“Wallet, keys, phone, badge, (sun)glasses.” Maybe not a mantra, per se, but it sure helps me make sure I have everything I need before I head out to face the day.
Just make it up as you go along.
When driving: “I am not in a hurry to get myself killed.”
That reminds me of “Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch.” Assuming you have testicles, of course.
Hmmm… after reading SpazCat’s post, it makes me wonder if I should adopt “Be the cicada” as my mantra…
Currently I’m using “Al tira’u!” (“Don’t fear!” eg. break out of obsessive fear.)
My back-up mantras are SUMM, BEH, CAH, OM, etc.
[ul][li]Never sit with your back to the door.[/li][li]Never enter a room with only one exit. [/li][li]Never go out the same way you went in.[/ul][/li]Well, it’s my mantra anyway.
Stranger
Shamelessly borrowed from a friend who used to calmly respond to all my gripes in the same zen-like fashion:
“If this is the worst thing that happens today, then oday was still a good day.”
“It’s only money and life is short.”
“You gotta have fun…”
After 4 years of being in a college where I’m always surrounded by a bunch of “Special Little Snowflakes”, I find that the bragging/complaining/one-uppance is getting very, very tiring to hear. So whenever I hear one of the Special Little Snowflakes begin a Special Little Tirade, I just block them out with one of my favorite lyrics: “My sweet, there’s nothing larger than life”. It just reminds me to look at life on the bigger whole, and appreciate the life I have. I nor any of the SLS are better or above each other in any other way (even if they are more vocal about it).
This isn’t Yoga, it’s from a Korean martial art phonetically called “Char-Ryok.”
Count. Keep the cadence regular and count as fast as you can without error. You have to count accurately but you can take shortcuts. I “say” 123456789,10,123456789,20, etc. and keep track of hundreds with my fingers. Again, cadence is important.
In the martial art you are told to count to fifteen hundred, six times a day. If you do this for two months without missing a single day, you will see something, and I don’t mean anything mystical or allegorical.
This one involves a lot of concentration but the learning curve is steeper than in TM.
Most people don’t complete the two months, because they think they see where it’s going, or they are frightened by the vivid daydreams they get when they wander off and forget to actually count. If you are daydreaming, you are not counting.
For the purpose of your Hatha Yoga, just go easy. Count, but don’t worry about the two months.
at work, while driving, or watching the news:
“The masses are asses”
My old boss used to say it every day.
My buddy always answers his phone with this phrase:
“Livin the Dream!” 