Years ago, I started playing a game with a close friend and colleague of mine where the term ‘be remarkable’ became a light-hearted mantra. Whenever one of us complained, the other had permission to redirect the other to the posture of remarkable. This was always done with much delight. This mantra has a strange magic to it. It creates a problem that must be considered – and pushes against default response.
The Power Of A Remarkable Mindset
Once, my colleague and I walked into a board room where we’d be facilitating a team. To my dismay, the board room was dingy and dark. “This is going to be a tough day”, I declared, only to be promptly summoned by the words ‘be remarkable.’ Hmm – what would remarkable look like here? Soon after asking myself this question, we were redesigning not only the room but the content and style of the workshop. On another occasion, we were working with shifts on a production facility. This required us working with one team at 22h00 in the night and another at 02h00. Over and above this, we worked with teams that were on day shifts, too. This went on for a couple of days. At times we would look at each other like punch drunk boxers. Wanting to bemoan the lack of sleep, but knowing what statement would happen were we to fall into that temptation. And so, we chose to be remarkable, seeking to make every next engagement the best one ever.
That’s the power of the remarkable mindset. It takes you into the now and asks you what you are going to do with what you have been given. It reminds you that you always have a choice. A choice between ordinary, standard, expected – or faster, better, more connected, more human.
Right now, we need this mantra. We are fatigued by a virus that lingers, and all around us is much devastation. But our only way forward is to find our resources of remarkable. Who can you invite into your corner, where the invitation, ‘be remarkable’ is bantered around with intent and integrity?
What Is A Mantra?
We’ve seen first-hand how mantra’s can assist in returning one to a grounded headspace. We refer to them often in the practices we suggest in our latest product, Resilience In A Box.
A mantra is a practice that was formed many years ago. Mantras are intentionally formed expressions that are meant to be used as a purposeful return to your grounded self whenever life throws you off. Although the practice is ancient, only now is the western world starting to realise the benefits of saying mantra’s and how neuroscience backs this up.
The benefits of this tool is found through the intentional use of repeating a sentence that connects to you personally. Whether this be a prayer, expression, sound, word, or phrase, a mantra is able to quieten your mind. It focuses your attention and brings calm.
Now that you know what they can do, I’m sure you understand why it can be so powerful to have a remarkable one..
Creating Your Own Mantra
A mantra is something that will be personal to you. That being said, you don’t have to create a mantra from scratch. And although my favourite is ‘be remarkable’ there are many mantras worthy of regular expression. An example of another fantastic one is found in Ros and Benjamin Zander’s enriching book called The Art Of Possibility. Their mantra is “don’t take yourself so seriously.” There’s a delightful tale around this mantra which gently reminds us not to put unreasonable pressures and expectations on ourselves.
It can also be really sentimental and satisfying to create your own mantra that speaks an intentional message to you. If you want to give it a go, start here:
1) What internal challenger, struggle or frustration are you facing regularly? Write your description down.
2) What do you need to tell yourself in these moments that could act as a gentle reminder, return, or re-grounding? Write out a sentence describing this. Speak as if you’re giving advice to a dear friend of yours, as this often makes it easier to see with perspective and avoids self-criticism.
3) Start to digest the advice you have just written down for yourself. Highlight or underline any specific parts of it that really resonate with you on a deeper level.
4) Take the underlined sections that resonate with you most and play around with summarizing them into a short sentence or expression. Give yourself full freedom here and create multiple versions. Have fun and be playful.
I have used this to create my own mantras and find it incredibly fun and uplifting. Mantras have the power to do many things for us including bringing calm, perspective, motivation, joy, and grace. Make use of them.