What word do you hold close to your heart throughout the day? What is your mantra? Perhaps without realizing it you latch on to an idea that will set the tone for your waking – and sleeping – hours.

This is not about being happy. Or sad. Both words come with baggage, though they are uselessly flung out of our mouths.

It is not too much to ask that we think about our words, even the words we use internally.

There was a time around the holidays when I would wake up and take ownership over words like, “sad,” “stressed,” “unfinished,” “too much,” “difficult,” “broken”…
I chose these words like a cloak to protect my body from the cold.

The unconscious choosing of words over our lives is a symptom of a broader problem. It relates to a disconnection we create through the constant curation of personas. The more we try to mold outward appearances, the more disengaged we become with the inward self.

Like the slow disappointment that grows between two people engaged in small talk instead of depth, the passive reaching for daily mantras creates small deaths in our spirit if we are not aware of the effect it has over our lives.

You always have a mantra, whether you like it or not.

While it cannot solve concrete problems like encountering morning traffic on the way to work, paying bills, or preventing our dishwasher from breaking, choosing a mantra that is beneficial to our lives instead of destructive will make us resilient. This, in turn, will create joy in our spirits, available to be expressed in ways that correspond with our personalities.

This is on my mind because today I realize I now wake up with the word “creative” on my mind, instead of the previous declarations above. This did not happen overnight. I made a conscious decision to finish the sentence “I AM…” every morning as I start my day. Even if you do not have a daily meditation practice, mindfully decide on a mantra that will create space in your day for possibilities that benefit instead of destroy.

Slowly, my thoughts are turning. Slowly, I feel my spirit return to a true version of myself. I sense a paradigm shift.