Jackie’s Speech
For Jackie, and many others, meditation is a gift that has become a life necessity.
Jackie joined the CMP community through the emme coalition, a multi-year project helping women and girls in Bridgeport live the life they choose, through Empowerment, Mindfulness, Motivation + Education. Because of CMP's outreach work in Fairfield County, CMP was chosen to offer the mindfulness programming for emme. Jackie has participated in weekly CMP mindfulness sessions over the past 18 months, and became so convinced of the benefits of mindfulness that she wanted to help share mindfulness with others. She now leads mindfulness sessions for CMP in Spanish, and is the voice for many of the Spanish-language guided meditation recordings on the CMP website. These recordings make it possible for people to access mindfulness programming 24/7, free of charge.
Jackie spoke at Fairfield County's Community Foundation Fund for Women and Girls annual event this year. Below is an excerpt of her speech, in which she talks about the impact that mindfulness and CMP have had on her life.
If you've benefitted from access to mindfulness meditation, we hope you'll make a donation to CMP. With your partnership, we can continue to empower people to live healthier lives by expanding access to mindfulness meditation.
With gratitude,
Your CMP Family
My name is Jacqueline and I came from Chile.
My family and I first arrived in America in 2019. It’s been a very difficult time for my family to adjust to life in America due to the impact of the pandemic.
I became part of the Emme program because I was in a deep search for belonging, for participation, for knowing, for being able to interact with other women, and also, to improve my English.
The meaning of Emme (Empowerment, Mindfulness, Motivation, Education) was exactly what I needed at this time in my life. It has provided me with the tools I need to be in charge of my own health care, personal growth and development– and, it’s been amazing so far!
I have been going through very stressful moments, and Emme and CMP came into my life like a blessing. They have helped me be mindful of my emotions through these troublesome times by helping me find my center, focus and reduce my anxiety by accepting and understanding my emotions rather than to fight them– to be here and now and to stop running on autopilot.
Participating in CMP’s mindful meditations has really been a glorious experience that taught me how to enjoy the simple things in life such as sounds and nature, as well as how to strengthen the values in which I deeply believe, such as compassion, appreciation, empathy, self-love and gratitude.
I even had the opportunity to participate in Emme CMP by helping to record some meditations in Spanish so that people who don’t speak English could have the opportunity to join this community, without the impediment of language as barrier to enjoy this wonderful tool that is Meditation– a gift, that for me, has now become a life necessity.
Thank you so much CMP!
-Jacqueline C., Program Participant