These days when feelings swell inside me (that's how it feels), I try to forget about what I'm doing and pay attention to my breath. A few seconds is all I usually manage but even that short time feels like a pause in the action.
Different things happen during this pause. At times an awareness of something more than what I can see or know arises and gratitude ensues. This pause can also be full of angst.
Sometimes when I pause and note either what is happening outside of me or what is happening inside of me, thoughts of the old type of prayers come to mind and I wonder what I am doing.
My description of what I am attempting sounds more clear than it feels. I am exploring what prayer is in my life as we ponder these ideas together. I'd love to hear what you think.
Do you think being in the present moment is prayer? Are most of your prayers asking for something? confessing something? expressing thanksgiving? Do you do something else besides prayer? What do you name it?
Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall
I don’t think about praying or anything similar. I do think about enjoying the current moment and being a better person.
ReplyDeleteI think enjoying the present moment could be considered a prayer of great value!
DeleteThanks for reading and commenting!
One of the most interesting descriptions of prayer I ever encountered was from one of my spiritual teachers. He said that prayer was coming into harmony with existence. That prayer is never something we do for someone else. But always something we do for ourselves. And then everything in the universe benefits. After much reflection, I decided that made more sense to me than anything else I had tried or heard of.
ReplyDeleteOh Anonymous - what wisdom you have shared with us. Prayer as coming into harmony with existence means to me accepting reality as it is and that, at least for me, proves to be very difficult.
DeleteThank you.