and to remember thathis love is strong enough to pick you up
from where you are, and supernaturallychange your life and your situation.
And I want to encourage everyoneto lean into God.
(48:27):
and I only can say that because that'swhat I mean.
Find another religionthat works for them, for you.
Great.
But I'm telling you my truthand my truth that Jesus Christ
was a stitch changer for me.
It's almost emotional because.
He literally changed my life.
(48:49):
And it started here, starting in my mindand my.
There's a songthat my mother used to sing.
It says, my hope is builton nothing less.
Than JesusChrist and His righteousness.
I dare not trust no other sweetest frame,but only lean on Jesus’ name.
(49:17):
And I want to leave everyonewith that frame
that all things work togetherfor the good of those who love the Lord.
Thank you Kathryn.
Thank you so much.
That was wonderful.
So much from talking to you.
I just adore you.
I'm so grateful. I know you. Yes.
(49:39):
And soI love working with you in Chicago.
We're going to doso many great things together.
I'm super excited.
I, you know, let'slet's set up a meeting.
Yes. Get stuff going. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
We will do that.
And listenerslistening in, thank you so much for
for sharing this time with us.
And please,you know, go ahead and share
(50:00):
those that so inspired.
And you are not alone. You know.
Oh yeah.
We are all in this together. Absolutely.
And it does get better.
I mean eventually,you know those emotions do pass.
So you can't stay in that sadness foreveror the anger.
And we've got to channelthat into innovation.
(50:21):
Positive. Yeah.
For humanity.
So let's work together to do that.
Yeah. Thank you so much.
All right everyone stay. Thank you.
Thank you all for listening into the Hope Matrix podcast.
We want to shine a lightthat hope is teachable.
Hope is measurable and teachableand provide you with actionable insights
(50:44):
for how you can start activatinghope in your life today
and provide a framework so you can starttalking about hope with other people
and practice these skills togetherbecause we are better with hope.
Please feel freeto check out theshinehopecompany.com,
where we list all of our resources aroundhow to Hope.
We have a lot of free programsfor how to hope, including the five day
(51:07):
Challenge, our Hope infographicwith a lot of skills
that showcase how to hope and articlesof how to incorporate hope in your life.
We have The Hopebeat Weekly,which is a weekly newsletter
that shares strategies for hope.
We have a My Hope Story templates soyou can write your own Hope story today.
Also my Hope Hero so we can sharewhat our heroes are doing to activate
(51:31):
hope in their lives.
And this is especially good with youthso they can start looking up
to people that have overcome similaror challenges to them
and seen how these heroes use the ShineHope framework.
We have a Hopeful Minds for Teens programand Hopeful minds Overview
Educator Guides.
We have a new evidencebased college course so you can activate
(51:52):
Hope on the college campus.
There are programs in the workplace.
Overview courses 90 minute coursesfor learning the what,
why and how to hope.
What I want you to know about hopeis it's a skill.
You've got to practice these skillsto become hopeful.
It's easyto fall into despair and helplessness
when we deal with challenges in life,and it takes intentional work
(52:15):
and practice to get to hope.
And yet it is always possible.
So no matter what life brings.
Keep shining hope.
Thanks so much for listeningand have an awesome day.
And of course, I've got to add this, thatthis program is designed to assist you
in learning about hope should not be usedfor medical advice, counseling,
(52:36):
or other health related services.
iFred, The Shine Hope Company and myself,Kathryn Goetzke
do not endorse or provide any medicaladvice, diagnosis or treatment.
I am not a medical doctor.
The information provided hereshould not be used for the diagnosis
or treatment of any medical conditionand cannot be substituted
(52:57):
for the advice of physicians, licenseprofessionals or therapists
who are familiarwith your specific situation.
Consulta licensed medical profession or call 911.
If you are in need of immediate assistanceand be sure to know the crisis Hotline.
988. If you are in need of support.
(53:18):
Thanks so much for listening.
Take good care of yourselfand keep shining hope.
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