A mantra is not a slogan, a marketing ploy, or cliché. A mantra is a mystical formula of invocation. It is a guiding principle. Over the years, I have had many. It is a psychological study to observe how they change as your life unfolds. Some are original to me, some are not.
Some were job-related:
“I’m tired of people getting fired by people that haven’t been caught yet.
“Opportunity can be found where passion meets a need.”
Others were culturally driven:
“Don’t trade the ultimate for the immediate.”
And others related to religion:
“We’ve sacrificed our souls on the altar of self-denial.”
Here are a few of the treasured mantras of my life:
“Don’t tell me there is no mystery.”
“In solitude is where I find myself least alone.”
“The only rule is there are no rules.”
“Life is a banquet, but most poor suckers are starving to death.”
“Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.”
“We’re told to grow up, for God’s sake, by those who are ashamed of what they’ve allowed to wither within.”
“I believe in magic, but for most of us, the magic has been spanked out, churched out, educated out, and combed out.”
“We all sleep in history’s unmade bed.”
“Be who you are, not what you do.”
“Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.”
“I wish my life to be pure transparent freedom. Free and clear.”
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to understand the essentials of my life, to see if I could learn what nature had to teach, to not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
