My About Page
My name is Craig J. Phillips. The reason for my writing to you is to share a little about myself and to also encourage you to not give up on your dreams. My hope is that my experience will encourage you to not give up on your process or your self. My hope is that you will not let disappointment to keep you from pursing your bliss and your destiny. My hope is that you will not give up on hope, because – as I have found – more will be revealed in time. My hope is that as you read a little about my story, you will see your circumstances and experiences in a new light, you will find a way to follow your bliss in ways that will work for you and that you will be encouraged and empowered to follow your dreams.
I am a traumatic brain injury and survivor. My injury occurred as a result of a motor vehicle accident in 1967 when I was 10 years old. I sustained an open skull fracture, right frontal lobe damage, a several brain bruise with brain stem involvement. In 1967 there was not much known about brain injuries or neurological rehabilitation. Once my external wounds healed my traumatic brain injury was never again considered to be a factor in my development or my difficulties. Because I was able to teach myself how to walk, talk, read, write and speak in complete sentences the effects of the injury to my brain became invisible and hidden.
Although I was not expected to succeed beyond high school academically, I was able to graduate on time with my high school class and then go on to obtain my undergraduate (4 majors in 10 years) and graduate degree (4 1/2 years and 2 different grad schools). I later discovered that the difficulties that I encountered during both my undergraduate and graduate degree programs were due to the residuals from my brain injury. In addition to having difficulties in both my undergraduate and graduate programs I had a long history of getting and losing jobs. While working as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, I became a client of the Dept. of Vocational Rehab.
After becoming a client of the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and completing their evaluation process, I was deemed to be unemployable. Because I had been able to obtain my undergraduate and graduate degrees I found myself in a very frustrating predicament. Although I had diligently applied myself – both academically and vocationally – I felt like some one all dressed up with no where to go and with no one seeming to want what I had to give, despite my efforts. After all of my struggles to succeed I found myself unable to succeed and was declared disabled by the Social Security Administration in 1999 and began receiving monthly SSDI benefits.
Although I had diligently applied myself both academically and vocationally for many years, I found myself being effectively discounted and dismissed. Although I felt discounted, dismissed and like some one all dressed up with no where to go, I still had a desire to follow my dreams and my destiny. Although I felt minimized, marginalized, dismissed and discounted by people who did not want what I had to give, I still had a desire to encourage, motivate, empower and share hope. In my process of finding a way that would work for me I wrote an autobiography, a book and and then on February 6, 2007 at the encouragement of a friend, I found my way to share hope through my web log Second Chance to Live.
During the past 76 months I have written a total of now 1076 articles for Second Chance to Live. To view a list of the articles that I have written and published on Second Chance to Live, please visit my Site Map for my Articles. Here is a link to my Site Map for my Articles. My Site Map for my Articles contains a list of the titles of the articles that I have written. By clicking on individual title of the article, the article will open for you on Second Chance to Live.
On July 29, 2011 I created a You Tube channel to begin creating video presentations for individuals who learn better through watching and listening, instead of by reading. To date I have created 142 video presentations for my Second Chance to Live 2dogbull You Tube channel. A list of these video presentations can be found on my Site Map for my You Tube Video presentations by clicking on the following link Site Map for my You Tube video presentations. With in my Site Map for my Video Presentations, there is a list of the video presentations that I have created.
By clicking on the titles of the articles or the titles of the video presentations, the article will open for you on Second Chance to Live or on my You Tube channel.
Second Chance to Live has been selected to be a keynote speaker at the Alaska Peer Support Consortium Conference in April 2013 http://www.peerconference.org/ and to conduct a workshop at a Brain Injury Conference in May 2013 with the University of Washington Embracing Life & Living Well after Traumatic Brain Injury
To see a list of several organizations – past and present – using Second Chance to Live as a Resource, please click on the following link http://wp.me/P3atD-6Jf
To empower individuals whose primary language is not English, I have created a tool. I have named the tool, Easy Translator into Your Language. This tool can be accessed by clicking on the following link, http://wp.me/P3atD-13U. By using this tool, Second Chance to Live can be converted into these languages.
As you read my articles and questions arise, please do not hesitate to contact me with those questions. And please remember, all questions are good questions. You may do so through my Contact Information Page
Several months ago I created and began uploading video presentations to God Tube — a service which is similar to You Tube — but serves a different audience. One of the video presentations that I have created and uploaded to God Tube can be watched by clicking on the following link: Second Chance to Live – Don’t Give Up.
