A Few Healing Self-Harm Mantras

A self-harm mantra may not be the magical cure we wish it could be, but it can be a powerful tool to help you focus and stay motivated on the road to self-harm recovery. Here are a few ideas to help you choose or craft your own healing mantra.

What Is a Self-Harm Mantra?

A mantra is a word, phrase, or even a sound that, when repeated over and over, can help you concentrate. Mantras are often used during meditation exercises, but can be used anytime you need help remembering what you're trying to accomplish, and why. While they originated in Hindu and Buddhist practices, you don't need to belong to either religion—or be spiritual at all—to use and benefit from a mantra.

In the context of self-harm, you can use a healing mantra to help guide you on, or back to, the path of recovery. For this use, a declarative statement is likely the most effective option, although you can also choose to focus on a word such as "healing" or "love." 

Examples of Healing Self-Harm Mantras

If you prefer to use a statement, here are a few examples of general self-harm mantras you can use to help you combat negative thoughts and emotions and resist the urge to self-harm:

• "I have everything I need to get through this."
• "I do not need to hurt myself to feel better."
• "I have people who love me, and I love myself."
• "I deserve to heal and get better."
• "I am in control of myself and my actions."

And here are a few you can use in the event of a relapse:

• "I have survived all of my bad days so far. I can survive this one, too."
• "I do not have to be perfect to be worthwhile."
• "I will not give up on myself or my recovery."
• "I am strong enough to learn from this."
• "I can recover from this. I will recover from this."

Choose a self-harm mantra that speaks to you—both in terms of your goals and in terms of the fears and insecurities you need help overcoming in order to move forward with self-harm recovery.

Creating Your Own Self-Harm Mantra for Recovery

The more personal your mantra is, the more powerful a recovery tool it will become. As such, you may prefer to make up one of your own.

To do so, simply take some time to think about your goals for recovery and the obstacles you want to use your mantra to overcome. Then, see if you can distill those ideas down into a single, easily memorized declarative statement. You want your mantra to be relatively short and simple so that it is easy both to remember and to repeat multiple times in one sitting. 

If a negative self-image plays an important role in your self-harm, for example, it may be helpful to create a mantra that will help you see yourself in a more positive light—e.g., "I am a good person, and I deserve to be well."

If you struggle with guilt and feeling like you are too weak to resist your urges, try a mantra that focuses on emphasizing your inner strength or ability to become stronger. For example, "I am brave enough to weather this storm."

Remember, your mantra can be anything you want, as long as it helps you continue to make progress in your recovery. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else, and you certainly don't have to share it with anyone else unless you want to. Your mantra is for you alone, to use whenever you need a little extra push to keep moving forward.