If I had to pick one practice that has impacted my life the most, it would have to be my prayer practice. Starting and ending my day in prayerful meditation has been life altering. Within my prayer practice I have woven together several of the tools that bring about more joy, peace and happiness. This prayer practice has become my anchor and it has significantly changed my life.
My daily prayer practice includes prayer, affirmations, gratitude, intention setting and meditation. All of the heavy hitters for supporting my day and my life.
For me, prayer is how I connect to God, to Spirit, to my higher-self. It's how I remember, it's my centering force and my guiding light. It's remembering who I am, what my intention is, that I am loved and supported, and all of the blessings that are in my life. Prayer helps to foster my relationship with God.
One of the things that helps me the most is the practice of presence that prayer brings. Prayer pulls me back into the moment and into relationship with myself and with God.
In case it is helpful to you, here is my current personal prayer practice. It is ever evolving, shifting and changing, but this is what it looks like at the moment. This is my "formal" practice, prayer and gratitude are also a spontaneous occurrence throughout my day.
Morning practice (5 to 15 minutes)
I sit down on my meditation pillow and put on some soft mediation music. I start off by saying, "Good morning God, good morning Soul, who am I?" I answer this with several affirming "I am" statements. I am a child of God, I am light, I am love, I am compassionate, I am forgiving, I am grateful, I am enough, I am healthy and well, I am strong, I am creative, I am a servant of God, I am a vessel for God, etc. Doing this helps me to center, to remember, to bring my awareness to my intention.
I then ask, "Where would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say and to whom?" This opens me up for guidance to seep in.
I then move into gratitude, "I am grateful for the blessings of today. I am grateful for..." and I list as many things that come to mind that I am grateful for.
Next, I further establish my intention for my interactions for the day. I set the intention for each of my interactions to be kind and loving. That God's will be done, that loving thoughts prevail. I briefly work through all of the people that I know I will have interactions with throughout the day and set my intention for loving kindness.
Lastly, I offer up any special requests on behalf of myself and others and end by sending out loving energy toward those who I sense could use some additional loving, positive, healing energy on that day.
At the end, I sit in silence and further meditate for whatever length of time feels right to me on that day. A few times each week I sit in meditation for a longer period of time (up to an hour).
Bedtime practice (2-5 minutes)
When I lay my head down on my pillow at night, I turn my focus to gratitude and then to protection. This practice has been extremely helpful to my ability to swiftly drift off to sleep. This is huge for me, because for a fair chunk of my adult life I suffered from insomnia. "God thank you for the blessings of the day. I am grateful for..." and I list as many things as come to mind that occurred during the day and in my life that I am grateful for.
I end my prayer by asking God to shine his loving and protecting light over me, my loved ones and the whole universe. I then visualize the image of loving light surrounding all of us. It's comforting and it brings my heart peace. That's it and then I drift off to sleep all happy and peaceful.
I am not suggesting that this is how you should pray. Praying is a personal practice and I don't proclaim that my way is the best, or the right way, it's simply what I've found to work for me. If something in there helps to serve you then I am glad to have shared it with you :)
My daily prayer practice includes prayer, affirmations, gratitude, intention setting and meditation. All of the heavy hitters for supporting my day and my life.
For me, prayer is how I connect to God, to Spirit, to my higher-self. It's how I remember, it's my centering force and my guiding light. It's remembering who I am, what my intention is, that I am loved and supported, and all of the blessings that are in my life. Prayer helps to foster my relationship with God.
One of the things that helps me the most is the practice of presence that prayer brings. Prayer pulls me back into the moment and into relationship with myself and with God.
In case it is helpful to you, here is my current personal prayer practice. It is ever evolving, shifting and changing, but this is what it looks like at the moment. This is my "formal" practice, prayer and gratitude are also a spontaneous occurrence throughout my day.
Morning practice (5 to 15 minutes)
I sit down on my meditation pillow and put on some soft mediation music. I start off by saying, "Good morning God, good morning Soul, who am I?" I answer this with several affirming "I am" statements. I am a child of God, I am light, I am love, I am compassionate, I am forgiving, I am grateful, I am enough, I am healthy and well, I am strong, I am creative, I am a servant of God, I am a vessel for God, etc. Doing this helps me to center, to remember, to bring my awareness to my intention.
I then ask, "Where would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say and to whom?" This opens me up for guidance to seep in.
I then move into gratitude, "I am grateful for the blessings of today. I am grateful for..." and I list as many things that come to mind that I am grateful for.
Next, I further establish my intention for my interactions for the day. I set the intention for each of my interactions to be kind and loving. That God's will be done, that loving thoughts prevail. I briefly work through all of the people that I know I will have interactions with throughout the day and set my intention for loving kindness.
Lastly, I offer up any special requests on behalf of myself and others and end by sending out loving energy toward those who I sense could use some additional loving, positive, healing energy on that day.
At the end, I sit in silence and further meditate for whatever length of time feels right to me on that day. A few times each week I sit in meditation for a longer period of time (up to an hour).
Bedtime practice (2-5 minutes)
When I lay my head down on my pillow at night, I turn my focus to gratitude and then to protection. This practice has been extremely helpful to my ability to swiftly drift off to sleep. This is huge for me, because for a fair chunk of my adult life I suffered from insomnia. "God thank you for the blessings of the day. I am grateful for..." and I list as many things as come to mind that occurred during the day and in my life that I am grateful for.
I end my prayer by asking God to shine his loving and protecting light over me, my loved ones and the whole universe. I then visualize the image of loving light surrounding all of us. It's comforting and it brings my heart peace. That's it and then I drift off to sleep all happy and peaceful.
I am not suggesting that this is how you should pray. Praying is a personal practice and I don't proclaim that my way is the best, or the right way, it's simply what I've found to work for me. If something in there helps to serve you then I am glad to have shared it with you :)
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