If you’ve been following the blog, you probably know that the first exercise in my 31 Days to Reset Your Life program is to choose a personal mantra. A personal mantra is a positive phrase or affirmative statement that you say to yourself for the purpose of motivation or encouragement. This could be your favorite quote, proverb, spiritual truth or religious saying that motivates and inspires you to be your best self. Today I wanted to share a few (okay, a lot) of the ones that HBW readers have so generously posted here on the blog as we have taken the challenge to reset our lives as an online community. Enjoy and be inspired!
- “Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening…Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.” – Alice Walker (via Miss Lucy)
- “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.” (via GG)
- “Take the shoes off of your teeth and quit running your mouth about what you are going to do and put them on your feet and take some steps or run towards accomplishing your goals.” (via Dr. Cynthia)
- “I choose to LIVE.” (via Sharon)
- “I am flexible and flowing, open to the new and changing, at peace, and I trust in the process of life. Every moment is a new opportunity to become who I am. I move, with life.” (via N)
- “It’s time for you to move, realizing that the thing you are seeking is also seeking you.” – Iyanla Vanzant (via Kim)
- “My time is limited and I will not allow the noise of others’ opinions drown out my own inner voice. I will have the courage to follow my heart and intuition.” (via LaToya)
- “Action conquers fear” — Peter Nivio Zarlenga (via Christen)
- “I am willing to forgive. Forgiveness of myself and others releases me from the past. Forgiveness is my gift TO me, FOR me. I forgive, and I am free.” (via N)
- “The creator of the universe is lining up things in my favor.” – Joel Osteen (via Rosalyn)
- “Action is the antidote to despair.” – Joan Baez (via Jeannie)
- “The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.” – Robert Kiyosaki (via ArtDeal)
- ” Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action. Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them. Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young. A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us.” – Orison Swett Marden (via Nesochi)
- “Don’t put a question mark where God has put a period.” – Joel Osteen (via Kim)
- “I am not who I’m going to be. I am always becoming.”- Ruby Dee (via SolStar5)
- “I am enough.” (via Elle)
- “If you give your fear legs, it will run away with your dreams.” (via Spring Flowerchild)
- “Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it.” – Maya Angelou (via StacyAustralia)
- “You were born with potential, You were born with goodness and trust, You were born with ideals and dreams, You were born with greatness, You were born with wings, You were not meant for crawling so don’t, You have wings, Learn to use them and fly.” – Rumi (via Teri)
- “I AM everything He created me to be.” (via MidWestDominicana)
- “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw (via Tara)
- “Nothing great was ever achieved by being realistic!” – Tom Venuto (via Chivon)
- “Before I left home I cut my hair close to my scalp so I could be a free woman w/ free thoughts, open to all possibilities. I didn’t know what I wanted to be but I knew I wanted to be the kind of woman who was bold, took chances and had adventures.” (via Nikita)
- “Excellence does not require perfection.” – Henry James (via Chela)
- “I follow the way of love.” (via Halona)
- “By the laws of evolution, it is already in you to change, all you must do is be willing.” (via Libryia)
- “Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.” – Eat, Pray, Love (via Chelseeblood)
- “Nobody will Love me, the way I love me. So, the way I treat myself sets the standards for others.” (via MrsMe)
- “The positive thinker, sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.” (via Duanecia)
- “When things don’t go your way, when things go “wrong”, and especially if you do not seem to currently have enough money, do not attach a story or sense of self worth to your circumstances.” – (Mastin Kipp (via SistahKnow)
- “To accomplish something you have never done before, you have to push beyond your comfort zone, trust your instincts, practice and believe in yourself.” (via 2nd Time Around)
- “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.”- Joseph Campbell (via Virginia Shields)
- “The most common way people give up their power is thinking they don’t have any.” -Alice Walker (via b.marie)
- A” woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” – Diane Mariechild (via Skyy Banks)
- “If you don’t start somewhere…then I assure you, you’re going nowhere.” (via Star)
