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Late to a meeting?

Try a mantra.

Struggling to study?

Try a mantra.

Misreading a relationship?

Try a mantra.

Expecting certain things to work out a certain way?

Try a mantra.

In over your head?

Try…well…

You get it…

Mantras remind us how to still our minds and pick a focal point for relieving frustration.

They can be used in specific situations or have a general impact on our wellbeing. More than anything, they transmute a tired heart into one earnest and eager to see what’s on the other side of fear.

It’s not just brain health and physical health. It is soulful and strategic to use a mantra to hang onto, like a rope where the knot is the meaning behind the message. You can rest your foot on it and rise a little higher. Day by day, you see your ability to climb strengthen rather than weaken you.

You can also focus on your senses when you are in a state of “grounding.” In this mentality, you do not worry, fear, plan, or doubt yourself or the situation at hand. Ground in something life affirming, that matters to you.

Put plainly, you can change your thoughts…by literally changing your thoughts. It’s not a new notion. It can be found in most religions, self-help advice, positive psychology, and other means to encourage self-discovery.

It can be used in these contexts, but you don’t have to subscribe to anything in order to surrender and experience them.

Think of mantras as calculated messages to recite your convictions so that they may fuel your ambition.

Here are my top four that I find are useful in every situation. They may not change the situation, but they can better attune you to the road ahead and how your energy needs to be spent.

“Peace is my practice.”

“I give myself grace for what I did not know before now.”

“I can make a difference exactly where I am.”

“With every breath, I release my stress.” Or, “This breath releases my burden of being it all and burned out.”

The significance of these are in their simplicity and multitude of usages.

For example, if you are at war with yourself or anyone else, you tell yourself that peace is the only way through. This amplifies your need for love and shared humanity to foster between friends, strangers, or enemies. It can also help you take a deep breath in itself or pull in things that add to your peace. (I recommend some lavender tea!)

Giving yourself grace is about accepting the inbetween and the journey between who you were and who you are meant to be. It can be an awkward space to be in, but it leads to a lot of reflection on how far you have come.

What could I have done better?

Why didn’t I prepare myself more?

How can life be more fair?

You gain self-compassion to override those questions. You simply accept you are here now, and you will always be your own best friend. It doesn’t matter what came before. You can hold that person accountable and love them at the same time. If you gleaned out grace for your past, you can continue to make progress.

Remember, you are human.

Right now you have everything you need to do something that can change your life or another’s life. It can be as subtle as a smile or as large as solving a social issue.

They weigh equally in importance.

You have a role to play wherever you are. That’s why you must lead, not follow. Self-empowerment is worth it.

Lastly, breath work or “breath prayers” where as you inhale and exhale you recite the mantras, can be paired with the imaginative relieving of stress as being that breath. The breath you release is simply a part of your being, like a cavity or shadow that you don’t want to deal with but it will grow in pain or depth the longer you avoid it. If you perceive this release as an emotional one, you don’t lose a part of yourself. You actually become more whole, present and purposeful.

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