Ever found yourself highlighting a clever phrase in a book and wanting to share it with the world? That’s how Mantra Staples Store came about. Be it through the blog, shirts with phrases or other mindful essentials, I want to share positive ideas to help people achieve and maintain a positive mindset.
You may remember from my previous blog that wearing shirts with positive messages in particular can help this endeavour. This time, I share how I ideate mantras to create tees with positive messages and phrases.
Balancing Copyright and Originality
While it’s common to share inspirational quotes and sayings on social media, when I brainstorm ideas for shirts or other wardrobe essentials for Mantra Staples Store, my priority is to respect the intellectual property of authors who inspire me.
This can be a challenge, when you love someone’s writing so much that you think an idea cannot be expressed any better than the author has already done.
For example, to me it seems, you simply cannot convey the idea that the definition of success is unique to each individual better than Rick Ruben has done: “Success occurs in the privacy of the soul.” Beautifully said.
Embracing Inspiration
This admiration for the author’s way of words initially stopped me from setting up my store. While the copyright does not protect facts and ideas, it makes complete sense that it protects the way someone articulates things. But I got stuck. How can I share the inspiring words that move me without sharing the exact words that actually move me?
My perspective shifted when I read Austin Kleon’s book, “Steal Like an Artist.” It realized that the pursuit of complete originality and authenticity resembles a journey to reach the horizon or chasing a mirage.
In reality, what is truly new? As Jonathan Lethem once pointed out, if anyone says something is original, they likely don’t know the original source. Today I understand that creativity involves drawing inspiration from existing ideas. It is not only acceptable to do so, it is totally normal.
After all, where would new ideas come from if we didn’t learn from the past and our experiences? Even the t-shirt itself was invented by someone in the 19th century. If I applied the same logic of absolute authenticity to t-shirts or other wearables, I couldn’t sell a thing.
“Nothing begins with us. The more we pay attention, the more we begin to realize that all the work we ever do is a collaboration. It’s a collaboration with the art that’s come before you and the art that will come after. It’s a collaboration with the world you’re living in. With the experiences you’ve had. With the tools you use. With the audience. And with you you are today.”
Rick Ruben
Remixing Ideas
I really like this quote from André Gide: “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” I would add another aspect to this thought. Everything needs to be said in a thousand different ways so we can get the message across to everyone. I’ve learned this through my different roles.
At the end of the day, language and words are how we express ideas, but the ideas are what we want to get across. In my copywriting work, I often need to convey complex concepts to different audiences. This requires me to find new ways to word the same idea. We A/B test messages and stick to the one that resonates most.
Similarly, when cuing poses in a yoga class, I have to use different words to explain a sensation and help people do the poses in a better way. Sometimes I say ground your feet, other times I say, imagine your feet are growing roots.
When creating shirts with phrases, I try to capture the core essence of an idea that has moved me while respecting the original author’s unique wording. Usually, the ideas are shared amongst multiple artists and I create my own version considering them all. As Austin Kleon says, every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas. And that’s how my play with words begins. Let me give you a peek.
What inspired the “Be present” shirt?
“Have you come into this world to experience life or to think about it?” This is one blip of inspiration for the above mantra tee. This question comes from Sadhguru and is printed on my personal notebook.
As a genetically predisposed over-thinker (my assumption, but if there was such a test, it would come back positive), I felt this question addressed me.
It is a direct reflection of yogic philosophy as its goal is to cultivate a practitioners’ ability to be present in the world. But it isn’t just yogis who need to learn to be present. It is everyone. Your life is unfolding as you read this blog. Are you here for it?
Then, I was reading another book on yoga philosophy by the talented author Michael Stone. Its title is “Awake in the World”. That’s it. The same idea, different phrasing. The entire book serves one ‘aha moment’ after another. One of my favorite quotes on this topic from the book: “This is our life. Let’s not miss it.”
All of these phrases express a similar message. I wanted to bring this out of the yoga philosophy books and share the idea with the world far beyond the yoga tradition.
On a separate occasion, I was browsing shirts online and saw that quite a few quote shirts on Etsy say “In the world where you can be anything, be kind.” A quote often attributed to Jennifer Dukes Lee.
It is a wonderful teaching as is. At the same time, it became the last piece of the puzzle for my Mantra Staples tee.
In a world that constantly pressures us to be a specific way or achieve certain goals, I believe it’s equally important to remember the journey of life itself. Regardless of our profession, hobbies, or how we spend our time, being present in each moment is essential for experiencing life fully. How do you think I’ve captured this idea, and what do you think of the shirt? Let me know in the comments.
What inspired the "Human Doing vs Human Being" shirts?
I've played around with the Human Being mantra on a couple of Mantra Staples shirts. This shift in perspective is super simple and paradoxically was something I first heard in a productivity seminar. To be productive, we need to rest. That's just facts.
The original quote was attributed to the Dalai Lama who has said "We are human beings, not human doings". But I have since seen a similar quote by Kurt Vonnegut too.
But when I started to read books that touch on yoga philosophy, Buddhism, stoicism, and positive psychology, I realized that the concept of being vs doing is a recurring theme throughout different times and spiritual traditions.
More recently, Psychology Today has put the two concepts in a more tangible context. The site defines 'Human Doing' as someone who is in a constant state of striving. 'Human Being' on the other hand is someone who is able to just be.
What really inspired me to play with this notion on a Mantra Staples shirt was a quote by Simon Haas in The Book of Dharma. It reads as follows.
"The idea that we need to become something or fit a particular mould or else we are a nobody is very coercive. The underlying assumption is that all people are inherently worthless, until they somehow rise above others and outdo them. This ideology all too often makes people deny who they are. How much peace we should bring into our world if we could just be, rather than try to be somebody. “
This truly resonated with me and I thought this is a positive idea that should be embraced more widely. In one of the designs, I cross out the word doing while in another I've sandwiched some being in between all the doing. As long as it makes someone else think if they should take a break, the job is done. Let me know what you think of this design in the comments.
Shop the above mantra shirt here.
I hope this blog gave you a good idea of how I draw inspiration for phrases that go on Mantra Staples shirts. It is rarely just one author as ideas are truly shared amongst many.
I will keep this blog updated and add other shirts here. If there is any shirt that you want to hear a story about, leave the link in the comments along with any questions.
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