Personal mantras and Power of Inspiration

[dramasnot6]

Who here has recieved bits of advice, heard a quote, or any other inspirational words that keep them going through the day? Just personal mantras you repeat when things get rough or frustrating. Also, why do you think they work for you? How can one little phrase or sentence boost someone's spirits, what makes a word powerful? How does one inspiring word or image change the course of someone's life?

[x894565256]

i have the words
You are not
Alone
tattooed on my wrist...
its something ive been sort of meditating on since i was in 7th grade (im graduating, the senior class president of towson high school, this year)
im a big fan though
im not really sure why i find it so powerful, i guess i get caught up in being unique, and because we are all unique, i see each person to be fully independent of each other, and i find that depressing, and need to be reminded otherwise.

[dramasnot6]

i have the words
You are not
Alone
tattooed on my wrist...
its something ive been sort of meditating on since i was in 7th grade (im graduating, the senior class president of towson high school, this year)
im a big fan though
im not really sure why i find it so powerful, i guess i get caught up in being unique, and because we are all unique, i see each person to be fully independent of each other, and i find that depressing, and need to be reminded otherwise.

That's a really interesting interpretation! I always saw expressions similar to that a little differently. That we are not only connected as a species, but struggling as one too. When things seem really hard for me to the point where I feel all alone in my frustrations, I remember that everyone has a understanding of emotion. Even if we have entirely different contexts and experiences, if someone tells me they are sad I will understand. It's a beautiful thing really. :) Thanks for the great contribution! That is so cool you have it tatooed on :D

[jon1jt]

personal mantras don't work for me. i'm after real experience. so i keep a running journal of quotes - sometimes entire pages - that i find along my journey of reading. i have marble notebooks filled to edify my every mood and always carry one with me in my bag. when times are tough, i'll read one of Jack Kerouac's letters to his editor, Malcolm Cowley, two years before Kerouac published one of the greatest books of the 20th century:

"I'm in real straits now, my jeans are all torn, i'm living in a shack with a woodstove, have no money whatever, don't care (much) and am waiting day after day for word from you concerning not only the immediate business but your repsonse to my last two novellas, Tristessa, and Gerard. It breaks my heart to be neglected so. After all, it isn't fair..."

Ahhhh.

[Stanislaw]

" I am a leaf on the wind...watch me soar"...:D :D

well...not really, that'd be cool.

but my motto is really: What the heck! - from yancan the chinease cheff.:thumbs_up

[IamMissingaLink]

i just tell myself that i love myself - sounds dumb but it means you have a less of a need to be externally validated - as I'm wholly loved (by myself.) Doesn't mean I don't give and recieve love from others but i don't necessarilly NEED it ...thats the in theory anyway; its still early days

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Who here has recieved bits of advice, heard a quote, or any other inspirational words that keep them going through the day? Just personal mantras you repeat when things get rough or frustrating. Also, why do you think they work for you? How can one little phrase or sentence boost someone's spirits, what makes a word powerful? How does one inspiring word or image change the course of someone's life?

This is not exactly a mantra, but it has served me well over the years:

When I face some obstacle, I simply ask myself: Can I do something about this? If the answer is yes, I do it (Most of the time I can affect the situation, albeit to a varying degree), but if not... I deliberately shove it out of my mind and move on.

I also heard an Irish (I think) saying I quite liked once. It went something like this:

You will never ever have but two things to worry about.

Either you are well or ill.
If you are well, there is nothing to worry about.
If you are ill, you have but two things to worry about.

Either you get well, or you die.
If you get well there is nothing to worry about.
If you die, you have but two things to worry about.

Either you go to heaven or to hell.
If you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about.

If you go to hell, you will be so busy shaking hands
with your old friends that you will have no time to worry...

/Claes

[dramasnot6]

"If you go to hell, you will be so busy shaking hands
with your old friends that you will have no time to worry..."
:lol: I really like that Claes....

[Neo_Sephiroth]

i just tell myself that i love myself - sounds dumb but it means you have a less of a need to be externally validated - as I'm wholly loved (by myself.) Doesn't mean I don't give and recieve love from others but i don't necessarilly NEED it ...thats the in theory anyway; its still early days

Hey, what a co-in-ki-dink!!! I happen to love myself too!:lol:

No, really, I do!

