Escape Your Life's Prisons | Melissa Monte | My Instruction Manual
Keith McArthur

Escape Your Life’s Prisons

What do you think of when I mention prison? Maybe your point of reference is movies like Shawshank Redemption, or TV shows like Orange is the New Black, or the fantastic podcast Ear Hustle.

But we get trapped in many different kinds of jails.

Maybe you’re trapped in a bad relationship, imprisoned by your own self-limiting beliefs, or you feel like there’s no way to escape your soul-sucking job.

Melissa Monte entered her own personal jail when she was sexually assaulted at a party at 15 years of age. She masked the pain with drinking, drugs, bad relationships, and an eating disorder.

She didn’t know how to break free.

But incredibly, the path for Melissa to escape her demons came when was stuck for a week in a physical jail.

Melissa is the creator and host of the excellent Mind Love podcast.

She joins us in this episode of the My Instruction Manual podcast to outline the steps she took to escape from the prisons of her life. This episode also features our nutrition contributor Michelle Jaelin who takes us through her instruction manual for life.

Listen here or wherever great podcasts are found.

Thanks for listening. Please subscribe!

Episode 66 Show Notes

[00:00] Welcome and Intro

[2:37] Featured interview with Melissa Monte

Melissa Monte is creator and host of the Mind Love podcast.

In this conversation, Keith and Melissa discuss:

  • How Melissa’s life went from sunshine to darkness at 15 years
  • What Melissa learned about herself during the eight days she spent in jail
  • How asking herself questions helped Melissa to turn her life around
  • The importance of feeling our feelings
  • Becoming a more positive person by surrounding yourself with positive people

[24:40] Melissa’s Instruction Manual

1. What are the habits you maintain every day to stay happy and healthy? 

  • Her morning routine, which includes meditation, movement, singing and writing in her gratitude journal

 2. What personal development book do you recommend?

3. Favorite personal mantra / inspirational quote 

  • “If you’re not consciously creating, you are consciously deteriorating.” – Melissa Monte

4. What’s your one guilty pleasure?

  • The Bachelor

5. When your time comes, how do you want to be remembered? 

  • As someone who helps people realize their power

Where to find Melissa

  • Website: Mindlove.com
  • Podcast Mindlove

[32:25] Nutrition contributor Michelle Jaelin shares her instruction manual for life

Michelle Jaelin is both a trained artist and a Registered Dietitian who is known as The NutritionArtist. She appears regularly as in newspapers, magazines and on television as an expert in healthy eating.

1. If you had to pick one music album as the soundtrack to your life, what would it be?

  • An eclectic mixtape with songs in multiple languages, because of her interest in different cultures.

2. What’s one personal development myth you want to dispel?

  • That you can make everything better with positive thinking alone

3. Name one unusual or surprising gadget you couldn’t live without.

  • Her alarm clock, which slowly lights up and slowly gets louder

4. What does a “bad day” look like to you and what are the steps you take to turn it around?  

  • A day where nothing goes right. She turns her day around by making her goals as small as possible.

5. What is your biggest goal or wildest dream?

  • Grow her business to the point where she can hire someone to work for her full time.

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