Our thoughts help shape how we feel. Depression can cloud people’s outlook with negative thoughts that focus on everything that feels wrong. When thoughts are shifted toward the positive, outlooks change and the light can start to shine through. Postive, healing mantras can be used as one tool to help fight off depression and shift thinking patterns. Powerful mantras can help turn thinking around. This post includes 30 mantra examples to get you started. When you catch yourself in the spiral of gloom and projection- fight back by using mantras for depression. Pick a couple of healing mantras that resonate and use them throughout the day. It takes daily mantras for positive thinking to begin to emerge.
Every morning and night repeat your healing mantras to yourself. Each time you feel stressed, sad, or catch yourself focusing on what isn’t going right; take a deep breath and say your powerful mantras to overcome and get out of the negativity trap. Use this ritual to help reset yourself and as a reminder that you have made a commitment to yourself to focus on recovery.
Pair the mantras with things you do every day so its easier to incorporate them into your routine. Say them while brushing your teeth, doing the dishes, or as you walk out of the door every morning.
I am grateful for my life.
I am strong and I will recover.
I have the power to create change in my life.
I can do hard things.
I am persistent and powerful. I will shine today.
My body has the power to heal.
I am in charge of how I feel and today I choose happiness.
I trust myself. I will nurture my health.
I got this. I am strong.
I will be OK.
I live in today. I will make these moments matter.
I will make small changes today.
I can and I will get better.
I am free of sadness today.
I am a great person and I deserve to feel happy.
I can do this. I want to do this.
I will take care of myself and love myself today.
I believe in myself. I can soar.
I embrace the positive. I can find beauty.
I am healthy and I am happy.
I am grateful for this day. I will live in the moment.
Everything I need is within me. I know what I need and I will take care of myself.
I am committed to my goals and I will persevere.
I am capable of amazing things.
This is temporary. I am strong.
I am improving every day and I am open to happiness.
I am worth it. I will take care of myself.
I am getting stronger and healthier. I am filled with energy every day.
I am enough. I am whole. I am well.
I am courageous, strong, and powerful. I will not stop.
Do you need an extra reminder of your mantra and the commitment you are making to yourself to get better? Use jewelry as a grounding tool when you are feeling overwhelmed. In those moments, you can touch the bracelet or necklace, take a deep breath, and repeat the mantra. This will be a ritual you use to bring yourself back to the current moment and out of a negative spiral.
Negative thinking is a symptom of depression. Cognitive distortions are used to reinforce negative thoughts and keep us feeling bad about ourselves.
Thoughts are associated with chemical changes in our brain. These chemicals carry messages through our body to communicate how we feel. Fascinating research has demonstrated our brain’s neuroplasticity which is the ability of the brain to reorganize itself throughout life. Repetitive, positive thoughts can help rewire your brain and strengthen the brain areas that stimulate positive feelings.
An example: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and neuroplasticity With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) people learn to identify and change destructive thought patterns that have a negative influence on feelings. CBT helps people identify a negative thought, challenge the accuracy of that thought, and counter it with more realistic thoughts. By doing this, negative thoughts begin to lose their power.
Reframing thinking and changing these patterns from negative to more positive thoughts shifts our brain connections and strengthens the parts of our brain that help us feel positive. CBT works to rewire our brains thanks to neuroplasticity.
You don’t need to believe the mantras in order to you say them. They may seem far-fetched or impossible to imagine but as you continue to say them, little by little, they will seem more real and life will seem less gloomy.
As you are using mantras, work to reframe negative thoughts to shift the focus onto progress and changes that are being made. When a thought like “I will never make any progress” enters your mind take a moment to analyze that thought. Challenge it! What is the evidence for or against that thought? Every time you successfully use a mantra or recognize negative thoughts it is an example of progress.
Changing thinking takes time and repetition but it can happen. Daily mantras will be part of this work to help shift the focus away from depression.
Depression is best tackled by using lots of different strategies. Often medication is a necessary part of treatment but your emotional health, thinking patterns, and habits also need to be addressed in order to recover fully.
Each improvement in self-care and change you make to thinking patterns will help you recover quicker and more completely. Mantras can assist you in healing from depression and start to interrupt the negative thought patterns.
Melissa Welby, MD
