Meditation Experiences

How to stay positive and happy

I remember while I was young, my dear mother suffered from severe depression. At that time, nobody knew what depression was, and how to help her. Coming from African society, anyone who went through depression was ignored, no one dared to discuss it or help out. Such people were considered to be just negative people or people who are possessed.

Due to this experience, growing up I have been a person who pushed myself to be positive and always avoided any negative thoughts or situations around me. I thought being positive is having a big number of friends, making everyone happy, always smiling, and making others laugh.

I thought it was the best way of living, but strangely I found myself unhappy, easily upset, having negative thoughts, blaming others and complaining when things didn’t go well or meet my expectations(mind-frame).

I was never able to be positive all the time. The more I tried to avoid my negative thoughts , the more they kept bouncing back into my mind. So I tried to ignore them without success. I also tried to use popular remedies such as making myself very busy, hanging out with friends, talking about movies or any trending subjects and dancing my mind out.

I listened to music and danced to keep myself busy from and away from my “gazillion thoughts” in my head.

What helped me to escape from myself and my mind was meditation. After meditating for a while, I came to know that the reason why I was never able to be positive all the time was because of my false mind.

My true mind was blocked by the thousands of negative thoughts which were caused by my life experience, my expectations, desires and greed.

While I was trying to be a positive person back then, in stead I was suppressing my negative minds. So that’s why when the situation did not meet my desires and expectation, I would fume, react with anger, or scream and shout at others. I thought I was happy but I wasn’t at all. This was because the things or situation that made me think I was happy is when I satisfy my inner selfish desires and greed. It was not a true happiness.

Through the Meditation, I was able to discard all of my negative minds; my selfish desires, pain, emotions, greed, and expectations. Meditation has helped me to accept my negative minds (by not suppressing them) and let go of them.

I now accept myself, I embrace all conditions around me and also the people in my life with a whole and positive mindset. Now, I accept every condition around me with a grateful mind.

I have gained mental strength and awareness and I am very positive without trying to be positive. I have found my true happiness within me which is my true self.

I am now realistic and I am neither hard on myself nor others. I enjoy every moment that life can offer.

It is beautiful to live, to breathe without worries, stress, and pain. I am truly happy now.

Sheikha / Tanzania
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Please let us not miss one very essential thing in life while we are living!

I’m 33 years old now. It was 10 years ago I read about Meditation from a book and I was very impressed, I also understood that all my internal question about life as a whole will be answered through meditation but unfortunately I couldn’t find a meditation center in our country, and I have to wait until the right time comes. So, as soon as this meditation center opened 4 years ago I joined and started the meditation, even I came one day before the center’s official opening day as I was looking for it wholeheartedly.
Before this meditation, I was trying so many things with a hope that I will be happy and feel peaceful such as establishing good social relation, doing so many businesses with the expectation of having more money may give me fulfillment and etc. I tried a lot actually and in this effort all I had achieved was tiredness. I achieved some things but after achieving it I just feel empty again, it doesn’t give any meaning to me. Until I achieved my target, I feel very energetic but soon felt nothing, and the same lack of sense of living will be there. So I started searching for something that can reach my heart for long, that’s why I decide to meditate.
Before this meditation, my understanding of happiness was in relation to having something or achieving something. But now through this meditation, I realized that happiness and internal fulfillment are the states of mind when this false mind (my false self) is not there. So now I feel fulfilled in every aspect of my life. I don’t expect anything from the outside world with the hope that it may make me happy. I just enjoy my entire life situation as it is. Most of all I got a purpose of living and that is accumulating my blessings in my true world that will not disappear and for this, I’m using my knowledge, skills and material resources to help others to be the truth. I’m so happy and grateful for everything.
I wish everyone who started this meditation can go until the end irrespective of the possible challenge one may experience in the journey such as boredom which might be caused by looking and discarding false lived life pictures again and again.
So I really encourage the meditation practitioners to do it with patience and wholeheartedly until reached and reborn in the true world where one gets true happiness and fulfillment.
Hello, dears! Please let us not miss one very essential thing in life while we are living. That’s reborn in true land, in the everlasting never disappearing world and accumulating our blessing there while we have this body.

