“Today here I am; strong again. I have overcome my mental pain and at last, though in prison, I’m free again. I have come to realize that the day Dr. Inmaculada Adarves Yorno introduced mindfulness to my soul, that was the first day of the rest of my life”
Full letter
I am Erico Mwing Ruguru and I am 27 years old. I was born and in Wanjo location in Ngundaru, country but I grew up in Nairobi kawaganware location I was arrested in Wanjohi where I used to live with my grand mum my life has not been a straight one because of poverty and that made me to give into negative peer pressure thus meaning secret robbing my part time job. At last, the fortieth day of a thief sent me to prison and here I am.
It has been almost one year since the commence of the mindful leadership programme, but when I scrutinize well where I was and where I am, I’m not the same person not changed facially or in my appearance, but it has something to do with my mind I used to waste a lot of energy trying to fight for my life but the amazing thing is that when mindfulness entered in me, my life started to fight for me can you imagine that? If you can’t get ready to learn something from me Yes some shocking facts
My fellow inmates call me ‘Daddy Cool Erica’ the way I prefer to be called but I’ve never imagined it cooler as it is now. Believe me or not, I am capital mindful. That means that I’m fully supported by my self. The day I got imprisoned I lost everything from my self esteem, courage and I seemed to be out of my mind. The only thing I was left with is my weak soul and it nearly escaped from me. I lost control over everything. Infact, my family and friends also forsook me and that wasn’t as pleasant as it may sound but that broke my heart.
One day, a stranger came from nowhere, saw me sitting alone in the middle of no where and tried to put me somewhere, somewhere I’d never thought I would one day be and today here I am, strong again I have overcome my mental pain and at last, though in prison I’m free again I’ve come to realise that the day the doctor introduced mindfulness to my soul that was the first day of the rest of my life. Believe it or not, she made the cowardly lion look like the terminator! I wonder if mindfulness was introduced to her by an angel, but where could she have met the angel! Sorry for answering I but I’m somehow ambivalent about that one.
Surely, to become a mindful leader you need to use your conscious brain. All of us have got brains but a few of us are mindful ‘It’s all about being fully aware of the experiences both underneath our skins and the other landscape’ It is almost impossible to stay positive when your world is collapsing. It is pretty difficult to remain optimistic when the roof is falling in but believe me that’s what you must do. Why could I laugh with you while you’ve got a lot of stress, anger and frustrations? I couldn’t but now I always have a smile ready to everyone that I meet. Believe me, a smile works wonders. At first I couldn’t see anything valuable that could come from a prisoner but now I can support my view that a prisoner can do the impossible. A mindful prisoner can jump over the prison walls without being run after by officers. A mindful leader is a real change agent.
The mindful generation is getting stronger everyday give me a microphone and I’ll show you what I mean, in class we are taught some ways of releasing emotions my best options are to write about it, draw it down and the mother of all, to sing about it. That is why I told you to hand me microphone to you and I’ll express my gratitude to you in less than five minutes as an upcoming artist, mindfulness has transformed the wild child into mindful rapper. I think it is my duty to sow seeds for the future generations to cultivate. The mindful anthems and 40 plus other songs are meant to transform the minds of fellow youths in Kenya, Africa our beautiful continent and the whole world in general. The mindful anthems are capable of changing the minds of youths who feel like they have no hope in life and let them be aware that life has got everything to be earned.
Mindfulness have inspired me in composing more positive vibes than I thought. If you want to be the best think like the best, act like the best and work with the best. I’m proud to be a mindful leader. Hail mindfulness