Why You Need a Simple Mantra in Your Life

A mantra is a motivating chant you repeat over and over to yourself.

Mantras are most recognized in the world of meditation. They are also used when we are trying to do some great fit like the last stretch of a marathon.

As you can see from the definition above, mantras are often thought of as positive. This is great but a one-sided approach to the idea.

What isn’t talked about much is the other side. The most common side by the way. The negative side.

Here is information from Michigan State University Extension's Stress Less with Mindfulness program.

A person has 80,000 thoughts a day.

90% of these thoughts are ones we have had before, and 80% of these are negative.

It means that 90% of our thoughts are actually mantras due to their nature of being repetitive. And of those mantras, 80% of them are negative.

If you are still lost, let me put it in numbers. For every 10 thoughts you have, 9 of them are repetitive(mantras) and 7.2 of those 9 thoughts you have are negative.

Maria Millet is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She says that negative thinking is a part of being human but strategies you can use to change your brain are there.

With 7.2 thoughts out of every 9, that is a scary statistic. The good thing for us is that as Maria said, there are strategies you can use today to change your brain. This is why I want to share with you some simple mantras you use.

The problem of mantras feeling like work

A lot of people recommend that you take a few minutes out of your day to write or say your mantras out loud. I find overwhelming.

When you start doing something you have never done before, it begins to feel like work.

For mantras, you have to put in the work for a long time before you can begin noticing any changes if you ever do.

Truth is that oftentimes you won't even notice how much your life has changed. Its because they(the mantras)work without your conscious awareness.

This is one of the reasons many people quit or hip. Some people hip these mantra activities into the scrap pile of mysteries they don’t want to be a part of.

The most effective way I have found in my own experience using them is to make sure they do not feel like work.

That means they do not have specific time periods or tedious process you have to go through to get them done.

Here are a few.

“ I am now better than this”

Clinical is a neuroscientist and psychiatrist Daniel G. Amen, M.D . He outlines 9 automatic negative thoughts many of us have in his book “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.

One of those automatic negative thought patterns is this. “ The always/never” thinking. Each thought includes an extreme identifier of never, ever, everyone, and always.

When these words cross our minds, we tend to think of things that never go our way. Through this, they lead us into negative patterns.

Things like No one ever understands me, I will never get a raise, I always miss this mark, everyone hates me, and so on.

For me, I found that I can counteract such thoughts by saying to myself “I am now better than this”.

For example. I catch myself thinking that I will never make as much money as someone else. I immediately think to myself “…but I am now better than this”. I make sure I follow all negative thoughts I catch myself saying with this mantra.

How you can do it.

The key here is to watch your thoughts and counter those that are negative. You do not have to catch every negative thought you have and don’t even try.

check in with yourself and if you find that you’ve been coasting negative, say to yourself “…but I a now better than this”.

“I can I will I do I am”

This is one of the most powerful/effective mantras that I have ever used. Starting my day with this mantra stops me from going into negative patterns on autopilot.

The most famous person I know using a variation of a mantra like this is William James Adams Jr. aka will.i.am. He punctuated his name William to come up with a stage name that is also a mantra on its own.

As you can see, this play of words is a bit much. Unless your name is William, you are also not likely to come up with a mantra from placing full stops in your name.

Another person I know that used something similar was the smartest kid I have ever met.

He was always the best in all the exams we did through the 6 years I had him as my classmate in a class of about 70 students.

His name was Peter Claver but he changed it to Peter Clever. This was a way to remind himself that he was a bright person based on what he told me and it showed in his results.

Most of us are not going to make those clever twists in our names of course. Also saying to ourselves “I can I will I do I am” all the time can become mundane and irritating. At least that was my experience.

I ended up doing something different.

I check my phone a lot(like a lot of people). Since my phone doesn’t have very sensitive information, I made this my locked screen password. “I can I will I do I am”

It meant that if I wanted to check my DMs, emails, or to access my phone in any way, I had to first think of the password.

This at the same time served as my time to say this mantra. By the time I finish entering my password, I am also done saying my mantra.

I don’t know how many times I open my phone in a day but they are so many times.

Do it and you will notice that you can sometimes catch yourself thinking the same thought. (I can I will I do I am) and it will reflect in your daily life as well.

How you can do it.

Get something you do daily, not passwords to your devices. It can be anything even if it's something you do once or twice a day like waking up in the morning and going to bed at night.

If you want to use the password method as I do, then go for it.

Try to make sure that you do not break the pattern you have chosen.

For me, I know that I can be very inconsistent sometimes. Passwording my phone with this mantra was my best way to make sure that I remain consistent.

If you struggle with consistency as I do, get a “cheat-proof” method to make sure that you stick to it. This was mine.

If you use passwords, make them so that people cannot guess them and gain access to your information.

Music(one you have composed yourself or one composed by your friend)

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”– Kahlil Gibran

Musical notes are very strong and not something I can express in words. Music can influence our bodies and thoughts. Depends on the frequency and how we relate to it.

Have you ever listened to a song only to have it play on repeat in your mind several days or months later?

Music can form those effortless mantras in your mind as it vibrates in the deep recesses of your mind.

I prefer composing my own music and singing it in my own voice. This can help me to bypass some struggles I face in my own life or to help my friends deal with their struggles.

Case in point. Here is one of the songs I composed for a close friend. It was one of those songs that served this purpose to play like a mantra.

I compose my songs with a guitar or keyboard and I now have over 200 like that but most serve the same purpose. To uplift.

Some songs will get me through situations that others won't and that is why I composed many to cater to that. I will share them with the world soon.

How you can do it

This is great if you are a musician yourself but if not then don't worry.

If you are a musician, you should try composing songs that help lift you and your friends up.

You do not have to always sing. I have some compositions where I only play the guitar. But they also help me in changing my thoughts and keep me thinking positive.

If you are not a musician or have any music of your own, playlists of your favorite songs will do.

Make yourself a mantra playlist and make sure you put songs that are positive in it.

Avoid breakup songs or songs about love(unless it’s what you seek)and go for the inspirational ones. Keep the others in a different playlist but not this one.

I have 200+ songs of my own but you can also collect as many as you want. When you do, try listening to them at least once a week which is what I do for most of mine.

You can also listen to them during times when you are doing things that do not need too much cognitive input. Think working out, taking a walk, or driving to work.

In closing

We all have mantras we say to ourselves every day and they can be positive or negative. But it is important that you take some level of conscious input in this exercise. Those 3 mantra suggestions will help.

I hope they can be of use to you as well.