A. Marie Silver

A. Marie Silver

My Mantra for Writing

For a couple of years now I’ve been really interested in Meditation and all the benefits of it. Uncertain of where to begin with meditation, I really wanted to join a meditation group. It wasn’t until I moved to Ohio where I am currently unemployed that I had the time to join a group. Added bonus – I really like this group. But meditation for me wasn’t easy. Even during the guided meditations I would feel myself being torn away from the focus and wind up being overtaken by all the angry, negative thoughts that led me to meditate in the first place.

One of the group leaders mentioned that if you can’t stay focused then you need a mantra. What in the hell is a mantra? I had no clue.  Fortunately for me, God created people who in turn created the all-powerful, all-knowing Google. Various websites brought to me by Google defined a mantra as a chant said repeatedly during meditation. They also forewarned that mantra will only work if the person saying it both understands it’s meaning and believes in it.

My next step in the quest for searching for a mantra was reading through a bunch of websites that list off mantra’s and their meanings. Oh holy hell! Some of those mantras are really long, have lots of syllables, and look very difficult to pronounce. Okay. Now what? How am I supposed to believe in something I can’t even pronounce?

My internet quest ended when I found a couple of websites that suggested individuals write their own mantras.

So, that’s what I did. But only after I figured out what to write. First I had to figure out what I wanted to get out of meditation.

“What is it I want?” – I want to be able to relax. I want to not be stressed out or anxious. I want to be able to focus.

“What is it I want to focus on?” – My writing. I want to focus on my writing so that I can finish the book I’ve been half-assedly working on for almost a year.

I want to purge my mind of all of the negativity, insecurity, and self-doubt that has kept me from writing this book.

And from this my mantra for writing was born.

And here it is:

I will write that book! I will write that book!

I will inhale positive thoughts, creativity, and success.
I will write that book!

I will exhale negativity, insecurity,  and self-doubt, and I will write that book!

I will not stress out about query letters, book proposals or platforms.

I will write that book!

For thirty minutes today I repeated that over and over again. And when it was time for me to open my eyes, I felt relaxed, and empowered. I yawned, stretched my arms, looked over at my cat and said “Okay. That’s enough of this shit. I have a book to get to.”

Wish me good luck!

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A. Marie Smith

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