Presenting "Mantra": An OpenMind Original
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Hey, it's Vanessa from Open Mind. And if life's feeling a little overwhelming or you just need a moment to reset and recharge, you're going to love Open Mind's new original show, Mantra. Every Monday, Gemma Spegg shares a new empowering mantra along with insights, personal stories and practical tips to help you stay grounded amidst the chaos life throws your way.

Something I really love about Mantra is that each episode offers mindful journal prompts and a weekly challenge to help you integrate these mantras into your life with intention and purpose. So whether you're navigating big transitions, feeling overwhelmed, or you're just looking for a little more calm and clarity in your day-to-day life, Mantra is here to inspire growth and help you unlock your true potential. Check out this clip from the first episode.

This is Open Mind. Welcome to a brand new week. Here is your mantra. I embrace growth and change. I'm your host, Gemma Spegg, and I'm here to guide you towards a more centered and fulfilling life. Each week, I'll share personal stories and insights that are focused on a specific mantra, plus journal prompts and a weekly challenge for all of us to help put it into action.

Think of mantra as your mental reset button, a way to stay centered as you juggle work, school, family, and whatever else life throws at you. Each mantra is a simple, powerful phrase you can repeat to focus your thoughts and bring a bit of calm into your day. It's a small tool with a big impact, clearing your mind, lifting your mood, and rooting you in the present.

If you've listened to my other show, The Psychology of Your 20s, you'll know that I'm all about those little nuggets of insight that make a big impact. So whether you're looking for some extra inspiration or you're trying to ground yourself amidst the chaos, you have come to the right place. At Open Mind, we value your support. Share your thoughts on social media and remember to rate, review and follow Mantra to help others discover the show.

for more exclusive content, monthly bonus episodes, early access, and ad-free listening. Join our Open Mind Plus community on Apple Podcasts. This week, I'll catch you up on what's been going on in my life, and then we'll dive into today's mantra, I embrace growth and change. Whether you're facing a big shift or you're just looking to level up your day-to-day, this mantra is all about helping you grow. Stick around, and we'll be right back after this short pause.

Welcome back. We're going to get into this week's mantra in just a minute, but before we do, I want to fill you in on what's been going on with me lately and how this mantra has been showing up in my life. I have been contemplating some pretty major life shifts as of late, the kind that I think really makes you pause and wonder what's next and not necessarily know what the right answer is.

The biggest question on my mind is whether it's time to pack up and move, maybe not just to a new city, but possibly a whole new country. I feel like we all reach a point like this, a crossroads where we feel comfortable, settled even with where we are. We're very keen to put down roots, but there's this pull towards something that's bigger, something more exciting. And yes, as well as something that might feel kind of scary.

For me, that pool has been Europe. I know it might sound a little bit strange. Australia is beautiful. It's the lucky country. I love it here. It's so serene and calm. But sometimes it feels like there's not enough happening. And as I continue to grow as a person, I'm feeling ready for a big change, ready to meet new people, ready to dive into new cultures, maybe like experience life from a fresh perspective. It

It's that classic push and pull. Part of me is rooted here and another part feels drawn to something that might challenge me in ways that my life currently doesn't.

I can feel myself moving towards a new life chapter and my old life isn't feeling as fulfilling as it once did, but I'm kind of stuck in this waiting room. I'll talk about this a little bit more later on in this episode and I'm definitely going to keep you up to date on how these feelings progress in the coming months, but I wanted to give you a little insight

as to why I chose this mantra today. So look, this week's guiding phrase is definitely not for the faint of heart. Anyone who has ever encountered change, even the smallest kind, knows that often everything in us cries out for things to stay the same. It is a very human instinct to be safe in what is comfortable. But this mantra forces us to confront

confront a truth that our lives are always evolving, whether we're ready for them to do so or not. Growth doesn't feel as intimidating as change in my mind. We're constantly moving through new experiences, some good, some bad, others just neutral, but each one helps shape who we are and who we're becoming. That is growth.

