Mantras & Meditations

stillness in the chaos

In a recent and wholly idiosyncratic missive that I lowkey love and heartily stand by even though I kinda hope it’s not anyone’s favorite edition of The Junction, I concluded with a Buddhist meditation sequence I heard on the Ezra Klein podcast.

This meditation is meant to diminish attachment, reduce fear, and encourage mindfulness by repeating these Five Remembrances:

I’m of the nature to grow old.
I’m of the nature to get sick.
I’m of the nature to lose people I love.
I’m of the nature to die.
So how, then, shall I live?

Moved like I am by the Five Remembrances, several readers kindly reached out. Some shared their mantras and meditations; two shared the Serenity Prayer.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Timeless as it feels, I thought the Serenity Prayer was Biblical in its origins, later to be appropriated by Alcoholics Anonymous. Turns out this mantra is commonly attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, an American theologian and ethicist. Niebuhr wrote the prayer in the 1930’s at a time of economic malaise, global insecurity, and crippling anxiety (ahem). Initially written as part of a sermon or for a small church service, it gained recognition during World War II when it was circulated among soldiers and chaplains.

It’s possible that Niebuhr, an American of German parentage, heard the line in Friedrich Schiller’s first play, The Robbers (1781), where a character exclaims:

Blessed is he, who has learned to bear what he cannot change, and to give up with dignity, what he cannot save.

For his part, Schiller, an 18th Century German of a certain class, almost certainly read the Greek Stoic, Epictetus, who wrote something similar, but less poetic.

[At this pivotal juncture, the frequently undisciplined writer stops himself from taking a deep dive into the origins and evolution of the Serenity Prayer; the reader breathes a sigh of relief. The writer pats himself on the back and proceeds as follows…]

In thinking about the power of The Five Remembrances and The Serenity Prayer, I recently reached out to friends, fishing for mantras and meditations. I’ll share mine, then I’ll share theirs. Amidst them all, I hope you find something to moor you in our topsy turvy times.

I’ve had many mantras over the years. It was a funky experience reaching back to dredge them up to share them here. To bring them to mind, I had to situate myself in particularly challenging moments in my life, times where I desperately sought a lifeline. A mantra.

While I held tight to these lines to anchor me in stormy waters, I’ll note that I’m not sure of the origins of most of these.

I do know that Rumi said, “the wound is the place where the light enters you.” I remember exactly when this was my mantra and why I needed it.

I also know that comedian, podcaster, and co-creator of The Chappelle Show, Neil Brennan, shared one of his mantras in the context of musing on his privileges: “I don’t have problems; I have preferences and appointments.” As someone of certain privileges (and preferences) I sit with this a lot. It’s borderline dismissive, but it’s a good reminder for me.

Here are five mantras whose origins I can’t trace, but which have served me well on and off over the years:

Don't let yesterday eat up too much of today.

This setback is a setup for a comeback.

Act like what you do makes a difference. It does.

Between the stimulus and your response, there’s a space. In that space is your power to choose your response.

I will not die with all my music still inside me.

Not to be a literalist, but speaking of not dying with all my music inside me, on New Year’s Day I released a single with a mantra that guided me out of an emotional spiral that suffocated me when I was crippled by a traumatic back injury.

The line in my Submission/Resurrection, “you resurrect with each breath you take” has done much to reinvigorate me. It was liberating to set it to music.

But before I drown us both in a stew of oversharing and navel-gazing, here are some mantras from some of my peeps.

Be where your feet are. —Tracie
You are love. —Sonya
What do I get to do today? —Drew
Change is good. —Sophia
open : release —Joshua
Be here, now. —Jacob
stillness in the chaos. —Tara
I turn fear into fuel. —Sarah
I AM harmony. —Antonio
The fire inside you is stronger than the storm around you. —Julia 
I’m technically in control of my thoughts even if it doesn’t feel like it. —Shanti
Peace begins with a smile. —Ellie (via Mother Teresa)

Thanks to all y’all who shared your mantras. I hope these help to ground and/or liberate you, my dear reader.

Love,

DL