Second Chance to Live has and continues to meet a unique a unique need, both nationally and internationally. Second Chance to Live has subsequently been honored in different ways. To see a few of those ways, please take the time to click on the following links. As you read the various pages and questions or comments come to mind, please let me know my friend. All questions are good questions and all comments are welcome my friend. Thank you.
During the past 73 months Second Chance to Live has been of service and met a unique need, both nationally and internationally. To see some of the ways that Second Chance to Live has been of service, please click on the following high lighted links. Thank you.
Site Map for Interviews and Guest Radio Appearances
WTC U.S. Army AW2 Community Support Network
Euroacademia Multidisciplinaria Neurotraumatologica EMNe.V-Links
Second Chance to Live and the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses
Second Chance to Live and the Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses’ Association
Second Chance to Live and CDS at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Second Chance to Live and Intute
Second Chance to Live and the Brain Injury Association of Canada
Second Chance to Live and The Brain Injury Association of New Zealand
To read a more detailed account of my journey and my process during the past 45 1/2 years, please read my 7 part series My Journey thus Far. Thank you.
Here are the links to the 7 parts of my series, My Journey thus Far. Click on each link and the part will open for you.
I want to thank you for being a friend of Second Chance to Live. I look forward to being of service to you and your family. In the event that I can be of service, please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you. I will say so long for now, but before I do let me share some of my favorite quotes with you. As you read these quotes, may you be encouraged to follow your dreams, to trust the process, a loving God and yourself. Be encouraged my friend, more will be revealed to us in time. Be encouraged my friend, our circumstances are not meant to keep us down, but they are meant to build us up.
“For I know the plans that I have for you – says the Lord – plans for good and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 Old Testament
“Do not wait for leaders, do it alone, person to person.” Mother Teresa
“If you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams and endeavor to life the life that you have imagine…you will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau
“Do not judge your day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson
“Insist on yourself, never imitate. Your own gift you can present with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you only have an extemporaneous half-possession…Do that which is assigned to you, and you can not hope too much or dare too much.”Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You don’t have to be a person of influence to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me.” Scott Adams — American Cartoonist
“Everyone is trying to do some thing big, not realizing that life is made up of small things.” Frank A Clark
“I have heard that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Once we start walking on that journey, before long we will be able to look back and see how far we have come on our journey — because we did not give up.” Craig J. Phillips MRC, BA
“…You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.” Mother Teresa
Here is my Contact page. Send comments and questions and I will respond to you.
Receive more articles like this one simply by clicking on Subscribe to Second Chance to Live by email.
Bookmark and Share Second Chance to Live with your friends through a Feed Reader Subscribe in a reader
All material presented on Second Chance to Live is copyright and cannot be, copied, reproduced, or distributed in any way without the express, written consent of Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA All rights reserved. Expressed written permission is required to re-publish material presented on Second Chance to Live Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND
Walter Baxter said
Good Afternoon
I got to here about your website through (bian)
I have inserted a link to your excellent website on our Personal Experances Page is it ok to keep it there?
All the best Walter
secondchancetolive said
Certainly Walter. I am honored by your doing so my friend. I am available to be of service. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns Walter.
Have a pleasant and rewarding week and God bless both you and your family Walter.
Craig
David H said
Well done sir.
secondchancetolive said
Thank you David. God bless you Sir.
Craig
Marylin said
I am a social worker with the Brain Injury Association of Virginia. I’ve enjoyed reading your site and will pass the link along to others
secondchancetolive said
Hi Marilyn,
Thank you for passing on my link on to the individuals that you work with and to those that you seek to serve Marilyn. I am available to be of service. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you.
I will say so long for now.
Have a pleasant and rewarding week and God bless both you and your family Marilyn.
Craig
Calvin said
Excellent website, I have enjoyed reading your post. I will pass it on to others.
secondchancetolive said
Hi Calvin,
I hope you have been doing well my friend. Thank you for your words of encouragement and for passing Second Chance to Live on to your friends and family. I am available to be of service to you and to those individuals. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I will reach back to you Calvin. You are a blessing to me Sir.
Have a pleasant evening and God bless you and your family Calvin.
Craig
Nigel Hughes said
Hi,
thanks for your encouraging comments. I would be really interested in getting a copy of your book, Table Topics for the Soul — Journey to the Heart. Do you know where I can get my hands on one?
thanks,
Nigel
(a fellow-TBIer)
secondchancetolive said
Hi Nigel,
Thank you for your interest in obtaining a copy of my book. My book and material on Second Chance to Live is copyright 2007, and registered with the Library of Congress, however neither have been published. Therefore I am unable to provide copies of my book or my work to the public. If you know of a publisher, please have them get in touch with me via a comment and I will get in touch with them. Thank you Nigel.
