What is a mantra? It’s a phrase that defines how you would personally like to live your life. Now, it doesn’t mean you always live by it — but it’s something you resonate with, a gentle reminder of how you want to move through the world. Some examples could be: Live and let live, Live as if today is your last… you get my drift.
Recently, while out shopping, I spotted Lululemon’s slogan: Live as if you’re Alive. Somehow, it hit a deep chord within me. I sat with it, reframed it, and found my new personal mantra: Live to Live.
At first glance, Live to Live sounds almost too simple. But when you really sit with it, it holds a powerful truth. Most of us spend so much time living to achieve, living to work, living to please others, or simply living to survive. Days pass by in a blur of routines, responsibilities, and endless to-do lists. Even when we’re “doing well,” it’s easy to lose touch with the actual experience of being alive.
Live to Live is about coming back to yourself. It’s a reminder that the ultimate goal isn’t productivity, perfection, or proving your worth. It’s about being present, feeling joy, and finding freedom in the everyday.
For me, it means daring to slow down when the world says speed up. Choosing play over pressure, curiosity over control, and pleasure over perfection. It’s dressing up for no reason. It’s taking a Tuesday afternoon off. It’s listening to music that lifts my soul, not just my energy levels.
A lot of the time, I realise I live my life like a checklist — always doing, always productive — but am I actually living? I love how Europeans work to live, unlike so many of us Brits who seem to live to work.
I became self-employed many years ago because I didn’t want to be stuck in the rat race. Yet here I am, 15 years later, still somehow confined by the idea of working every single day. Why?
So, with the start of this season, I’ve been embracing my new mantra. Random days off, slower mornings, different playlists — basically choosing what I want to do over what I should do.
On my Cleopatra Effect course, I help guide clients to discover their own personal mantra — something that gets them out of bed thinking, feeling, and living by it. It’s amazing how just one sentence can open the door to a whole new future.
Nisha x