Prayer

When you pray do you have the same prayers that you pray again and again? I love saying the Hail Mary. I’m happy as a clam saying it 10 times in the car coming home from work. One of the guides just said that was a decade. I should get out my rosary and just do that. I find comfort in saying that particular prayer. Sometimes I even imagine Mary and think of her as a sort of intermediary from me to her son Jesus or to God, sort of like in the old days when I was growing up.

Then, there are other times when I whine a lot. Oh, please…oh, please….oh, please. Well, maybe it isn’t whining, but there’s an awful lot of it.

But, have you thought about just having a conversation with God? Or, if you’re more comfortable with a prayer you could make one up yourself rather than saying the same one you’ve been saying for years.

Here’s my method…or, just one that I use. I start by taking a really deep breath. I’m not concerned about anything other than taking that breath. Sometimes I have to do it more than once. Then, I imagine my body getting quiet. There’s always a lot of busy work going on. The body has all of its normal things to do anyway…breathing, blood circulating, digestion going on, filtering things, brain activity…stuff like that. I don’t mind that continuing. What I’m sort of concentrating on is the stress and tension I seem to carry with me no matter what. I sort of make a promise to myself that whatever leaves for now can always come back later again if it needs to. Somehow making that deal with myself enables me to have a few moments of peace. It’s like I trick myself. But, hey, it works. What can I say? So, this is the stage I set.

Now, I remember that Spirit is all around me. God isn’t up there, or out there, or far away from me. God is at my elbow. When I was a kid I always imagined God to be sort of like Santa Claus, except he wasn’t as fat and he didn’t laugh as much, but he was an older, white haired guy. Those memories still sort of come back to me at times, but mostly now when I do this quieting down God at my elbow move I tend to imagine God as being a cloud of peace, a cushiony, enveloping place where when I enter I dissolve into tears of relief. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s like walking into a comforting hug. Getting to this stage in the prayer saying business is almost enough for me sometimes. Sometimes I just stay here for a few moments and then I’m good to go for another while.

But, you can do more.

So, say you’re in the comforting area of Spirit. Now what can you do? Well, just be. Instead of it being you and It you can think along the lines of this is what you are. This is where you came from. This is where you will someday go back to again, this feeling of peace, this feeling of being one with something greater than yourself. Imagine this feeling that is beginning to wash over you as a condition of what life is like all the time for your higher self. This is the part of you that is in charge. It’s the directing traffic part of your being. Same as Spirit, but more a part of you like the freckles on your nose. The same part that was with you when you were a slave in Rome, when you were a soldier in World War I, when you were a tycoon during the dot.com bust.

I am not generally in close contact with my higher self all the time. First time I ever saw it during a meditation it was like 10 feet tall and scared the living daylights out of me. Very strange. Anyway, I know I’ve got one. I haven’t spent a lot of quality time with my higher self lately, but it never hurts to try to try to figure out what the hell it’s got scheduled for you so you don’t get hit with some surprising move out of left field. (One of the guides just said you can tell I haven’t had a lot of practice doing this….hey, I’m trying…I’m evolving…there might be a day when I can speak with more authority on this, but for now? It’s one toe forward into the dark just like everybody else…)

Okay, so you’re in the comforting place. You’ve just shaken hands and done the, “How do you do.” with your higher self. You’re rubbing elbows with God. Enjoy.

How about a bit of well wishing for friends and relatives? How about some healing work? Okay, so here’s where the imagining comes into play again.

Imagine that in this peaceful, Spirit filled, wonderfully calming place it is also filled with light, healing light. It’s everywhere. It’s like the sun coming up over the Smoky Mountains. It’s like the first rays that you see when the day is upon you. That’s the healing light. There might also be sounds associated with this healing energy, but however you imagine the healing part to be allow it to wash over you. Allow it to be in every cell of your being. Enjoy and wallow.

Now, start thinking of the people you generally say prayers for. Think of the folks in your life who are hurting. Think of how much better you feel now and sort of direct it all their way. Now, think of your relatives, your friends, the people who you care about. Now, think of the folks who irritate the hell out of you. Send some their way too. Now, think of the folks you meet on the internet and send some their way too. The idea of the healing energies is that they will use it or not. But, it can’t hurt to send it their way. Sometimes when the number of folks I’ve got grows large I think of them as, “My group”. In my mind they’re all standing together and the healing energy of Spirit, of the Universe just sort of goes their way and maybe it can help them over whatever bumps in the road they’ve got in their lives.

I don’t know if it works. I do it anyway. I do know years ago I was doing it and the next day one of the ladies I was sending energy to called me up complaining that I’d awakened her at four in the morning and don’t do that again. LOL.

By the way, your prayers are always heard. Maybe they aren’t answered quite the way you wanted, but they are always heard.

A very interesting website is World Prayers where you can spin a wheel and find a prayer to say or go in search of one. It's worth while checking it out. Also, I've got a prayer page at Talking to Spirit. And, while I was searching for a picture to illustrate this entry came upon some really wonderful instructions on how to make your own rosary.