Craig
Laura Benjamin said
Hi Craig,
Since you are such an inspiration to others, I am going to add “Second Chance to Live” to my blogroll and hope that will help you spread the word. Keep up the good work!
Laura
secondchancetolive said
Hi Laura,
Thank you very much for your kindness. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. God bless you and your family.
Craig
Chris Ratliff said
Craig,
I got an email from you a few months back and finally got around to visiting your site. What an inspirational story. Thank you for letting us know about your site.
Chris
Editor, MSFocus
The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation
secondchancetolive said
Hi Chris,
Thank you again for your email several years ago. I wanted to let you know that Second Chance to Live http://www.secondchancetolive.wordpress.com is available to be of service to you, your staff and the individuals that you serve. Second Chance to Live presents information to encourage, motivate, empower and provide hope to anyone who has experienced any kind of trauma, abuse or adversity.
To date I have written 672 articles. In the past 3 3/4 years articles from Second Chance to Live have been published on 16 different occasions through out the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, in Europe, through out Australia and New Zealand. If you get the opportunity to stop by to visit with me on Second Chance to Live your presence would be welcomed and honored my friend.
I look forward to being of service to you.
Have a pleasant and rewarding week and God bless you and your family Chris.
Craig
secondchancetolive said
Hi Chris,
Thank you for your time and kindness. I appreciate your kind words.
Have a simply amazing day!
Craig
Jennifer Mannion said
Hi Craig, I got here through Liara who reads your blog regularly. You have a very inspiring story and I am so happy to hear of your successes. I had invisible illnesses as well (fibromyalgia, benign hypermobility syndrome, chronic mono) and chronic pain FOR YEARS and healed myself by learning of the mind/body connection and the law of attraction. There are publishing sites such as http://www.lulu.com that might help and are free for basic services. I made my story into an e-book which allows for me to offer affiliates to sell it and for me to update it as well… I think your story is an important one to get out there.
I’d love it if you can check out my blog and if you ever wanted to do a guest post I would be honored.
Gratefully,
Jenny
Second Chance to Live : The Brain Injury Association of Canada said
[...] read my Professionals Page>/a>. You may also gain further insight into my journey by reading my About Page. Although I was not expected to live the night of the car accident in 1967, or succeed beyond high [...]
secondchancetolive said
Dear Brain Injury Association of Canada,
Thank you so very much for publishing my article on your web site. I am truly honored and look forward to being of service to your readers. Please let me know if I may be of service to the Brain Injury Association of Canada. I look forward to the opportunity.
Have a terrific Tuesday and thank you again for your kindness.
Craig
Zoe said
Dear Craig
Thank you for sharing your inspirational story – I will think about it and consider who best to pass it onto, we have a lot of occupational therapists here working with people with brain injury and I am sure they will find your story as important as I did.
Best wishes from the UK
Zoe
secondchancetolive said
Hi Zoe,
Thank you for your time and kindness. You are a blessing to me. Thank you. I look forward to being of service to you and the occupational therapists that serve brain injury survivors and their families. Please do no hesitate to let me know how I may be of service my friend. I am available.
I will say so long for now. Have a simply phenomenal day and God bless you and your family Zoe.
Craig
Debbie said
I just found your website and really enjoy it. After my son’s brain injury in 2008, I’ve noticed that he has no self esteem anymore. He was always smart in school and things are a bit different, but not a whole lot. He still won’t look for a job because he fears he can’t do it. He is 20 years old now, and I’m completely supporting him and his girlfriend along with my other 4 children. He needs to get back out there. Is there anything we can do to help him get his confidence back?
Thank you!
Harold Langendoen said
yes it is so true i look normal but people don`t see a wheel chair or all the rehad i had to go through i still have memory probs long and short balance is an issue and fatigue. my wife treats me different not a husband but a care giver care taker roles so lonely. i just wished i could move out on my own . I did rahab a few years later too in a bigger city Regina and really loved it. mine was a closed skull so they put in a bolt to moniter the pressure in a coma 5 weeks and a very long road back the doc did not think i would live and later said to look for a home not expecting me to be more than a veggie state. some time i wish i had died `cause i feel of no value to any one so why did God not just take me then instead of the issues we both are dealing with now.
