Crossing the Bridges: Affirmations and Mantras
Last week I came up with a new mantra for my life and my goals:
The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. I gain more than I lose when I act upon my dreams. Fear is the mind killer, and I am not afraid. Do or do not. Remember that there is no spoon.
I have managed to memorize this, but truthfully it’s a tad long.
I believe that I have mentioned previously that I have hired a coach to work with me on figuring out how to move forward with my various goals and aspirations. I like my job and my coworkers, but I really want my writing to be a greater source of income. SO, as such we have been working on my approach to life and how I am handling certain things.
One thing she pointed out to me is that the above is not a mantra. Why, I questioned? She explained to me the meaning of mantra.
From the Sanskrit: the root, man, means “to think”, while the suffix, tra, which is designated as tools or instruments; ergo, mantra comes out to mean “instrument of thought”. Mind you, there isn’t really a literal translation for mantra, but the concept is that it provides a focal point for the mind.
This is why om, when meditating, is a mantra. You focus on the one point of thought to help connect you to source energy, and as such to clear the noise and chatter and achieve a greater sense of mindfulness.
Last week I delved into my fears. Not just the things that I am fearful of, but really the root of my fears. Why am I afraid of these things? What consequences am I concerned with? The conclusion I reached was that I am most afraid of suffering. Suffering would be feeling disconnected, depressed, miserable, and a wide range of negative emotions.
My coach pointed out that what I had called my mantra was really more of an affirmation. A lot of people look at affirmations as hooky-spooky new-age mumbo-jumbo BS. Ok, I can see that take, but on the other side of the coin what harm is there in considering them? Why not affirm positive ideas about the self to help get where you want to go in life?
One of the biggest issues I face is a lack of clarity. I have this vague idea of just what I want to do, but at the same time I have a myriad of notions about what shape that should take. Further, I was struggling for some time with this notion that I am not one, but two or three different writers, and how on earth do I rectify that?
One of the reasons I created this particular blog post was to address the various mixed aspects of my life. Professional, personal, recreational, and all the different places my life goes. I have a good job that occupies most of my weekdays, I write the blogs and works of fiction, I have the SCA and jobs I do in the medieval society, not to mention social time with friends and loved ones. Bridging the gap between the three variations of my writing, however, has been a particular matter I have found needs more definition.
Fiction, self-help/philosophy, business/professional. These are the three categories I write in. My first love is fiction, since I began writing sci-fi and fantasy back when I was 9 years old. Now I have been blogging self-help, holistic ideas and philosophy for nearly 5 years. Writing professionally, whether it’s press releases, general informational materials, SEO, website content or what-have-you also is fulfilling. Yet tying all of these together, and really getting at the heart of my love of the written word has still been challenging.
Working with my coach this week, however, we hit upon it. She and I broke down just what it is I want as I strive to promote myself and my work further. In doing so, I now have the idea of how I can combine all of my writing into a singular notion I can work with to take things where I want to go.
Why do I want to write? Because ideas, worlds, characters and a lot of what I think are cool ideas are in my head, and I need to get them out there. Why do I want to share what I write? Why is it important to me to make a living as a writer and eventually a speaker? Because I want my ideas, whether fiction or non-fiction, to provide inspiration. I want people reading my work, be it philosophical or fantastical or professional, to be inspired. It doesn’t matter if they feel creative inspiration or self-awareness inspiration or professional inspiration, I want them to be inspired. I want to empower the imagination, and I want to have a positive impact on people.
And that was the missing key. What do I want from my writing, and why do I want to share it with the world? Because I want to help people feel empowered, inspired, open to greater creativity and awareness and their own empowerment. Even my works of fiction feature characters who are striving to improve their lives or find their paths or work out their own destinies.
All of my writing has the same end goal. Thus, my new mantra has been born:
I am a successful writer who empowers people to be inspired.
At the end of the day, this is where I want to see my life be. It is a statement made completely in the here-and-now, because living in the past or living for the future usually causes you to be stuck in the middle of nowhere. I have made that mistake many times, and I am working with new tools to be stronger, happier, and maybe even wiser.
The challenge now is to live my mantra. I need to absorb this notion completely into my being, and work with it to get where I want to go.
Life is a constant work-in-progress. There is something new to be learned, new experiences to be had every single day. I am psyched to see what all I can do with this.
Thank you for crossing the bridges between my worlds with me!
This is the ninth entry of my personal journey, the Crossing the Bridges series. My collectively published writing can be found here.
Follow me here!
