Have A Deep Meditation, Listen To The Inner Voice

Meditation act of tuning and improving your attention, awareness, and energy through repetitive practice. 

The desired outcome of meditation is often characterized as mindfulness: an ability to be present and engaged at the moment. Practices can last from a few minutes to a few hours and are best practised daily.

I recently had a lot of shocks to support from the loss of my grandma, my relationship too suffered because of my present financial situation. I was late in getting admission for the master’s program in the university of Yaounde 2 Soa. My landlady was also expecting me to pay the rents – we pay annually. Though I had a taken a year off to hustle after I had my BSc in Economics and Management, I could not boast of anything I had actually accomplished or achieved for that one year apart from paying my house rents and accommodating a friend to write exams.

We all know the quality of public service in Cameroon. The Soa university is no exception. I had a lot of pressure on myself. I was at the same time being stressed with a job which was not paying no matter how much work I put in. I had my shoes destroyed while struggling to work with this NGO with names withheld. Struggling to get admission and paying fees is not an easy task in Soa especially when the Rector has published the deadline. If you do not know anyone working on campus you will be very close to doom.

After I successfully paid fees and need to go and confirm my health status. The lady in charge was an Anglophone or she spoke and understood English well. So she took my blood pressure. I don’t know how it is read but she exclaimed that it read far beyond 120/80. It was too high. 

Have A Deep Meditation, Listen To The Inner Voice

There was a long cue waiting to be attended to after me but she took time to school. I was a moving corpse without knowing. I was tensed by everything that was happening in the world. I was worried and even though I used to go to bed around or before 9pm, I usually did not enjoy sleep. I had a lot bothering me. 

This lady told me that I had whatever I was thinking if I loved my life. I didn’t want to talk about it because I was still tensed coupled with the hot sun that day. She said something that reminded me of grandma. I had lost her in September. Death seized her from us when she was asleep. It was hypertension. In her words she said “you are too young to be hypertensive, calm yourself down and trust that everything will be fine. She asked me to take a deep breath, I did, and she continued counselling me. Behold after she had schooled me, the pressure went down relatively.

I had allowed my unmet expectations to have a better part of me. I am intelligent, smart, dynamic but not lucky I told myself. I only get to accept to work with people who always end not paying me as promised. I am a very understanding person. I had told myself not to give up to the fight to succeed. I do not have any connections, so I depend only on my intelligence, workers came to me some assistance but I couldn’t get a similar job. The frustration was huge and bubbling. I was asking myself where I went wrong because;

· What people with the same qualification as me benefit, when it gets to me there will be an excuse. For example, when I applied to do voluntary services at the CRTV. I did not have the necessary qualification to work at the CRTV but for the close to four weeks that I worked at the Center Regional station, I had great applauds from workers there. There were some with whom I co-presented a daily talk show with them who were always marvelled and thrilled by my articles. But that was all I knew, article writing - though, without any formal training, I did know anyone else who could hold my hand.

I just had my advanced level then, some people entered the CRTV with Advanced level and they are doing excellently well. I won’t name them here. The Center Regional station of CRTV is found in the same yard with the National Station. So I had the chance to meet with some of those great names. One of whom was a model to me. I tried getting closer to him not only because we come from the same place, but because I know him to be an old name in the house. Old brooms they say sweep all corners.

So I cornered him, I was explaining to him my hopes after working at the Center Regional station. This man started narrating how he sold eggs and groundnuts in Bonas in those universities days to pay for his education. In order words, he was asking me to go and get a degree. As if that was not enough he showed a communique signed by the General Manager of the CRTV, Ahmadou Vamoulke. This pointed out that from the date of its signature, no one was going to have a job matriculation number with the CRTV except passing through their training institute in Ekounou. I felt terrible hearing this because I could not continue to the university that year because my family did not afford to rent a room for me or be giving me transport fare of 1500+ every day to go to SOA. I couldn’t study journalism in the school of mass of communication because I had not studied languages in high school (Story for another day).