Second Chance to Live said
Hi Harold,
Thank you so very much for taking the time to write to me my friend. Thank you for sharing what you did with me. I hear your frustration. In my experience, I felt trapped too in many ways — and still can feel trapped in ways if I let what I do not see happening in my life impede what I can do with my time. I believe life is a journey and not a destination. I believe that society has hammered in to us males that if we are not the hunter/ gatherer that our lives do not have meaning substance or significance.
In my experience, my friend, I have learned some lessons through my experience that have helped me tremendously. I have written several articles — as listed in my Site Map for my Articles http://wp.me/P3atD-1H — that helped me to feel less trapped Harold. Could I encourage you to read those articles? I will include links to those articles below my friend. Please take your time reading through these articles — at your own pace my friend. As you read these articles and questions come to mind, please ask. All questions are good questions my friend.
If you would like to speak with me, I can give you a call if you send me your phone # Harold.
I will say so long for now. Have a peaceful day my friend and God bless both you and your family Harold.
Craig
Hope, Encouragement and the Parable of the Cracked Pot Part 1
Hope, Encouragement and the Parable of the Cracked Pot Part 2
Hope, Encouragement and the Parable of the Cracked Pot Part 3
Traumatic Brain Injury — THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE! Part 1 of 3
Traumatic Brain Injury — THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE! Part 2 of 3
Traumatic Brain Injury — THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE! Part 3 of 3
Traumatic Brain Injury and Overcoming Denial — Part 1
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Grieving Process — Part 1
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Grieving Process — Part 2
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Grieving Process — Part 3
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Process of Grieving — Anger and Resentment — Part 4
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Grieving Process — Awareness– Part 5
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Grieving Process — Acceptance — Part 6
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Process of Grieving — Action — Part 7
Brain Injury, Self-Esteem, Self-Respect and Significance
Traumatic Brain Injury — I began to heal when… Part 1 of 4
Traumatic Brain Injury — I began to heal when… Part 2 of 4
Traumatic Brain Injury — I began to heal when… Part 3 of 4
Traumatic Brain Injury — I began to heal when… Part 4 of 4
Traumatic Brain Injury — I began to heal when…Part 5 of 5
Traumatic Brain Injury, Fatigue, Anxiety, Anguish and Depression Part 1
Traumatic Brain Injury, Fatigue, Anxiety, Anguish and Depression Part 2
Traumatic Brain Injury, Fatigue, Anxiety, Anguish and Depression Part 3
Traumatic Brain Injury and Learning how to Love and Accept Myself
Traumatic Brain Injury and Learning how to Love and Accept Myself Part 2
Traumatic Brain Injury and Learning how to Love and Accept Myself Part 3
Traumatic Brain Injury and Learning how to Love and Accept Myself Part 4
Traumatic Brain Injury and Learning how to Love and Accept Myself Part 5
Craig
Craig J. Phillips MRC, BA
Second Chance to Live
secondchancetolive.org
Our circumstances are not meant to keep us down, but to build us up.
Follow me on: Twitter: http://twitter.com/#%21/secondchancetol
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/SecondChancetoLive
You Tube Presentations: http://www.youtube.com/user/2dogbull?feature=mhee
Elizabeth (LIsa) A. Stuckel said
Craig,
Congrats on all of your personal successes!
I, too, am a brain injury survivor. In 1990, I had 2 strokes during 7 brain surgeries! I was paralyzed and blined with only a 50/50 chance of living. When I started to recover, I was like an infant starting over. Now, I am 110% all better. I adore this 2nd life that I was Blessed with. WHAT I LEARNED GOING THRU IT ALL, I WOULD NEVER CHANGE ANYTHING!
Second Chance to Live said
Hello Elizabeth,
Thank you so very much for taking the time to leave a write to me through a comment. I am honored by your time and kindness. I agree with you. My journey has given me a perspective that I would not other wise have to been able to share through Second Chance to Live — in ways that work for me. I am proud of you Elizabeth.
Have a great evening. God bless you Elizabeth.
Craig
Craig J. Phillips MRC, BA
Second Chance to Live
secondchancetolive.org
Sharing Hope in the Face of Adversity
Follow me on: Twitter: http://twitter.com/#%21/secondchancetol
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/SecondChancetoLive
Facebook: Second Chance to Live Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/301059819914829/
You Tube Presentations: http://www.youtube.com/user/2dogbull?feature=mhee
Our circumstances are not meant to keep us down, but to build us up.