INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE FAMILY

TOPIC: MANAGING YOUR EMOTIONS

BY ERNEST CHEFON NDUKONG, 15/05/2021

“I’D RATHER REGRET NOT SAYING OR NOT DOING SOMETHING THAN TO REGRET SAYING OR DOING IT” –Ernest Chefon

Definitions;

-         👉Family (Household); a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head

-         👉Manage; to work upon or try to alter for a purpose

-         👉Your; of or relating to you or yourself especially as possessor

-         👉Emotion; a conscious mental reaction

Some kinds of emotions and direct impact on human behavior

Ø Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions

 

{8 Primary states, Combinations (anticipation + joy= optimism), Intensity (if unchecked can intensify)}

1)    Joy (pleasant emotional state characterized by the feeling of happiness, contentment, satisfaction, gratification, and well-being)

                                    ✔✔✔Direct relationship to mental and physical health

How and where to find joy?

-         👉Psalm 28:7

"The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving."

-         👉Psalm 34: 5

"Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces."

-         👉Psalm 15: 13

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

-         👉Proverbs 8:32-35

"And so, my children, listen to me, for all who follow my ways are joyful. Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don't ignore it. Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home! For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord."

v ⇒TRUE AND SUSTAINABLE JOY CAN ONLY BE FOUND AND GUARANTEED IN CHRIST

 

2)    Sadness (transient emotional state characterized by feelings of grief, disappointment, disinterest, hopelessness, and a dampened mood)

                          ✔✔✔If prolonged, can lead to a depression

How to get rid of sadness?

-         👉Psalm 34:17-18

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit

-         👉Deuteronomy 31:8

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged

-         👉1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you

-         👉Revelation 21:3-4

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away

v ⇒SADNESS CAN BE EXTINGUISHED BY TRUSTING AND CASTING ALL OUR CARES ON THE LORD

 

3)    Anger (characterized by feelings of agitation, hostility, antagonism, and frustration towards others).

❓Some triggers to anger include; feeling;

-        🔁 threatened or attacked

-         🔁frustrated or powerless

-         🔁like we're being invalidated or treated unfairly

-         🔁like people are not respecting our feelings or possessions

                                    ✔✔✔Destructive consequences

How to heal from anger?

3.1)         Control your temper;

-         👉Proverbs 19:11

Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs.

-         👉James 1:19-20

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

3.2)        Don’t let your feelings control you

-         👉Psalm 4:4

Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent.

-         👉Proverbs 16:32

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

-         👉Ephesians 4:26-27

And don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

3.3)        You pray

-             👉Colossians 3:8

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

-             👉Colossians 3:12-13

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

3.4)        Forgive

-         👉Ephesians 4:31-32

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

3.5)         Love

-         👉Luke 6:35

Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.

-         👉Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

v ⇒For every minute you remain angry, you give up 60 seconds of your peace of mind, therefore DESIST

 

Conclusion

 I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them and to dominate them. -Oscar Wilde

Cameroon’s Currency, Trade Balance Crisis- Road to Economic Collapse

Cameroon’s Currency, Trade Balance Crisis- Road to Economic Collapse

BY ERNEST CHEFON NDUKONG

Initiating and effecting foreign payments in Cameroon and CEMAC in general has become so constrained that it could be likened to an attempt to “sneeze with your eyes open”. While currency crisis is literally perceived to be a decline in the value of a country’s currency, the case of the XAF (CEMAC currency) is a result of a chronic balance of payment deficit.

With political instability gradually crippling economic activities in some parts of the country and extensibly weakening the nation’s economic forte on the international scene leading to cessation or reduction in scale of exportable productive activities which are having severe adverse effects on Cameroon’s balance of payment.

The diverse tensions in the South West, North West, East and Far North regions of Cameroon have directly and negatively affected economic activities in these regions which have a trickle-down effect on the entire business environment of the country. The tensions have led to abandoned plantations, human resource exodus, closed businesses, vandalized establishments and institutions amongst others.

The direct effect of these calamities is a drop or cessation of exports such as timber, cocoa, coffee, rubber and banana amongst other exports produce and indirectly in that products which constitute raw materials for local processing before exportation cannot be served to factories for processing, thus loss of foreign earnings. It is indisputable that the loss of foreign receipts is estimated to be hundreds of billions of francs CFA yearly.