So to have heard this was telling me, Alvin, you are never going to get there. I left there very disappointed, not discouraged. I continued writing articles and presenting them at the Regional Station. Now someone had recommended me before I had the chance to go on air. He was bent on helping but he had a bigger fish coming his way. He had to abandon the regional station for it. In fact, after I had written my application to the station manager, this asked me to start work immediately while awaiting the manager’s reply. This man wanted to help me because he at least saw something in me but when he left for his big fish, I was asked to wait for the manager’s reply. I had become vulnerable. I had no one to fight for me. He was the man heading all English journalists in that station. That is how it ended. I have lost many of such opportunities just when I am at the brink of touching it.

· When I finally accept to work with people, I end up being exploited. I was called up for another TV offer but they told me they’d just started and couldn’t put me on a fixed pay. I was to be the English journalist there then. And I had to run the program showbiz. Imagine the stress of investing in research to be told at the end of the month that there is no money to pay staff. I declined this offer because an offer that says you will be paid according to what is being made means the probability of you going without pay at some points is high. If they had said even 25.000FCFA it would have been clearer than just giving empty hopes. They are who used and never paid for my services after working with them. There was another person who sacked me because I asked for a review of the terms of work. I left without a dime.

· I have failed in business not because I do not know it because of just life as it is. I fall sick when I have gathered money and it goes back to nothing. And my hand is also open to the level that feeds people who were better clothes, body sprays, shoes than me. That is my nature.

So after these experiences, I kept wondering and wandering. I stumbled on a transcription job. I transcribe audios recorded by woman wanted to write and publish a book. One of the chapters talked about meditation and its benefits. That is why I am writing this because, after that job, I went in to research about meditation, I was hungry to get a better life, to know who I am and what my energy can produce. After meditating I decided to share and recommend it with and for you.

Meditation has changed a lot on my perception of my life. I have taken the patience to listen to a silent voice that speaks to my whole being every time I meditate. I have accepted my losses and my blood pressure is finally okay for this time.

Many ask who can meditate and why? The easy answer is everyone. Meditation is now a growing trend, with many people using it to address the anxieties and stress of our busy world. Fortunately, meditation is a powerful weapon in this fight: Mental benefits range from increased focus and clarity to reduced feelings of stress and anxiety. But it doesn't end there, it even gives physical improvements, such as lower blood pressure and boosted immunity.

Getting started with meditation, however, can often feel much harder than it looks. It’s not only about finding a pose that is comfortable enough to rest in for several minutes without becoming stiff. It’s about paying close attention to your breath—on bringing rhythm and intentionality to your breathing in and breathing out—, and the far more difficult task of clearing your mind.

Luckily, due to meditation’s current popularity, there exists a multitude of meditation techniques for beginners, built to ease our technology-soaked minds into the practice. Ironically, a great place to start is by outsourcing your discipline to a friendly, digital guru.

No matter which methods work for you, it’s recommended to start small: choosing a shorter meditation period, to begin with is the best way to forge a habit of the practice. This has the added benefit that, as you work up to longer sessions, you can track your growth.

Like all habits, meditation is most effective when it becomes a part of your daily life. However, fitting in a daily meditation in your schedule often presents a challenge. So is it best to meditate in the morning? At lunch break? Before sleep? Timing your meditation is a deeply personal choice. Therefore, it will depend entirely on your lifestyle, as well as on your reason for turning to the practice in the first place.

If you are looking to ease the stress from work, meditating in the morning, to prepare your body and mind for the day, maybe best for you. If you’re a new parent or someone who suffers from anxiety, sleep meditation—songs by Enya—could be the answer to the rest you’re desperately craving.

This is perhaps the most powerful aspect of meditation: the way it can be “customized” to the individual. Meditation is for everyone, everywhere: not just yogis, not just gurus. It can be shaped to fit any lifestyle or location. It is a practice in newness. It is a moment to recalibrate—a way to squeeze a moment of calm into your life, no matter what the rest of your day holds.

Now, take a cool shower to be it hot or cold. Eat something good, listen to good music and possibly sip a glace of your choice but not to stupor if it is alcoholic. I have been there before, stop feeling bad, plan on taking this meditation. Find out who you are and what you want out of this life because bitterness will only send to your early grave. So wipe your tears and let’s face life, don’t forget that if you some lack someone I am here to give a shoulder. 

Stop judging yourself but rather accept it move on.