How to Create Your Own Mantra in 10 Minutes

Mantras are words or phrases repeated frequently to promote positive thinking, reduce stress, and reinforce personal growth. Originating from ancient traditions, mantras work as a form of self-affirmation, helping individuals foster self-regard, self-awareness, emotional awareness, and self-acceptance. The repetition of a mantra can influence both conscious and subconscious thought patterns, helping individuals replace negative self-talk or thinking patterns with more empowering beliefs.

Exercise: Crafting and Using Personal Mantras

Objective: This exercise is designed to help you create, personalise, and incorporate mantras in your daily life, improving self-regard, emotional awareness, and self-acceptance.

Step 1: Understanding and Setting Intentions

Before creating your mantra, reflect on what you want to achieve or reinforce. Mantras are most effective when aligned with a personal goal or challenge. Consider these questions:

• What area of my life do I want to focus on (e.g., confidence, patience, resilience)?
• How would I like to feel about myself?
• What limiting beliefs or negative thought (patterns) exist that I want to counter?

Write down your responses as they will serve as a foundation for your mantra.

Step 2: Creating Your Mantra

Follow these guidelines to craft your mantra:

1. Keep As Short As Possible and Positively Framed: A mantra should be simple and easy to remember. It should convey positivity, such as “I am capable and resilient.” Do not use the following words in a mantra:

‘not, should, shouldn’t, must, mustn’t, can’t, won’t, no, un-

1. Use Present Tense: Frame your mantra as though it’s already true and in the present tense. This helps reinforce belief. For example, say, “I am calm and confident,” rather than, “I want to be more confident.”
2. Make It Personal: Use words that resonate with you and reflect your specific goals or values.
3. Make It Empowering; Where you can, use powerful words, ones that have a strong connection for you and ones that encourage absolute certainty.

Example Mantras:

• “I am enough.”
• “I am succeeding every day”
• “I accept myself totally”
• “I am courageous.”
• “I deserve kindness and respect.”
• “I am in tune with my emotions.”
• “I assert myself comfortably whenever I need”

Step 3: Practicing Your Mantra

1. Choose Your Time: Integrate your mantra into your daily routine. Ideal times include:
   • Morning affirmations: Start your day positively.
   • Before challenging tasks: Set your intention, empower yourself with the state or attitude that serves you before important activities.
   • End of the day reflections: Reinforce self-acceptance and peace before bed.
2. Focus and Repeat: Repeat your mantra silently or out loud, focusing on the words’ meaning and letting them resonate emotionally (look for positive emotions that result whilst saying them. Repeating it 5-10 times, 2-3 times a day, will build this habit.
3. Visualise and Feel: As you repeat your mantra, imagine the positive effects it has on you, notice any positive effects on your body and state. Visualise the confidence, calm, or other qualities you’re building. Do your best to feel these qualities as you say the mantra. This helps reinforce its power.

Step 4: Reflection and Emotional Awareness

After a week of practicing your mantra, reflect on any changes. Consider these questions:

• How has your mantra influenced your self-talk?
• What shifts are there in your self-regard or emotional awareness?
• Are you more aware of your reactions in challenging situations?

Record your reflections to deepen your understanding of how mantras shape your emotional landscape.

Linking Mantras to Emotional Growth

Mantras can have profound psychological benefits when used consistently. Here’s how they connect to a few key areas of personal development:

• Self-Regard: Mantras encourage positive self-talk, which can help build self-esteem and self-respect. They can counter or mitigate previously entrenched negative patterns.
• Self-Awareness: Reflecting on your mantra can increase awareness of your thoughts and emotions, fostering a deeper understanding of you have been operating emotionally and behaviourally.
• Emotional Awareness: By focusing on positive qualities, mantras help develop a healthier emotional perspective, promoting resilience and emotional regulation.
• Self-Acceptance: Mantras that affirm self-worth encourage a mindset of acceptance, optimism, and a can-do attitude, helping individuals embrace their strengths and weaknesses.
• Self–Actualisation & Problem-Solving: Mantras can be used to clarify goals and important values you wish to have in the forefront of your mind. We gravitate to what we think about so keeping these fresh in mind opens up new opportunities and novel ways of solving issues an achieving goal. Our subconscious can be encouraged to work on these whilst we do other things.

References

1. Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226.
   • This foundational paper explores how positive emotions, cultivated through practices like affirmations and mantras, contribute to personal growth and resilience.
2. Sherman, D. K., & Cohen, G. L. (2006). The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 183–242.
   • Self-affirmation theory provides a framework for understanding how self-affirming statements (similar to mantras) help protect and enhance self-integrity, promoting self-regard and emotional resilience.
3. Creswell, J. D., Dutcher, J. M., Klein, W. M., Harris, P. R., & Levine, J. M. (2013). Self-affirmation improves problem-solving under stress. PLoS ONE, 8(5), e62593.
   • This study shows that self-affirmation can boost stress resilience, supporting the use of mantras to reinforce positive coping mechanisms and emotional stability.
4. Leary, M. R., & Tate, E. B. (2010). Self-compassion and reactions to unpleasant self-relevant events: The implications of treating oneself kindly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(5), 887–904.
   • Examines how self-compassion, often enhanced by positive affirmations and mantras, can reduce negative emotional responses and promote self-acceptance.
5. Papies, E. K., & Aarts, H. (2011). Nonconscious self-regulation, or the automatic pilot of human behavior. In K. D. Vohs & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.), Handbook of Self-Regulation: Research, Theory, and Applications (2nd ed., pp. 125–142). Guilford Press.
   • This chapter discusses how self-regulation can be strengthened through repeated self-affirming practices, including mantras, making these tools valuable for emotional awareness.
6. Burton, C. M., & King, L. A. (2009). The health benefits of writing about intensely positive experiences. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(5), 995–1003.
   • This article links positive self-expression (like mantras) to improved mental well-being, showing how focusing on affirming thoughts enhances emotional self-regard and acceptance.
7. Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 21, 261–302.
   • Provides foundational insights into how self-affirmation practices, including mantras, help individuals maintain self-worth and emotional integrity, critical for overall self-awareness.
8. Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85–101.
   • This paper introduces the concept of self-compassion, which is bolstered by affirmations and mantras, fostering a non-judgmental and accepting view of oneself.