Change, on the other hand, feels more unsettling in comparison to growth because it doesn't carry the same component of positive natural progress that we usually associate with growth periods. Especially in our 20s and our 30s, the idea of change can be really overwhelming because we've spent so much time trying to get things to a stable point.

But here's the thing, growth and change, they aren't just inevitable. They're also essential.

They're often what pushes us towards becoming our best selves. They move us closer to the lives that we are meant to live, that we deserve to live. At its core, this phrase encourages us to go with life's flow, to choose to lean into change rather than resisting it, knowing that something ultimately quite positive, if not just different, can come from that experience.

Embracing growth also means stepping beyond the comfort zone, trying new things and learning along the way. There is nothing more human in my mind than making mistakes, especially when those mistakes expand our understanding of who we are. This phrase is really here to remind us that uncomfortable moments aren't obstacles, they're opportunities. And that's the key word here, opportunities.

In my experience and from what I'm seeing right now, it honestly feels like everything around us is really evolving at lightning speed. Every day we are presented with new trends, new ideas, new technologies. There's always some new big idea to wrap our minds around and it can present as something that's going to challenge us. That constant evolution is going to perhaps make our lives feel unstable.

An example of this that I was thinking about the other day was the invention and spread of AI technology and how many of us feel uncomfortable with it. There's this fear of what that's going to do to our jobs, our way of interacting with one another and our way of interacting with the world.

That is an example of change that feels rapidly quite uncomfortable. And it's definitely a big picture example. But when you think about it on a more micro scale in terms of your own life,

Something may be changing in your family, with your relationships, in your career, even your living situation maybe. Whether it's a breakup or you're moving in with someone, there's a new friendship or a broken one, life keeps presenting opportunities to grow that are hidden in these moments, even when they are challenging. I

I guess what I'm trying to say is that embracing growth and change is key. We need to stay flexible and resilient. And my favorite word here is resilience, because when we are resilient, we understand that no matter what is coming into our life that feels unexpected, we can kind of see it in two ways. We can see it as something that is going to threaten us, or we can see it as an opportunity instead of holding on to what is familiar just because it feels safe.

I think about this especially in terms of relationships.

Maybe it's with an ex, a friend, a former colleague, someone that you're just not as close to anymore who maybe doesn't make you feel great about yourself. You can hold on to that good but not great relationship because it's always been convenient because it's been something that you've known for a really long time and because your brain has made you feel safe and secure and comfortable in that emotional environment. But you could also make

move beyond that relationship. You could realize that you deserve great and that there is going to be some pain, some temporary discomfort, but these new experiences and the opportunities that you get from making space for someone new is worth so much more. And I think this mindset changes the way that we deal with life. Being able to pivot, be resilient, be flexible when things shift, it doesn't

just make you stronger mentally, emotionally, socially. It also makes you happier as well. So let's talk about what all this means for us. And let's start with the emotional discomfort of change.

One way that we can really adopt this mantra is by thinking about our best, most ideal self, the person we want to be in the long term, someone who perhaps has their dream life, has moved to a place of abundance, who is more authentic, who is more confident. Really imagine that person for a moment. Imagine that person that you're going to be in five years, in 10 years, in

What are they doing? What does their day look like? What are they wearing? What are the obstacles that they're now facing that they can handle even better because of what you're going through now? Is that person going to be realized without change? Probably not.

Is that person going to come into existence without growth? No, definitely not. Because if that person was already to exist, you wouldn't be thinking about these things because it would already be in place. When adopting this week's mantra, I embrace growth and change. I want you to really think about how it's going to take you from where you are now into your future self. Just remember this. This is all about seeing change happen.

for what it is. It is not an enemy. It is actually something that helps us become the best version of ourselves. Coming up, let's get personal. I'm going to get real about how this mantra plays out in my life. The ups, the downs, how I've navigated through it. So stay tuned after this brief pause.

I hope you enjoyed this clip as much as I did. Thanks for checking out Mantra, an Open Mind original powered by Pave Studios. New episodes drop every Monday. Just search Mantra wherever you listen to podcasts.