Samuel Birhanu/Senior quality assurance officer / Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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My ultimate wish is for every person in this world to do this meditation

 

My name is Samuel, and I am from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I have been practicing meditation since 2016. Throughout my life, I have faced numerous difficult challenges. One fateful day, while I was rushing to an appointment on the street, someone handed me a brochure. At that moment, I had no knowledge about meditation or its potential benefits.

I thought I might benefit from this compared to my situation at the time, so I started. I diligently completed Level 1 and Level 2 because I was very curious. However, during Level 3, I started to become sluggish and lost my focus. I didn’t even go to the center for 3 months. But then, I felt like something was missing inside me, so I decided to come back. It was a struggle to get back on track after my break. During Level 4, I met meditators from all over the world and was greatly inspired by their happiness and free-spirited personalities. It was at that time that I made the decision to continue until the end.

By practicing this form of meditation, I have come to realize that true happiness lies in being liberated from anxiety, worry, and stress. It is about breaking free from the confines of our own minds and attaining genuine freedom.

After engaging in meditation, I experience a profound sense of rebirth in the realm of true happiness. Even the most daunting challenges become easily surmountable. If you wholeheartedly embrace this practice, your entire world will undergo a remarkable transformation, leading to success in all aspects of your life.

My ultimate wish is for every person in this world to practice meditation and transform their lives, enabling us to live harmoniously together for eternity.

Samuel Negusse, Marketing / Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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The universe would find a way

Before I came to Uganda Meditation Center, I struggled with Severe Anxiety….even in the past…. it had been my personal struggle for years. I was put on prescription drugs for my anxiety. I was literally the most negative person you could ever think of. I believed all my negative thoughts, but as per now, with the help of this wonderful method from Uganda meditation, I am happy, glad, grateful, and blessed to have gone through this course. It has impacted and changed my mind entirely forever. I now know how to discard and control my thoughts, to meditate and relax my mind. To replace the negatives with positives.

I carried a lot of stress before I came to the center. My contract at my workplace had expired. I had anxiety for what to do next but with the help of my daily meditation and practice at home, I then knew if I kept somewhat positive, the universe would find a way. I decided to complete the course during the free time and period as I was away from work. Lucky enough for me… after sometime I got called back to my job and was told my contract had been renewed. Woooow the universe indeed took care of it.

Charlse from the center always reminded me how the Power of the Center was always stronger if you came to it every day… and indeed it was… and I tried my best to come to the center when I got the free time.

I would gladly recommend my friends, family and anyone out there to give meditation a try because of how positively it affected my life.

I will forever be grateful to the founders of this meditation.

Thank You and God bless….

Kakwanzi Arlene Pearl / Uganda Meditation Center
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Patient with a smile

Growing up, I didn’t experience poverty.  I was fortunate that I was able to have things I wanted including a good family and health. However my mind was at no time relaxed.  I always had trouble falling asleep and had regular worries about almost everything.  I used to think that that’s how life is and that things must work the way I expect them to.

When things turn out differently I started to get angry and hurt, even for the smallest matters. My life was on a roller coaster with sudden extreme changes every now and then. I was hurting people around me and I felt that I was a poisonous person.  I developed endless Headaches and Hypertension that lead to Major Depression illness.  I always felt inadequate and unsatisfied.  To fill the void, I always sought out something to do; it didn’t matter whether it was negative or positive.  Sometimes I felt better but it was just for a moment.

