Last night I attended “Together Live” in Minneapolis. It’s a tour put together by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine – it was a group of interesting and accomplished women telling stories about being women. Great event. But today, what’s still on my mind is how they began -each of the seven presenters were asked to share their personal mantra. While I assume they anticipated this question, they each rattled theirs off like it was the easiest thing in the world to not only come up with your life’s motivation and clarity, but to share it with an audience.
The first thing I got when I googled personal mantra was exactly what I was looking for:
“A personal mantra is an affirmation to motivate and inspire you to be your best self. It is typically a positive phrase or statement that you use to affirm the way you want to live your life. Its purpose is to provide motivation and encouragement to you when you need to focus your mind to achieve a goal. ”
I have a mantra for yoga that I use to help still my monkey mind and focus on the breath (because that’s what my yoga teacher tells me to do). I have another for when I’m getting off track with my work that I’ll write in Sharpie on a sticky note nearby ( but, to be honest, it’s not the most positive reinforcement I could give myself). And, these 2 messages I use are 2 separate things, I don’t use them regularly, and I’m most definitely not ready to declare it an audience, much less myself. So, work to do. I want some of the mantra magic.
More research told me mantras help alleviate stress. And further, that there are 6 benefits of mantra usage: mindfulness, productivity, motivation, optimism, positivity, and inner peace. These are not bad things. I’m in, already!
So how to choose? Copy someone else’s? Look through a thesaurus of mantras? Probably not.
“A mantra is a brief phrase that should frequently be repeated in your mind. They should also be written like instructions: (1) start with an action verb, (2) remain in the present tense, and (3) have a purpose. And, yes, active voice is compulsory.”
Verb, active voice, present tense, purpose. Got it. I’ve got a dentist appointment this morning. Instead of trying to answer her many questions while her hand is in my mouth, I’m going to shut my eyes and focus on finding my mantra. I need some of the magic.
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