A good way to start praying, or exploring ideas of prayer, is to make time for it; to carve a moment into each day when we take a breath, and think and reflect on what's going on, deep inside, at the edge of our consciousness. To ‘catch a moment' we need to slow down - something we're not good at.
A woman went to talk to someone for help with her rushed life she was stressed and life was proving too much. She had chosen her advisor well. He suggested that, to begin with, she stopped for one minute during the day and that she wrote the minute into her diary, to make sure that even that one minute didn't get squashed out.
Where could your ‘one minute' be carved from? Lunch: sitting in the park for just one minute, doing nothing, thinking nothing, but tuning in to the greater consciousness that surrounds us, that many of us call ‘God' and that lives on the edge of our lives?
Or maybe when you get in from work, before you begin preparing the evening meal; as you get out of the shower, perhaps a moment when you ‘let nature take its course' and drip dry for a moment of pure peace.
And, if you are one of the increasing number of people for whom the word ‘God' has little or no meaning, try taking just a minute to catch up with your interior world, which you might refer to as your innate spirituality. Mindfulness techniques are becoming more and more popular in the science of mental health, and most people who have tried them will affirm their value. You may not think of calling this prayer, but it uses the same processes as contemplative prayer and offers truly positive effects.
The pages that follow explore what prayer is and how it can fit into your everyday life.
