Twenty Mantras to Change your Outlook From Negative to Positive

June 25, 2021

We’ve all been there. You wake up with an excessive amount of chatter in your head and it sets you up for a day of anxiety and stress. Or, something challenging happens during your day and everything seems to go downhill from there. You need a quick way to ease your mind and get you on a positive path so you can get back to the business of beauty. Say hello to mantras.

Mantras are a powerful tool for changing your mindset. The idea of having a mantra is nothing new. The practice of reciting affirming phrases, words and sounds is thousands of years old and started in India. Western science is only now starting to pick up on the benefits of the ancient practice which include calming your nervous system and freeing your mind of background noise.

Herbert Benson, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School has been studying meditation and mantras for decades. His research has been focused on those actions that elicit a “relaxation response.” Dr. Benson’s research has shown that it doesn’t matter what you choose to be your mantra – a word or a phrase. Both have the same effects and will allow you to relax and cope with life’s stresses better.

So, how do you use your mantra? Sit in a comfortable position and repeat your mantra once on the inhalation and once on the exhalation. You can say your mantra aloud or silently imagine it in your head. You can do this for five minutes first thing in the morning to set your intentions for the day or you can do this any time of day to interrupt the feeling of stress and negativity that builds in your head.

You may want to engage your other senses as you repeat your mantra to relax. For example, you can light a scented candle or diffuse a relaxing essential oil like lavender, geranium or lemon balm. You can also hold a soothing object in your hand to reset your mind. This could be a cool stone, crystal or paperweight.

Here are some mantras for you to try along with resources for finding others that are right for you: