Mantras and positive affirmations are two distinctive ways to encourage self-care and feed the mind. Both affirmations and mantras can be positive tools in the process of asserting something to ourselves.
Mantras are different from affirmations in that affirmations are born of the theory of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). This is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the US, California, in the 1970s. NLP incorporates a modern understanding of psychotherapy and linguistics. The goal is to consciously rewire thought patterns towards more desired outcomes.
Mantras are words, sounds, or invocations that aid in focusing concentration or deepening meditation. The word mantra originates in Sanskrit and has been translated in English in a variety of ways: a song of praise, a sacred message, a spell, or an incantation. They are commonly used in the practices of Hinduism and Buddhism. Examples of mantras include words like: Om, love, peace, or phrases like “I am that I am”.
Associated with mostly Eastern religion and spirituality mantras aim to liberate the mind from thought in order to enable inner peace. Our minds are full of noise. Repetitive, useless, and even harmful thoughts that are often reverberate on a constant inner soundtrack. Mantras can be used as a tool to quiet the voices, to center ourselves for mediation, or when we are stressed.
A mantra can also be a personal statement, a crystallization of our core beliefs. It is for this reason that most people have only one or two mantras in areas of our lives in which we need them most. It may be in our family lives, our love lives, our careers, or our struggle towards better health physically, mentally, and spiritually.
We can use an affirmation to create our mantra but affirmations tend to be full sentences while mantras are single words or short phrases. To make your mantra write out your highs from the previous twelve months. Think and write about your journey. Focus on an area of your life you want to continue to improve or just remind yourself of. Rate the items on the list from one to ten. Ten being things that brought you powerful positive emotion like peace or joy.
Alternatively make a list of disappointments from last year. Write about what went wrong. Acknowledge your role in the disappointment and write of how you will do things differently. Choose the change that is most important to you, that you feel will have the most profound impact on your life. Select the one thing that resonates the most with who you want to be. Condense it into one word. Use this one word daily. Bring the mantra to mind whenever you need to concentrate and believe in yourself.
Sources
https://www.integrativenutrition.com/blog/2016/08/mantras-vs-affirmations-what-s-the-difference
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-power-in-mantras-affirmations_us_5922d33fe4b0e8f558bb2827
https://greatist.com/live/mantras-how-to-create-a-mantra-for-personal-growth
Before I go I want to add a word about cultural appropriation. Some people don’t believe in it. Some people believe the world is flat and we’ve never been to the moon. My definition of cultural appropriation is that it is a configuration of power in which members of a dominant culture claim aspects of a culture from a people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group. I have tried here to go the route of cultural appreciation- to honor a culture and its practices as a way of gaining knowledge and understanding of both the culture and of myself. With respect – Rena