The Power of Mantra to Remove Dust
What do you think? What do you believe?
Growing up with religion gave me a tool, a framework for morality, a moral litmus test. It trained me to sit with ambiguity and ask, “What do I think?” “What do I believe?”
To be honest, I don’t think people do this enough, and I’m not sure Americans are equipped with the critical thinking faculty. They’re not exercising it now. Maybe it went dormant and can be reawakened.
Here’s a way: Sit with your eyes closed, and ask the same few questions over, and over, and over, and over again.
What do I think?
Where do I feel this question in my body?
How do I feel?
How do I feel?
How do I feel?
What do I think?
What do I believe?
Wait.
Wait for a noise in the extreme quiet. Keep asking these questions. Keep listening for your answers. Now, repeat the following mantras:
I am.
I feel.
I control.
I love.
I express.
I think.
I know.
These seven phrases are thought to connect with seven points along the centerline of the body, called chakras. Watch this video, then speak this totem again while activating your body’s central energy points with your hands. Dana Walsh demonstrates walking the hands up the body.
Now repeat the following empowering mantras. Notice how your body feels while you say them. Notice whether they make you fidgety, and explore that.
I am responsible.
I am responsible.
I am responsible.
I feel. I think. I believe.
If you’re needing more clarity, like your soul has been pummeled with outside noise and covered with the dust of ages, return to the questions.
How do I feel?
What do I think?
Why do I think this?
Do I have secondary thoughts and feelings
that arise, about what I think and feel, like uncertainty or embarrassment?
What’s my intuition?
What did my first intuition tell me to do? Did I do it? If not, how can my next action honor my intuition?
Here’s a transformative mantra to say or think quietly to yourself: Ho’oponopono, the Hawaiian prayer of restorative healing.
I love you.
I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
Say this for 45 minutes. Use this hour-long Ho’oponopono video. Or this three-hour-long Ho’oponopono video.
The first time you make it to 45 minutes, you will realize the power of this mantra for self-healing and distance healing. When you repeat this same phrase 100 times, it will morph and reveal all its deep meanings. What’s amazing is that the “you” changes in surprising ways when you let the mantra lead your mind on what might be a surprising journey. (Forgiveness and gratitude are hiding; this mantra smokes out the hidden places where you need to receive and you need to give.)
Then, once you experience the power of repeating a mantra to deepen meaning and act as a mental dousing rod, finding the places where pain has scarred you or where development was arrested, you can return to our insight-finding mantra:
What do I think?
What do I feel?
I am free.
I am sovereign.
I have intelligence and potency.
I am responsible.
I am responsible.
I am responsible.
Did that last one make you fidgety? Before saying it again, try these:
I allow.
I allow.
I allow.
I accept everything that is, exactly as it is.
I embrace.
Take your right hand and place it on your left bicep. Take your left hand and place it on your right bicep. Now, squeeze! Hold, and squeeze yourself in a hug. Do this for as long as you can hold it. Try a little Ho’oponopono here. You will feel yourself getting hot, and you might even sweat.
Feel your biceps. We think of muscles as a symbol of strength.
I am strong.
I am willing.
I am able to take this next action, and I am willing to ask for help.
I am in service.
I deserve help.
I give to the world and accept my interconnectedness, which means giving and receiving nourishment in all its forms.
I am in service.
I am in service.
I am in service.
I am responsible. I am needed. I am loved.
I belong.
I belong.
I belong.
I care.
I am gentle.
I am strong.
I have power.
I have wealth.
I am safe.
I am safe.
I am safe.
I am willing.
You can cultivate power with your own faculties of mind and body. Let’s say they seem limited. Let’s say there seem to be barriers. Let’s say:
I am adrift.
I am terrified.
I am weak.
I am far down the wrong path.
I am unworthy.
I am nobody.
I am expendable.
I am one of seven billion.
Feel how these feel.
Don’t be afraid of these dustbunnies. Your soul needs a wash with light and love. It’s not forthcoming from other people or activities like work, which takes up most of your time, so, what do you do?
You make ten minutes in the forest or looking at water or looking at a sunset matter more than ten ordinary minutes. You make putting on clothes or tasting some chocolate an affirmation of the miracle of your existence.
I am here.
I am breathing.
It’s great to be alive.
Say these 40 times.