Program Your Brain
Through the power of a mantra.
“Undertake the easy as though it were difficult, and the difficult as though it were easy, so as not to grow overconfident or discouraged… In moments of great danger, don’t even think, simply act. Don’t dwell on the difficulties.” — Baltasar Gracian
A mantra feels almost stupid the first time you try it. You’re tired, overwhelmed, unmotivated, or buried under the day’s demands, and someone tells you to repeat a sentence to yourself- as if that could fix anything real. But to be honest, it’s the last thing you want to hear. You almost burst into laughter at the naivety of it all. You’ve lived too much life to believe in hippy affirmations or the childish promises of manifestation culture. You’re used to complexity, to stress, to the heaviness of grief and exhaustion. You don’t have time for spiritual theatrics. You thug it out. And yet, a mantra isn’t foolish theatrics- a substitute for doing the work. It’s actually a potent tool that rewires the brain while you’re still trying to catch a breath.
I learned this in the hospital. On nights when the ward was swollen with patients and the air smelled like complaints and antiseptic, I whispered to myself, …
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