When you hear the word “mantra” you might think of people talking to themselves in mirrors, hugging themselves, saying positive affirmations such as “You can do this” or “You are enough”. Even though, yes, that’s certainly a way to incorporate mantras into your life, that’s not the only way. Over the past three weeks, I’ve been loving three specific ways to mindfully place mantras into my life, and I can honestly tell you that they’ve truly changed the way I speak to myself and others. I hope you can try and include at least one of these into your life because once you start speaking kindly to yourself, your whole perspective changes.
- Reminders On Your Phone
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If you’ve read my article on gratitude, you know that I like to keep a gratitude journal called The Five Minute Journal. Inside, it not only has gratitude prompts for morning and night, but also quotes and weekly challenges for every day. One day, my weekly challenge was, “Tell yourself ‘I love you’ three times today: in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night”. I went about my day totally forgetting until I checked my journal again that night, so I decided to place a reminder on my phone for the next day. What I didn’t realize when placing three separate reminders all stating “I love you” for 9am, 1pm, and 10pm, was that I set them on a never-ending daily repeat. Since then, I’ve haven’t stopped it.
I guess I never realized how many notifications that I receive on my phone: not only text messages and calls, but also news sources and app ads. Something that I never realized until receiving the “I love you” reminders, was that the other notifications didn’t spark any joy compared to the kind words to myself. Something else that kept happening was that my friends always saw them pop up on my phone. When the notification appeared, I was so excited to spread the joy and tell them about it: either encouraging them to do the same or literally typing a message for them to see the next day. Spoiler alert: they loved it. So, please please PLEASE try this for at least one day, it’ll change the way you look at your phone.
- Background Photos
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This one is short and sweet because it’s literally the easiest one you can do. As you can see from my reminder photo, my background is also a mantra for me stating, “You are enough”. If you’re the person who has their s/o or beautiful sunset as their background picture, no hate here. I’m just saying that if you’d like an easy way to incorporate mantras into your life, this is a very simple one to start you off. You can look at any Pinterest image out there or maybe from some of your personal favorite artists (mine is from Morgan Harper Nichols!), but it’s so easy to find a good quality, free image out there these days. Get searching for one you love and set it! Best part about it? If you don’t like it, you can always change it. One for every month? Every season? Every week? You choose. (literally).
- Mirror Mantras ft. Expo Markers
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Honestly, this one is my favorite. Recently, I found an old expo marker in my bathroom cabinet (don’t ask me how it got there because I have no idea). I decided to try it out on the mirror to see if it still worked, and thankfully it did along with all the possibilities that popped into my head. Do I draw a mustache like on The Office when trying to catch the man who flashed Phyllis in the parking lot? What about some flowers or stars to brighten up the room? But instead, I decided to write a message for my roommates to find: You matter. You can do this. I love you. The addition to our already quoted mirror (with some positive printed photos) really brightened up the way I looked at myself in the mirror. The next day, I was even surprised with some more notes from my roommates filled with so much love and warmth. Shoutout to the beautiful people I live with because I mean just look at these wonderful notes.
This is a great way to not only get your brain filled with good thoughts, but also those who live with you. Even though I do like to leave fun sticky notes around to my roomies, this is a more eco-friendly and inclusive way to get the positivity flowing. I’ve actually seen stores like American Eagle/Aerie do this in their dressing rooms, as shown in the picture below, so props to them for also spreading the self-love and good vibes (especially in a place that’s usually filled with so much doubt and judgement). A mirror can be incredibly powerful, so make sure that the person in your reflection is reminded of how important they are.
I think if I’ve learned anything of the past three weeks, it’s that words really do have an incredible impact on your life. Not only the way that you speak in a classroom or to your friends, but, most importantly, yourself is not something to be taken lightly. In a world where people are constantly yelling at each other to do this and that and self-deprecation is its own humor genre, speaking kindly to yourself is not something commonly taught when growing up.
Speaking kindly to yourself isn’t “cute” or something to awww over — it should truly be the standard for every human being. I’m sick of self-care and doing good things for yourself being considered as a trend because it’s a way of LIFE. Taking care of yourself, whether that includes mantras or not, is an important part of living, so please be cautious and kind to yourself and those around you. Everyone will thank you for it.