My Best Self - 2019 Round Up

As the year draws to an end and a new one begins, it is time to look back on our 2019 campaign, ‘My Best Self’, and reflect on what we have learnt.

Over the year, we picked 11 of our favourite mantras, and used them as a starting point to consider what advice or wisdom they hold for us, in today’s busy world.

We started with, ‘In a world where you can be anything, be yourself’, as a call to action to be your own person in this life, staying true to your own hopes and dreams. With pressure from social media, influencers, friends, media and society, it can be all too easy to conform to someone else’s view of who or what you should be. This mantra urges us all to stay true to ourselves.

We focused on love next, with the powerful mantra, ‘I love and am loved’ – both a rallying cry to love others, and an affirmation of how loved we are ourselves. ‘You’re someone special. Someone strong. Someone loved’ was another message of love and self-belief, reminding us that we are all unique and special individuals.

Strength, determination and perseverance were also key themes over the year – from the celebratory ‘Strong women: may we know them, may we raise them, may we be them’, to the cry of encouragement to just keep on going - ‘Find a way’.

Many of our mantras over the year celebrated positivity – focusing on the uplifting happy moments in life that make each day brighter. From ‘Seek the sweet moments in every day’, to ‘Fill the world with sunshine every day’ and ‘Do more of what makes you happy’, the focus was on uplifting activities and adopting a positive mindset.

As Autumn drew close, we chose ‘I trust in new beginnings’, as it is a time of new starts at school, college, university and travel, encouraging us to be brave and put our faith in the universe to deliver good things from a fresh start.

And finally, some mantras were about noticing the things around us, and being anchored in the present moment – from ‘Sky above me, earth beneath me, fire inside me’ to ‘Be still, be present, be mindful’. Both of these are good reminders to be mindful and aware, rather than living our lives on autopilot.

Each mantra we picked holds a powerful lesson for us all.

I have always believed that, memorable words, read, remembered or repeated at key moments in our lives, have the power to change our mood and our mindset. When we are busy, anxious, stressed or tired – words can change our outlook and our behaviour, in that very moment.

But it can be hard to remember to say these words to yourself, when you are rushing through life on auto-pilot. That’s why we are such firm believers in mindfulness, here at Mantra. Mindfulness encourages us all to pause, to notice, to reflect, to take time out.

We hope that wearing a Mantra necklace or bracelet can also help, as you hold onto it through the day, reminded to repeat its mantra. But if this doesn’t work for you – then a post-it note, screensaver or postcard on your desk might be the answer, to ensure a helpful set of words is always to hand, reminding you of their wisdom.

Throughout 2020, we’ll be continuing our efforts to be our very best selves, and we’ll see you again soon with more thoughts on how we can all do this.