Why Use a Mantra?
Every positive lifestyle change requires a mental battle that far outweighs the physical one. Adopting a healthy diet and exercise regimen means ditching old habits for new ones, and research suggests these new routines can take months to become normalized.
Deciding to work on a marriage or uplift a family environment can mean learning to communicate and a shift in perception. These projects don’t come easily, often requiring deep adjustments to your thoughts, which trigger new behaviors.
Tasks requiring long-term commitment don’t advance after a one-time decision. Instead, each new day and moment demands a renewed will—a promise to keep focused, maintain new practices & smother self-doubt. One of the best exercises for succeeding under these constraints is positive self-talk. You must become your own best friend, fighting off anyone who threatens to derail progress.
Getting rid of negative thoughts means finding new ones. Some call them mantras or affirmations – words or phrases you repeat to yourself so the idea can be meaningfully absorbed. Often, different mantras exist for various purposes, but when you find the right one, you’ll never need another.
The Most Effective Mantra to Combat Negative Thinking
To support yourself through trying events, there is a mantra that keeps your mind focused on making positive changes in real-time. It is, The only moment that matters is right now. This statement may feel too simplistic at first, but once you think about it, you’ll understand its underlying power.
“The only moment that matters is right now.”
What Makes it so Effective?
First, almost all anxiety, stress, and guilt arise from thoughts about the future or the past—ironically, two things you have little to no control over. Maybe you yelled at your kids yesterday, so you spend days torturing yourself about what you could have done differently.
That event has now soured not only the occasion in which it occurred but many livable moments afterward. And to what end? Perhaps you vow to act differently next time, but who makes better choices under the dark cloud of guilt and shame?
Maybe you spend time worrying about your future career or personal life. But meeting a significant other or landing your dream job often involves a mix of luck and timing. Although most people understand the importance of being present, they can’t seem to hold onto it in practice.
If you consistently repeat the words, The only moment that matters is right now, it will help you release negative emotions tied to the past and keep you solely committed to adding value to each new moment. You will stop putting healthy habits off until Monday. Why would you if you believe today is the most important element? When you feel burdened by guilt, you will begin to practice self-compassion, knowing the actions of today take precedent over any that might have come before.
It doesn’t matter what mountain you want to climb. Accepting that The only moment that matters is right now will release the past and bring you back to the now, where you can give 100% of your attention and effort.