My Positive Mantra

I am not 100% positive about working for a large publicly traded company, but there are certainly benefits. One of those benefits is a free meditation class on Fridays. I went to my first one two weeks ago. The instructor told us to come up with a positive mantra and then we sat in silence in the dark for 12 minutes saying it in our heads. 

Fortunately I was able to come up with a saying in seconds. However, I did not invent this combination of words, for that we must go into history. In April 2008 I volunteered at the 5k elite water stop on the Boston Marathon. You can actually see me in the video, I'm the guy in the black hoodie (not facing the camera) on the right side of the road holding a yellow sign around the 5k water stop. One of the perks of running really fast is that big races will give you a separate table that you can put your own individual water bottles on. At the Boston Marathon there are maybe 30-50 people that get this perk. One of them in 2008 was Stephanie Hood. She wrote phrases on her bottle, something that seems like a great idea. One of the phrases was, "Today is a blessing." Well, that particular day was because she went on to finish 10th apparently a big breakthrough and the top American.

That is just another thing that I remember. No particular significance in my life during the last four years. However, once I was told to come up with a positive mantra, I could think of no better phrase. Now, less than two weeks later I can not say it without feeling better. It is true, today is a blessing.