Revise Your Inner Mantras

We all have inner voices. What does your inner voice say to you? What is it saying right now, in this moment? Is there a common theme? These voices are important because they have an incredible impact on the way we experience the world. Your inner voices, your thoughts, create your reality. My inner voice hasn't always been so kind. On a bad day, my unconscious stream of thought can belittle me, tell me I'm lazy and unloveable. If we're not careful, these thoughts can form a mantra, or a group of words that are capable of creating transformation, in our minds. Whatever is playing repeatedly in your mind (I'm stupid, I'm a jerk, I'm a bad friend, I'm awkward) will ultimately be your inner mantra. My question is: is my inner mantra working for me and, if not, what can I do to change it? Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray Love, says, "You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control." Society tells us that, in order to find happiness, we need to control our outer reality (i.e. get a promotion, go to graduate school, buy a condo or a new car, save for retirement). Maybe it's just the opposite? I've been increasingly curious about meditation and affirmation as tools to help revise my inner mantras. Here is an affirmation from Deepak Chopra's The Soul of Healing Affirmations: Today, I will trust the unknown. The known is the prison of the past. Today, I will relinquish the known. Today, I will step into the unknown and in every moment I will lay my trust in the field of infinite possibilities. By the trusting the unknown, I will find creativity, imagination, inspiration, intuition, insight and conscious choice making. Today, I will step into the unknown. Today, I will relinquish the known. I will realize that the known is the prison of my past conditioning. By stepping into the unknown in every moment, I will enter the field of infinite possibilities. Today, I will trust the unknown and enter the field of infinite possibilities.