I'm to sexy for my shirt, to sexy for my shirt, so sexy it huuuuurrrtttsss...!!!http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c189/schizophrenic_pussycat/SMiLiES/kaos_dancing.gif

*Ahem* Anyway, my personal motivation mantra? Umm...I guess I try to tell myself not to be an idiot and keep it smooth and cool...:D But it always seems to end up the other way around.:sick:

[summer grace]

I just try to remember the words someone once said to me, who mattered to me. It was trivial, but still resonates. But more, I try to think of the song '' Celebrate your life'' by the Beloved, and the lyrics of that. Someone once told me about that song, and how it is important not to be a victim of expectations of others around you. I also think it is about not letting self fulfilling prophecies get you. I also love many quotes, about success and failure, and the past and nostalgia. I have so many I can't think of them all! I have page after page of quotes and poetry I have copied down.

I think they work because if someone who matters to you tells you something, then it is more important to you because you know that person believes in you, and in your ability to do the best you can do. I think you associate it with their affection for you. I think it works because of this. Otherwise, as regards quotes, it works and changes the course of your life because it speaks to some emotion in you, some truth that you recognize. It means something to you, because it is often the words of someone long dead, but ones that are really relevant to your own life because they touch a chord with you.

[dramasnot6]

I think they work because if someone who matters to you tells you something, then it is more important to you because you know that person believes in you, and in your ability to do the best you can do. I think you associate it with their affection for you. I think it works because of this. Otherwise, as regards quotes, it works and changes the course of your life because it speaks to some emotion in you, some truth that you recognize. It means something to you, because it is often the words of someone long dead, but ones that are really relevant to your own life because they touch a chord with you.
Aww i agree with you summer grace. I always consider the affect of a compliment to depend on the quality of the compliment, and how much the person saying it means to you. I think that also applies to encouragement and inspiration. :)

[symphony]

well, inspiration is something that comes from the very bottom of ur own mind, quotes and mantras hardly seem to help in real dark times. But yeah there r some magic words that touch u and make u feel the thing.

There's a simple quote that i always use while trying to light someone up:
"The rosebush isnt full of thorns, the thornbush is full of roses."

There's another by Celia Luce:
"A small trouble is like a pebble. Hold it too close to ur eye and it fills the whole world & puts everything out of focus. Hold it at a proper distance and have it examined & properly classified. Throw it at ur feet and it can be seen at its true setting, just another tiny bump on the pathway of life."
But of course, it's all a part of my love for the take-it-easy-theory! :D

As for me, my personal way to bring myself up is writing down what i'm feeling and thereby analysing myself, eventually reaching a point where i come to the decision that i'm not perhaps as bad as i think i am, or it doesnt really matter if i am, or just simply- "i rock!" :D

[IamMissingaLink]

Hey, what a co-in-ki-dink!!! I happen to love myself too!:lol:

No, really, I do!

I'm to sexy for my shirt, to sexy for my shirt, so sexy it huuuuurrrtttsss...!!!http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c189/schizophrenic_pussycat/SMiLiES/kaos_dancing.gif

*Ahem* Anyway, my personal motivation mantra? Umm...I guess I try to tell myself not to be an idiot and keep it smooth and cool...:D But it always seems to end up the other way around.:sick:

you're crazy :lol:

[dramasnot6]

well, inspiration is something that comes from the very bottom of ur own mind, quotes and mantras hardly seem to help in real dark times. But yeah there r some magic words that touch u and make u feel the thing.

There's a simple quote that i always use while trying to light someone up:
"The rosebush isnt full of thorns, the thornbush is full of roses."

There's another by Celia Luce:
"A small trouble is like a pebble. Hold it too close to ur eye and it fills the whole world & puts everything out of focus. Hold it at a proper distance and have it examined & properly classified. Throw it at ur feet and it can be seen at its true setting, just another tiny bump on the pathway of life."
But of course, it's all a part of my love for the take-it-easy-theory! :D

As for me, my personal way to bring myself up is writing down what i'm feeling and thereby analysing myself, eventually reaching a point where i come to the decision that i'm not perhaps as bad as i think i am, or it doesnt really matter if i am, or just simply- "i rock!" :D

:D That's fantastic.I like the rosebush quote:thumbs_up Thanks!

[Jay]

" I am a leaf on the wind...watch me soar"...:D :D

well...not really, that'd be cool.
Stan, that might not be the best choice anyway, the last time I heard a guy say that, he got impaled and well, died ;) :p

[Neo_Sephiroth]

you're crazy :lol:

Thank you kindly!:lol:

[Stanislaw]

Stan, that might not be the best choice anyway, the last time I heard a guy say that, he got impaled and well, died ;) :p

well...just before he got all impaled like, he landed a horrible damaged vehicle so, its 50% okay.:D

[Jay]

Results-wise, he could have just as well crashed the ship for all the good it did him ;)... but yeah, if that were the case, it would all end a little bit sooner than expected and there wouldn't be a happy ending... of sorts, lol :p

[subterranean]

I think you'd find these inspirational words after you've been through several events with same pattern/situation. Then you'd come up with a conclusion in the form of inspirational words, yours or others', and later on, when you face with the same situation, you'd refer to those words and remember that you've been there and you got thru all them finely.

