Robert reflects on decades of using practical mantras as self-therapy and inner guidance. He explores how a simple phrase repeated over time can keep you present and positive, and why this practice matters for staying grounded in daily life.
So, Robert, I'm wondering if you see any value in having a practical mantra and also if there's a way to keep it fresh and meaningful where it doesn't just become words you're saying over and over again that become meaningless. So what would be your last practical mantra that you've used? Well, definitely recently, a lot of them just helping me to stay in the moment. So stay in the moment, Stay in the moment, Stay in the moment. I mean, the answer is an overwhelming yes. I consider a practical mantra to be an inner guidance practice where your wisdom is giving you a suggestion that is more important, probably, than anything you learned in childhood. And when it starts to lose energy is only when you start to become distracted, when you lose the dedication, when you lose the original core intention of the wisdom. When you say stay present, that's like a evolutionary stance. I remember I started doing practical mantras, or inner guidance practice 40 years ago. And my first one was I was a little bit sarcastic. So I would say to myself, stay a little more positive. And it gradually transformed my sarcasm because I realized it just hurt people and it just was much more about me looking clever and I didn't feel that great in the end. And then through the years, those little suggestions on a daily basis to have is like years of good therapy. It's like years of meditation practice or inquiry practice, because it is your wisdom trying to let you know that it is more important than your feelings. And when you really start to get that, it becomes inspiring. And even if you can't feel the inspiration, something inside you knows that this is truer than virtually anything else I do during the day. And so the only problem is evaluating the effects of the mantra or inner guidance based on your feelings. And the reasons why your feelings crap out is because you're getting distracted. So remind yourself, put your poems together and say, I want to dedicate myself more and more to my inner guidance practice. And may I keep innovating. Whatever wisdom messages are most important to my life and can make the greatest impact on those that I love.
