Mantras and Thoughts for the Day

Mantras

Mantras are used a lot in the recovery community (and I think I can make a case that most people are recovering from something!) and are short sayings that you can use in the moment to refocus your thoughts, ground yourself, stop your intrusive thoughts, or hey, scream out into The Universe, whatever works for you. Saying your mantras are also another way of reframing your experiences (See Tools if you are not familiar). I carried my favorite mantras on cards in my work badge holder, had them in my cubicle at work, passed them out as cards to my clients, muttered them frequently under my breath, and even have one tattooed on my arm: Der mentsh trakht un got lakht (Yiddish for “When man plans, God laughs”). Here are some of my favorites:

  • This too shall pass

  • It is what is it

  • Want and need are two different things

  • I guess I needed this on my life resume

  • This is building character

  • Life is too short

Thoughts for the Day

  • I cried because I had no shoes until I saw a man with no feet ~anonymous (attributed to various sources)

  • Sheila: “I have a time machine. I can go back, talk to your parents, remind them what a treasure you are, they’ll love you from the start, and bam, trauma eliminated.” June: “Don’t fuck with my trauma Sheila! If I didn’t have these occasional moments of complete and total worthlessness, I wouldn’t have this sparkling sense of humor. . . . If you erase the pain, you erase the person.” Meet Cute, 2022 movie.

Is this a skull or a dog paw print? (There was a series of dog tracks on the beach. But, of course my PTSD brain focuses right on the skull.)

It’s All About Perspective!

It’s pretty, look at those colors! Coyote pooh on the road. Still pretty though.