One of my personal inspirational saying is quoted from my good friend, "nothing last forever, things get better. Give them time".

[Stanislaw]

Results-wise, he could have just as well crashed the ship for all the good it did him ;)... but yeah, if that were the case, it would all end a little bit sooner than expected and there wouldn't be a happy ending... of sorts, lol :p

well...imagine if his mantra was "I'm a rock in the air...watch me plummet!:D :D


I think you'd find these inspirational words after you've been through several events with same pattern/situation. Then you'd come up with a conclusion in the form of inspirational words, yours or others', and later on, when you face with the same situation, you'd refer to those words and remember that you've been there and you got thru all them finely.

One of my personal inspirational saying is quoted from my good friend, "nothing last forever, things get better. Give them time".

very true!

[blp]

There's an assumption in this thread that mantras are about meaning - comforting or inspiring meaning. Strictly speaking, mantras are meaningless phrases used in meditation as a focus of attention. Meditation is not comforting but cleansing and subversive, an experience of emptying out of meaning and unravelling of false certainties. If you use it to try to love yourself more, you'll always be lockd in a sort of struggle with a noumenon (an unknowable). What is the self you allegedly love?

[dramasnot6]

There's an assumption in this thread that mantras are about meaning - comforting or inspiring meaning. Strictly speaking, mantras are meaningless phrases used in meditation as a focus of attention. Meditation is not comforting but cleansing and subversive, an experience of emptying out of meaning and unravelling of false certainties. If you use it to try to love yourself more, you'll always be lockd in a sort of struggle with a noumenon (an unknowable). What is the self you allegedly love?

It is more the meaning mantras evoke. I find using mantras helps me focus and reminds me of meanings I have forgotten or put aside. Good point though, I guess they just sometimes serve the messenger boy of the psyche sometimes for some people.

[subterranean]

There's an assumption in this thread that mantras are about meaning - comforting or inspiring meaning. Strictly speaking, mantras are meaningless phrases used in meditation as a focus of attention. Meditation is not comforting but cleansing and subversive, an experience of emptying out of meaning and unravelling of false certainties. If you use it to try to love yourself more, you'll always be lockd in a sort of struggle with a noumenon (an unknowable). What is the self you allegedly love?

To quote a sociologist, when man defines situations as real, they are real in their consequences.

[byquist]

From a Colonel in the Army:

"Enjoy the process of progress."

and the classic: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

Neither of these are very sublime but they are pragmatic.

[IamMissingaLink]

There's an assumption in this thread that mantras are about meaning - comforting or inspiring meaning. Strictly speaking, mantras are meaningless phrases used in meditation as a focus of attention. Meditation is not comforting but cleansing and subversive, an experience of emptying out of meaning and unravelling of false certainties. If you use it to try to love yourself more, you'll always be lockd in a sort of struggle with a noumenon (an unknowable). What is the self you allegedly love?



loving yourself doesn't require you to know the unknowable. It kind of gives you persmission to be appreciate and rejoice in the mystery that is the self.

[Neo_Sephiroth]

There's an assumption in this thread that mantras are about meaning - comforting or inspiring meaning. Strictly speaking, mantras are meaningless phrases used in meditation as a focus of attention. Meditation is not comforting but cleansing and subversive, an experience of emptying out of meaning and unravelling of false certainties. If you use it to try to love yourself more, you'll always be lockd in a sort of struggle with a noumenon (an unknowable). What is the self you allegedly love?


loving yourself doesn't require you to know the unknowable. It kind of gives you persmission to be appreciate and rejoice in the mystery that is the self.

Actually, meditating and mantras can go both ways. You can empty out false certainties or you can warp your perception of things.

For example: One of my favorite mantras/quote is the saying "That which does not kill you makes you stronger"

Now, I don't know if that's a fact or not but I don't care because I believe it's true. Since I believe it's true, I tend to push myself to the brink of...Oh...I don't know...Death...Or somewhere along that line.

And I tell myself that aforementioned saying during training, physically and mentally.

So when some tasks seems a bit daunting, like mountain climbing without any equipment at all, I am able to do what I might not possibly do.

So, you know, you can warp your perceptions of reality with these mantras and meditations. It goes both way.

Am I an idiot? There's a good possibility of that.;)

But I'm a happy and content idiot.:lol:

[cuppajoe_9]

"That which does not kill you makes you stronger"Or, as we say in the demolition industry, "that which doesn't kill us makes us hard of hearing".