One Saturday I decided to go to the mall and funny, it was one of the ups and downs moment and things were just not ok at home.  So I saw the Promotion Team at the Silver Lakes Mall at Pretoria East.  I just took a brochure and went on with my shopping business.  When I was waiting on a long que waiting to be assisted I got irritated and took out the brochure and read it all.  For some reason when I walked out the store on my way to the car, I then approached one of the gentlemen who had brochures.  I asked him with the attitude “what do they mean when they say I will live forever”? The guy was so patient with a smile on his face; you know I remember the day vividly as if it was yesterday! It took me a week to think about it again and when I finally decided to get to the Pretoria Centre something would come up.

I finally made up my mind and attended my level one. I felt that this was a path I was always seeking, a way to arrive at the Truth.  Well I had many suspicions and doubts but I carried on and on with the meditation.  As I applied the method, I found that my false, selfish mind caused me to have inadequacy, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness that made me see that my life has just been a total waste! I had not expected myself to experience those dramatic transformations as other meditation students at the centre. My family and colleagues at work were able to notice a lot of changes in me, I also noticed the changes.

For the first time I realised and accepted that I am one with the world and other people, I was really very happy. I am starting to be generous and my work and all things are really improving.  My entire health problem disappeared. Now I do not compete with the world anymore. I live happily accepting my life and everyone in my surroundings. I can say confidently and definitely, that this is the right path and that I am very much at peace.

I am so grateful for changes in my life and my attitude.  Everyone must try this meditation, especially for those who feel hopelessness. This method is really important and positive.  I am definitely continuing with this  Method because I want to become COMPLETE! TRUTH!

Mary / Pretoria, South Africa
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This meditation is? “simple and so powerful”

Before meditation, the life I have lived from the outside looked good. Perhaps to the eyes of the people around me I was happy and confident with family, school and work but I was very worried and always felt pressured within. I always had this need to please everyone and was obsessed about maintaining an image for a good person in front of others. I was always hiding behind my fake smiles and heavy make-up, covering myself up to be perfectly good. Through the meditation I realized that this was all because I was so worried about how the world saw me. I was so worried that I never wore white socks or bright colors because people could then see how dirty my feet were. I felt as if the world was judging me for every little thing about me. My insecurities always overwhelmed me that I was haunted with insomnia.
However, reflecting back at my life, the meditation has really helped me see that I was only living inside this bubble. I was stuck inside a place where I cared only about my self-centered views and comparing myself and wanted to become better with my own standards that I had made to myself. Now that I look back at myself, I was so ridiculous! Riddling myself with so many worries.
I have done the meditation from level 2 in Korea, so I have not yet met people that know of the old me. However, even the people here say that from the time I’ve been here that I look brighter. I see my own change too, my insomnia is gone and I dance around in whatever colored socks, without makeup. When I no longer rely on the opinion of others, I feel much stronger and free. The greatest gift the mediation has allowed me is to allow me to see that the world does not spin around me. I have been living only for myself. For me, the greatest part of this meditation is to see reality, the true world, outside of my bubble.

Alexandra B. / Massage Therapist / Stockholm, Sweden
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You start to see yourself, the way you are in all aspects of your life

The cool thing about this meditation method is that it has this ability to show you who you are from a much bigger perspective than yourself. It is really hard to see yourself as yourself, so the method has this way of showing yourself from a bigger perspective. Then you get to reflect on yourself on how you actually are and you see things in yourself. And I saw things in myself that I did not realize that I had before the method. I think that is one of the biggest strength of this meditation. Speaking from my own experience, I found it really hard to bring big changes within myself but this method has helped me get rid of my habits and useless negative thoughts.
I am definitely happier now and also just more relaxed. I feel better within myself and that is the best way to define happiness for me. Also, I am more focused. I mean I work with computers and it is important to have patience and really be able to focus throughout the day. I work with my head the whole day, thus it is so important to be able to be relaxed within myself. Not always trying to move, not always thinking about something else, just staying put; and the meditation has definitely helped me with that.
The meditation has also improved me as a husband and father. One problem that I think in many relationships I find is; you have this expectation of the other to give you something the whole time. You want to get something from that person. And I think the meditation has changed that perspective for me and my wife. It is now more about putting in the work yourself without underlying expectations for one another. Also, this meditation has changed the way I see my children. I seem them more as the way they are than I did before as a parent and as a father. There was a certain bias that came with the strong attachment that I had for my children. Getting rid of that, I think you start to see your family in a more realistic way. This is also good for the kids, because they feel that and they feel actually more relaxed around me.