- “Trust in the process of life.” (via Patricia1771)
- “Those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.” – Mary Kay Ash (via Spring Flowerchild)
- “Pray more. Fear less. Live better.” (via Shondriette Kelley)
- “Sometimes on the way to a dream, you get lost and find a better one.” (via Gladys)
- “I found God in me, and I loved her fiercely!” (via Amy-Sharee)
- “I AM the beautiful creation GOD made me, and I LIVE like it.” (via msjai)
- “Sometimes we have to step out of the box, break it down, and shred it up”- Scenes from a Sistah by Lolita Files (via Meika)
- “Fear nothing – especially not your talents and strengths. Be brave enough to show them off. Be grateful enough to use them.” (via Fefe)
- “Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that he will.” (via Patrice)
- “I allow and I trust.” (via FormerDreamer)
- “Trust God and get going.”- Tullian Tchividjian (via My Natural Write)
- “If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” – Joseph Campbell (via Cland1978)
- “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale (via BecomingAwesome)
- “Never complain; never explain.” by Benjamin Disraeli (via Rob Prince)
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” – Albert Schweitzer (via Miss Qu)
- “All people who are happy have God within them.” – The Alchemist (via Anonymous)
- “I am righteous and truthful to myself and others and about myself and others, my soul is whole, my family, community and environment are order and are stable, and I am in balance with the natural world.” (via Qareet)
- “Everybody ends up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose.”- Craig Groeschel (via Sly)
- “Sail away from the safe harbor.” (via Charlene)
- “Stop looking without and start looking within.” (via Cassie)
- “I am financially free, excited about life, joyful.” (via Katherine)
- the best way to lead is to be myself, and who i am is enough. (via B)
- “My life is special. I live my truth. I nurture my spirit. I celebrate me.” (via ReFlectionary)
- “Changing your life is hard. Changing your perception in which you see your world is easy.” (via Keith)
- “I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.” – Gilda Radner (via Anonymous)
Which of these personal mantras resonates the most with you? Do you have your own personal mantra? Let us know what it is in the comments so we can add to this list!
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Rosetta Thurman is a nationally-recognized author, speaker, mentor and coach dedicated to helping women create their ideal lives.
I’d like to share my own mantra which i’ve been using for approximately one year now:
God is good, God is great, God is almighty and merciful.
OMG! I so needed to hear those mantras right now. I was going through a series of battered, negative self talk that put me in a depressive state. Thank God for you and the beautiful sistas that shared their mantras. I have put them on tape and will play them every morning to jump start my day. God does put people in your path to help lift you up when you can’t lift up yourself.
peace.
This is a wonderful site! I’m so happy on this wonderful Christmas day that I stumbled upon it. As I reflect on 2013 and the many challenges I’ve faced, decisions I’ve made (good and could have been better), and pondering my next steps, I realize that I have everything I need to propel to the next level. Despite disappointments, set-backs, adversity, internal conflicts, “God is the author of my life. He has graciously loaned me the pen” and therefore, I have the opportunity to edit content and characters and produce a purpose driven best-seller as long as I stay ordered in God’s steps and exhibit perseverance, focus and determination.
Blessings and Peace
Rosetta,
You rock!! Your joy, and the way that you go after your greatest dreams in life, continue to inspire all of us who’ve been privileged to encounter you on our journeys. Thanks for the mantras. I was drawn to your site and this page at an incredibly important moment, and it is nourishment for the spirit. Much appreciation and respect!
I relate to most of the mantras! I always have to remind myself to take it one day at a time.
I find myself trying to do it all in one day and end up not doing anything! Also I’ve learned it’s best to stay in the moment because you never know what will happen in the next moment! I’m embaressed to say the mantra that resonates with me is” remove the shoes off your teeth and quit running your mouth about what you are going to do and put them on your feet and takes some steps or fun to accoplish my goals”
I’m trying!! I know I’m in the right place…Thanks, Rosetta
My journey is unique, not like anyone else’s, I’ll find my way. Rome wasn’t built in a day!