My sig line works for me pretty well, but I seem to be the only one who finds it inspiring. Can't imagine why. (Translation: "Courage, for tomorrow will be worse.)

[blp]

I don't know whether you're an idiot or not, but it's probably worth mentioning that the original quote from Nietzche is 'From the military school of life: what does not kill me makes me stronger.' So he's effectively attributing the thought to others not, as commonly assumed, making the statement himself.

[blp]

To quote a sociologist, when man defines situations as real, they are real in their consequences.

Which sociologist? Which man?

[Eva Marina]

When I first told my dad that I wanted to be a writer (not as a career, but just in general) he told me something that I'm fairly sure I'll never forget. He told me that if people don't tell stories, they'll never be known. All I could think about where my precious characters never being known by my world. Granted, I've never published anything (rather, I'm being very protective about what I writer), but I hope that one day I'll have something that it so important, to me at least, that I'll have to share it with the world....
In reality, I feel like, perhaps, this notion of sharing ideas can be extended to everything. What if Thoreau hadn't written Civil Disobedience? Would Ghandi still have inspired a nation to reclaim itself? What if Solon, Cleisthenes, and Ephialtes hadn't developed Athenian democracy? Would the American colonists have fought against Britain? Would the world have been forever altered?

[Neo_Sephiroth]

Or, as we say in the demolition industry, "that which doesn't kill us makes us hard of hearing".

My sig line works for me pretty well, but I seem to be the only one who finds it inspiring. Can't imagine why. (Translation: "Courage, for tomorrow will be worse.)

Make that two. I find it pretty inspiring myself...Now that I know what the translation is.:D


I don't know whether you're an idiot or not, but it's probably worth mentioning that the original quote from Nietzche is 'From the military school of life: what does not kill me makes me stronger.' So he's effectively attributing the thought to others not, as commonly assumed, making the statement himself.

Thank you. That is worth mentioning. So he was attributing the thought to others? Makes sense.

But it still doesn't change that strong statements such as the one mentioned can have a huge affect on people. "I have a dream..." is another strong statement.

They all one thing in common...These "words" are able to motivate a group of people (A general commanding an army) or oneself (training yourself to become stronger and improve; ascend) into doing something that they would not normally do or is afraid to do.

[NikolaiI]

Mantras are a big part of my life. My favourites are Hindu and Buddhist mantras. For instance the Medicine Buddha Mantra; Tayata om bekandze, bekandze maha bekandze, randze samu gate soha. Bekandze is the Tibetan pronuncation form of the Sanskrit Bhaishajye, which is the name of the Medicine Buddha. (Medicine Buddha, Teacher of Medicine, King of Lapis Lazuli Light (Bhaishajyaguru, Sangye Menla, Vaidurya)

"Bekandze means eliminating pain, maha bekandze means great eliminating of pain."
http://www.purifymind.com/Mantra.htm

"Ancient teachings tell us that merely seeing the Medicine Buddha, or even seeing an image of the Medicine Buddha, or hearing the name of the Medicine Buddha, can confer inconceivable benefits.
In Tibetan images of the Medicine Buddha the left hand typically holds a blooming myrobalan plant. Tibetan medicine recognizes three basic types of illness, the root causes of which are the conflicting emotions -- passion, aggression, and ignorance. Myrobalan is the only herb in the Tibetan pharmacopoeia that can aid in healing each of these three types of diseases. This is like the action of the Buddha of Healing, who has the power to see the true cause of any affliction, whether spiritual, physical or psychological, and who does whatever is necessary to alleviate it."

http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/menla-full-sm.jpg

[NikolaiI]

http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/medicine-buddha.htm

[hoope]

Who here has recieved bits of advice, heard a quote, or any other inspirational words that keep them going through the day? Just personal mantras you repeat when things get rough or frustrating. Also, why do you think they work for you? How can one little phrase or sentence boost someone's spirits, what makes a word powerful? How does one inspiring word or image change the course of someone's life?

When words reach the heart & they move us & tha tmakes it powerful, but when it make any meanign to anyone & its never shaking.. its can never be affecting.

Words can change our life ! when its said truly & honesty.. when we have been through something same in our life & we say OH YEA THAT'S RYT ! i have had the same situation.

" WHEN YOU GIVE YOUR HEART TO SOMEONE YOU ARE NOT ONLY GIVING THAT PERSON THE RIGHT TO LOVE YOU BUT ALSO THE POWER TO HURT YOU "

" Sometimes Solutions are not so smple.. sometimes beginning aren't so easy"

you can't say that no one has been through this..