The Framework to be Your Best Self

For our fifty week challenge, the prompt for week seven was sankalpa. A sankalpa is a phrase which is repeated daily to help bring positive thinking into our heads. Many people think about it as a personal mediation or mantra, some even call it a prayer. We were asked to let the group know if we had one and what it was. I did not know what a sankalpa was and yet I do have one for this year, so I made mine repeat on this scrap piece of paper.

I have a lot of things I want to do, need to do, have to do and it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. This year I decided not to pressure myself so much by doing one thing everyday, just one thing from my various to do lists. Yesterday I planted a pot. By breaking down my various lists – work, outside, inside, studio, family, friends, and writing – into one task objectives I am less overwhelmed and more successful at spreading out the work. I can do one thing, that’s easy. And sometimes one thing leads into another thing, yet if it doesn’t at least I did one thing that day.

Words carry a great weight in our minds, especially the ones we say to ourselves over and over again. By choosing our words with intention we have the ability to improve the way we think and act. Instead of thinking something like, “ get off your fanny and do something” I choose to remind myself to do one thing everyday, just one thing. So far this phrase has helped me keep things in perspective AND allowed me to get more things done because it seems rather simple to do just one.

So what are the words you say to yourself? What words or phrases roll around in your head? Are they the ones you have just gotten used to hearing? How might you change the phrase to be more positive and uplifting to build yourself up instead of knocking yourself down? Maybe you haven’t thought about it like that before, so today is the day for that to change. Take something you want to do, know, be and turn it into a short phrase or sentence you want to repeat…make your own sankalpa and watch what happens. There are a lot of people we can fool, but our mind in not one of them. Give yourself the support and framework you need to be your best self.