While exports have greatly reduced, imports have not changed by commensurate proportion and direction thereby creating a gap in the balance of trade and payment. A National Statistics Institute (NSI) report stated that exports fell by circa 17% in the first semester of 2018 compared to same period of 2017 while exports for 2017 dropped by 12% compared to 2016. The same report depicted an increase in imports by 8.3% at end of quarter 2 of 2018. The trend is increasingly downwards for exports and upwards for imports signaling increasing discrepancies on the balance of trade and payment which will further compound the currency crisis the country is currently facing.

While economic operators are harshly hit by the crisis, measures are being put place to mitigate the negative consequences of the crisis with GICAM proposing the following strategies to monetary authorities; “temporary suspension of the importation of some goods and the limitation of the importation of products that are more or less important. Priority should also be given to payments for the importation of products and services that are important or in strategic sectors”.

The measures suggested by GICAM arguably will reduce the negative consequences of the currency crisis, however critics wonder the long-term economic sustainability of these measures. Some wonder whether goods used to be imported when they’re not needed and how the importance of goods will be classified without the risk of bias. It is thus imperative for exhaustive diagnostics to be carried out to establish the reasons for the drop in exports and increase in imports, and lasting measures put in place to solve the problems to prevent a total and complete economic quagmire.

Ndukong Ernest Chefon: Bonds, A Safe Heaven For Your Money

Ndukong Ernest Chefon: Bonds, A Safe Heaven For Your Money: Bonds, A Safe Heaven For Your Money By Ernest Ndukong Chefon A bond is a debt security , under which the issuer owes the holders a debt...

Bonds, A Safe Heaven For Your Money

Bonds, A Safe Heaven For Your Money

By Ernest Ndukong Chefon

A bond is a debt security, under which the issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay them interest or to repay the principal at maturity.

Bonds provide a safe ground for investment for risk averse and risk neutral persons within the business world.  

These sets of people invest in bonds for the predictable income stream and to preserve their capital investment.

The Cameroon Government through the Ministry of Finance recently launched its fourth bond issuance to the tune of FCFA 150 billion, after those of 2010, 2013 and 2014 in which FCFA 200 billion, FCFA 50 billion and FCFA 150 billion respectively were raised.

The attractive 5.5 percent interest bearing “I Owe You” to the State has until October 12, 2016, to be closed to mark the end of a fifteen day opening for a mega jackpot to be stroke by risk-fearing investors. 

This venture is particularly interesting in that not only will the investor be supporting the development of our fatherland, he/she will also be benefiting from a tax free return on investment.

The bond venture is unarguably preferable to a savings account. Directly, it yields an annual interest of 5.5 percent, up and above by over 2 percent to what a savings account will generate.

Misapprehensions about bonds abound, but the fact is that bonds can contribute an element of stability to almost any portfolio.

Bonds are a safe and conservative investment and ideal for anyone not wanting to put their money at risk.

Bonds equally provide security to the holder as they are preferred over shareholders in a company setup in the event of liquidation. Bonds are also less volatile and stabilise the value of one’s investment when other treasury instruments struggle.

In like manner as paradise is pleasurable, the process to get there is not free of sacrifice and risk. Bonds to experience certain perils like interest rate risk, inflation risk, credit risk and call risk. Interest rates are inversely related to bond prices, thus an increase in rates will lead to a fall in bond prices.

Default in bonds is not 100 percent avoidable; therefore, there is some identifiable credit risk involved.

Bonds can be redeemed by the issuer thus making the anticipated profits not being realised- call risk. Inflation can cause tremendous drop in the value of money.

All told, stocks are the much heard and talked about in the business world with swings in the market analysed in economic journals.

Bonds on the other hand don’t harvest the same satisfactory appeal, primarily because; they are unknown to the average investor.

It, however, should be noted that in investment, what is popular is hardly profitable.

Investment in the Government bonds will lead to the manifestation of Idowu Koyenikan’s words that “when money realises that it is in good hands, it wants to stay and multiply in those hands”.