Posted: by Jo Thursday, 23 April 2020 @ 10:34
Our My Best Self series is about understanding how we each step up to be our best selves in life, as we can choose how we behave in response to what life throws at us. For some people, a mantra, or set of inspiring words, can work to remind us of our values and beliefs, helping us choose our actions or reactions, or reinforcing those beliefs.
In this month’s My Best Self story, we are talking to one of our Mantra team members, Anna, to find out about two mantras which mean a lot to her.
Anna has worked with me for nearly 11 years, in my retail jewellery business, Fabulous, originally, and then as a core part of the Mantra Jewellery team. She was instrumental in helping to create and launch Mantra in 2016, bringing a lot of insight from her retail and jewellery experience.
As last month, we would have made a video, but in these days of lockdown, here is a transcript of my conversation with Anna instead:
Jo: Have positive quotes and phrases always been part of your life, long before we launched the Mantra brand?
Anna: Yes, for sure. I collected postcards of quotes and sayings when I was at uni, and had them on the wall all up the stairs. I’ve always noticed and remembered quotes or sayings that resonate with me.
Anna's first myMantra Necklace
Jo: You have two ‘myMantra’ necklaces, both of which were gifts - each with a different, very personal, mantra engraved. I’d like to find out a little about each one.
Firstly – you have a ‘Love Mandala’ necklace in Silver. I know this was a wedding gift from the team, when you and Sanjay got married at Lake Garda in 2018. The design is particularly appropriate, as it represents the love that surrounds us in the universe.
The team chose the mantra as a surprise, because they knew you liked a particular book. Tell me about the words – what does that book, and that passage in particular, mean to you?
Anna: It is a quote from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. I saw the film first, then read the book, and have always loved it. It’s a beautiful setting, and a reminder that love can happen anywhere, even in really difficult circumstances.
I have ‘One tree and not two’ engraved, which is from a powerful passage in the book about what real love is. It’s about you and the person you love being so entwined, so connected, that your roots have joined to become one tree and it is inconceivable that you would be apart. Sanjay and I have been together since school, and that is exactly how we feel - that we are completely entwined.
Jo: That’s such a lovely analogy. It’s quite a tough passage in the book, isn’t it? Dismissing much romantic love as being quite superficial, unless you get to that stage of being completely interconnected.
Anna: Yes it is, but it describes exactly the feeling of teamwork and togetherness that we have about our relationship. And I wear the necklace most often when I’m not with Sanjay, to act as a reminder of our wedding day, and the sheer happiness of that day. It was such a special day, in a wonderful place, and I love thinking about it.
Anna's second myMantra Necklace
Jo: More recently, it was your 10th work anniversary here in our business, and you received another myMantra necklace as a gift. We chose the Dreamcatcher for you, in Gold, which is about living your dreams, and drawing good dreams down inside you. You chose to have words from a poem engraved on it. Tell me about the poem?
Anna: I did. I had ‘I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul’ engraved.
I actually heard the lines on a tv programme about a Syrian asylum seeker coming into this country - and I loved them. They really resonated with me. I looked up where they were from, and found them to be the last lines of the Victorian poem, Invictus, which inspired the name of Prince Harry’s games for disabled soldiers.
The reason I like them is because they are a strong reminder that we have real control and influence over what happens in our lives, or how we respond to what happens. I can sometimes feel myself standing on the sidelines, not getting involved in life as much as I could - and these words act as a reminder to engage more, and be more present for the important moments in life.
How Anna uses her mantra
Jo: And do you find yourself holding onto the necklace from time to time, and saying those words to yourself?
Anna: I do. It’s a message I need to be reminded of, so it works really well having it as a tangible reminder on my necklace. Thinking about the words reminds me to engage proactively with life, rather than letting life happen to me. It definitely spurs me on.
Jo: Thanks so much for sharing those two stories, Anna. They are phrases that are deeply personal to you, representing some of your core beliefs and values. I am sure they will inspire other people reading this too.
This month, we are giving 15% off our Dreamcatcher Necklace as our Mantra of the Month, and you can have your own personal mantra engraved on the back.
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