Developing a Personal Mantra: 5 Steps to Clarity

Personal mantras are brief declarations that serve as a life guide. They can remind, inspire and motivate you to jump over obstacles and make difficult decisions gracefully. However, creating a meaningful mantra requires mental work to uncover what truly matters to you. Here’s how to unlock a personal mantra and have more clarity in your mind.

1. Choose How You Want to Live

The first step in finding clarity about your personal mantra is to know how you want to guide your life. Will the mantra help you overcome a limiting or negative belief about yourself? Do you want it to encourage you to make choices more aligned with your core values? Do you want to strengthen a quality about yourself you find admirable?

You will repeat the mantra frequently, and it won’t hold significance or yield inspiration unless it resonates deeply. It’s time to unfurl what the mantra should accomplish. Once you know the area of your life you want to focus on for your personal mantra, you can dig further into how you can embody it.

2. Seek Inspiration

Choosing how you want to live your life before seeking inspiration ensures the intention behind the mantra is self-generated. Seek inspiration now from resources or respected individuals thriving off similar philosophies. See how they lead by example to educate you on making life choices based on your mantra.

The key is never to compare your journey with those who inspire you. Use these reference points to remind yourself that there’s always room for growth. Use inspirations as grounding points if you feel lost in your growth journey to revisit your personal mantra. 

The inspirations you find will act as a failsafe, a directory to constantly remind you of the value of the mantra and how it’s positively impacted your outlook.

3. Journal Your Commitment

Once you’ve analyzed your inspirations and how they embody their similar personal mantra, you can reflect. Write down any accomplishments you’ve made in the past that already align with your intention. Was your purpose related to freedom? Note any times you’ve actively chosen to live freely. Do you feel connection is essential? Remember when you’ve instigated conversation or reached out to loved ones for random acts of kindness.

Knowing how you’ve already personified these ideals will solidify your commitment because you’ll remind yourself how much of a priority it is to you. The want to commit is lost if the mantra doesn’t have inherent gravity in your heart.

Then, you can review what you’ve already accomplished and journal a few more reflections:

• What do your inspirations do that you want to incorporate into your life?
• What have you done in the past that aligns with your intention that you want to keep doing?
• What activities, people or thoughts do you have that you need to get rid of because they don’t align with your mantra’s vision?

How will you live each day according to how you want to live? These prompts will accent what’s crucial and what you should phase out to live more according to your mantra’s intention.

4. Write Your Mantra

Discover trends in your thoughts and journaling sessions. All this thought work will provide you with enough information to discover patterns. What keeps popping up in your mind? Are the ideas related to self-confidence, adventure or independence? 

When it comes to you, that’s when you can write it down. The trends manifest from your innermost desires and can translate into a mantra that will guide your goals, actions and everyday life.

5. Design Your Environment

The mantra you wrote means nothing if you don’t repeat it or if you don’t see it. No matter your situation, there are plenty of imaginative ways to design your environment to remind you to acknowledge your mantra, such as:

• Setting hourly reminders on your smartwatch.
• Putting sticky notes on your work monitor.
• Adding the mantra to your phone home screen. 
• Draw the mantra with a dry-erase marker on your vanity mirror.
• Write it down in your journal header every day.

Repetition and constant exposure will rewire your brain. The mantra will change your perspective and how you react to opportunities and conflict. Because you’ll always have the mantra to go back to, everything you do will execute through the lens of that personal mantra.

What Are Some Personal Mantra Examples?

Need help with how to write your mantra? Here are some variations you can use as templates to inspire creativity. 

One Word

1. Tranquility
2. Resilience
3. Forgiveness
4. Learning
5. Progress

Phrases and Thoughts

1. Lead bravely.
2. Create joyfully.
3. Live in the moment.
4. Happiness is a choice.
5. I am worthy now.

Live By Your Values With a Personal Mantra

Finding your mantra can feel like wading through water — there’s a refreshing quality, but there is a lot to consider about the environment. Once you have the mantra, keep it personal or publicize it as much as you wish. The more gratification you receive living from that mantra will propel years of productive and nourishing self-development and discovery.