Hjörtur H. / Web Developer and Co-Founder / Stockholm, Sweden
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The difference in my life … can be described with one word: Gratitude.

I don’t have any dramatic life story to tell. From the outside, my life looks quite ordinary. I grew up in a safe environment in a suburb in the outskirts of Stockholm. I had friends, a Nintendo video game and everything a kid could wish for. My family was not religious and relatively open-minded, so I was free to make my own life decisions. I graduated from university and got a job at an IT company and thought I would be happy but, in my mind, I was never truly happy. Every time I achieved something that I wanted, I just wanted something else, something more. I was constantly stuck in my thoughts with my wandering mind. I was always wondering, stuck in my own thoughts, asking myself why I had so many thoughts in my head. I tried so many different things to find an answer but everything I tried only gave me a temporary release.
Though very quickly I realized by doing this meditation that this thinking was about myself and the reason that I think so much and why I was so stressed was because I was caring only about myself. For me, I used to carry things that were unnecessary. I knew that ruminations were unnecessary and bad for me but I didn’t want to nor know how to let go. However, through this meditation method I learnt how to truly let go of the worries and thoughts and to me that is true relief.
Now, there is a huge difference between the me before and the me now. Before, I needed so many things in life to be happy. I needed my hobby and I needed to have certain people in my life. I thought I needed a lot of things. Now I have no worries about the future so with this mind I can just live and the universe will take care of things for me. Now I have also learned that when I sincerely care about others more than myself my stress fades away and I now know how to truly contribute to the world. The difference between my life before and after the meditation can be described with one word: Gratitude.
I feel so much gratitude for this meditation, for being able to let go, and for being able to confirm with my mind that I am fundamentally one with everything around me.

Joakim H. / New Grad / Stockholm, Sweden
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Be the change you want to see in the world

I think when I was born I chose 100% heart and zero head. I love people and love to help them. That has been part of my life for a long time and even the success in my career comes from it. However there came a point in my life where I sought for ways to help others but drove myself insane because I could not find a way to help the other. Once, one of my family members was suffering from depression. There was nothing that I could do to help and knowing that I couldn’t help that person brought me to an even deeper depression. However, once I started the meditation, I noticed a change in me. I realized that only I can change myself and only I can help myself. It was no longer about my need to help and improve others but it was more about being an example to the people who require the help. I found a way to show true compassion and love to others by helping myself. Everything I do and want to say in a short version is that ‘live by example and be the chance you want to see in the world.’
When I started the meditation in the U.S., my career grew a lot faster. People were nicknaming me as a “superstar” and I was awarded a title as the ‘Top 5 Person’ within my industry with a promotion of an executive VP. Though my career was successful I realized that my job made me so busy. I knew there were a lot of opportunities for me to grow through the meditation and I knew to gain something I needed to sacrifice something. Thus with a bold decision, I chose to go to Korea to invest in myself and it was not just a gold mine, but a diamond mine. I can see that most people who want to try the meditation are just so busy with their lives, but I wish they take a moment to invest in themselves to find what is that they truly want in their lives. For me, I just love who I am inside right now. The language and food was very different in Korea but it is nothing compared to the depth of the gratitude I have for the method because it has changed my whole entire life. Though the past 4 months of meditation in Korea, I was able get over my traumatic experiences in my past, conquer my phobias, and be free from the health conditions that has been following me all life. Many people tell me that I’ve changed a lot and tell me that I look brighter and younger.
At this point, my heart is full of joy and love and gratitude. So with this gratitude that is inside, I want to give this out to other people now, by being an example.

Tuyet D. /Executive VP @ M.P.A. / Palisades Park, NJ, USA
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