Mantras — Let's Make Cake

Repeating a Phrase - Mantras

Mantras are basically just saying something to yourself again and again and again. They work because our brains are actually super impressionable, we just tend to repeat negative thoughts (quite automatically and without any effort). So if you deliberately start repeating positive thoughts, they’ll become ingrained in you the same way. This is one way you can start to like yourself, believe in yourself, change your behavior, cope, and identify areas you need to dig deeper and perhaps seek therapy.

Find what you need right now. I use what I need until I don’t need it anymore or I need a new one because I’m in a different place. This is about you. You can make your own mantras, look online, and find ideas just in your daily life.

Mantras for Challenging What You Believe About Yourself

Therapists will refer to this as your “core beliefs” - I don’t love this terminology. But, basically, over the years, you’ve come to believe certain things about yourself without realizing it, asking why, or challenging it. These type of mantras will: 1- bring to your attention what you may not even realize you believe, 2-start to change what you believe through repetition, and 3- lead you to more in depth work to really change these false negatives. I do recommend working with a therapist but I also think you can start this work on your own.

Step 1: Say it out loud, then breathe slowly through a few cycles, say it out loud again. How does it feel? If it seems like you don’t believe it (or if like me you just start sobbing lol), add it to your list.

Step 2: Once you have your list, commit to saying these mantras out loud, followed by a couple breathing cycles, and out loud again. Do this every day. You will not believe it, but keep doing it. The more you do it the better. You are getting your brain to think differently. Do it no matter how hard it is - and it probably will be really hard.

Step 3: Worksheets. Ugh. This is actually where the rubber hits the road. It’s not fun. It’s like homework. But the payoff can be huge. Again, working with a therapist will be helpful.

I love this because it’s such a great (and hilarious) illustration of how our brains work.

So, how do you change it? See steps 1-3 above. It works. I promise!

Mantras to Motivate

Athletes inherently understand that mantras work. I love the depiction of this in the movie King Richard.

Here are some examples of things you can repeat to yourself to help you get going. Again, find your own, it’s about what works for you. These are just examples.

I went through a period where I knew I was getting better but it was still really hard, especially in the mornings. So I would close my eyes and repeat this to myself, and then get out of bed and tackle the day.

Mantras to Cope