Strange Tango Mantras

These aren’t just quotes from Strange Tango, the epistolary novella…they’re also mantras.

I believe that mantras can change and focus your life. My personal favorite is, “I don’t compete: I won’t be an afterthought.” This mantra took form in my mind over dinner with a friend when he confided his discomfort with his place in the hierarchy of a prospective beloved’s affections. “You don’t want to be an afterthought,” I articulated for him, and he agreed this comment spoke to the heart of the matter.

More of my personal mantras:

1.  “We are all here on borrowed time.”
2.  “I don’t compete: I won’t be an afterthought.”
3.  “What remains as documentation of a life?”
4.  “life: strange tango”
5.  “Many times, I would rather buy flowers than food.”
6.  “This is my manifesto: elegant, eclectic, minimal, surprising.”
7.  “Sometimes you must let the wind blow between you.”
8.  “He gave the love of his life…a book.”

This said, I haven’t entirely sold out in wanting to imprint my mantras on t-shirts and book bags seen all over college campuses and in cities and towns across the globe. And let’s not forget the office coffee mug. Individuals can choose the mantra that articulates his or her value system and announce it to all. As I see it, tastefully and stylishly done, it’s free broadcasting—guerilla marketing—as are the polo rider and horse on Ralph Lauren’s casual wear, the hood ornament on a Mercedes-Benz, and the Nike swoosh.

It’s the subliminal imprints that subtly change our attitudes, perspectives, and thus—the world.