In order to be fully reborn, I have to let pieces of the old me die. I choose to embrace the journey ahead.
I haven’t decided on my mantra yet but I know that lately I’ve found myself saying
“I’ve had to be strong for so long in my life I want to not have to be strong”.
As much as this is the way I’ve been feeling I’ve also always remembered something my mum always says “if its been dark for so long then it will soon be bright”
I might not know where I’m going right now or even who I am exactly but I know one thing remains true. God is always with me in my journey of life.
I guess I really sound like I need a reset don’t I? Lol
I just found this website and love it.Great job! Personal mantras can be uplifting and refreshing.It helps with that extra boost of self-esteem.
Wow!
I am so excited to have been introduced to this site, book, and journey by my co- worker LaWanda!
The notebook that I chose was a cognac color with black writing, leather bound book that reads- Trump International. The reason I love this note book is because it represents the bridge of past and future for me. I am a true fashionista- anyone who knows me will agree, but I want to be viewed as ” graceful” as LaWanda put it. Regal, refined, and poised with out saying a word is who I want to be.
My Mantra: “We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. ” I am learning to let go and let God, but I seem to think that I am the intrustmental vessel that will finish all deals in my life, when in fact, if I learned to stay out of my own way, better yet God’s way, I would/could have a much more successful and fufilling life.
My theme song: Bravo by Ledisi, because by the end of this journey, I will know how to clap for myself- even if noone is.
This is a beautiful list. Thanks for providing such an outstanding resource.
“My life is special. I live my truth. I nurture my spirit. I celebrate me.” (via ReFlectionary)
that one resonated with me. thanks!
Arise, O LORD, let Your enemies be scattered. Father, today in Baghdad, release Your ministering angels to shed abroad Your love and Your peace and Your forgiveness to all who are downcast and want to do what is right. How can they know about You unless someone tells them? Send messengers. Send people who are called by Your name. Send Your Holy Spirit. Send Your ministering angels. Let Your word go forth like never before. Let the heavens declare Your handiwork. Let the earth rejoice and sing out! And let the little children praise You! Amen
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I’m glad that i found Your post. Good reading, gives more to think about changes… Thanks!
I am printing out this list and will be pulling from the mantras daily. My newest mantra is: I am not like you at all and I cannot pretend. (c) Cee Lo. It just reminds me that our differences make us beautiful when we are authentically who we are purposed to be.
OH MY! I made the list! LOL. I stopped by the page today because I’ve made the mistake of slipping back into my old routine. I need to push the reset button once again. So, I’m signing up for another round. I’m going to reset it until I get it right!
I started to say it’s funny that you would post this today but I know God is amazing and this couldn’t be a coincidence. I was on my way to work when I heard the talk show host on 1390 talk about how bad it rained here last night. She then said something like the worst is behind us and the best days have yet to come. Her comment really stuck with me and has been my thought all day. Although it may rain sometimes in my life, the rain only 1. promotes growth and 2. is a sign that better days are ahead!
I super love your website! you rock Happyblackwoman!
As I thought about what my personal mantra would be, I turned on the radio in my car (which I never listen to) and Lauryn Hill was on and a line from the song asked “How you going to win when you ain’t right within? That instantly became my mantra.
THATS A GREAT ONE!! MAY HAVE TO USE IT AS MY BACKUP MANTRA…
Love that one!!!
A personal mantra that has resonated with me lately is “I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence but it comes from within. It is there all the time.” – Anna Freud
A lot of times we often try to look at external factors for our happiness and strength and sometimes all it takes is a belief in oneself to take the first step.
Thank you Rosetta for having this great community where we can share these inspirational mantras and stories. Great post!
I love your mantra Chivon! That one resonates with me as well. Ironically, it’s often much easier to obtain external validation from others than it is to convince OURSELVES how amazing we are. Thanks for sharing here :)