When I was in undergraduate school in England, my best friend, who was also away from her home country, decided to get married to a young man she had fallen in love with. Her family back home requested that he would join their faith and accept her religion. His family in England made the same request, that she would join their faith.

Faced with a dilemma they came up with an unconventional solution.  Since neither of them were attached to any religion, they decided to take each other’s religion and have two separate ceremonies, one for each family. The logistics worked because the families lived in two different countries and neither would know or attend the other ceremony. They did it and it worked!

A few years later when I was in grad school she asked me if I would be her witness at a baptism ceremony at a church. I asked her why she would want this now, after what they went through before.

She said, “This one’s for me!  After my marriage, away from my family and their loving support I took to praying. I found this church near my work and every day during lunch I would go sit there and pray. I would become calm and peaceful. I would forget how lonely I was and my troubles would start fading. After a while I started noticing that the things I prayed for were manifesting. I went from feeling good and peaceful in the moment to feeling supported long-term. It felt as if I was being watched-over and protected. My fears and anxieties have disappeared and I feel there is a higher power taking care of me at all times now. “

That made sense. Sadly, it feels like we have all been there. Somehow a sense of loneliness comes up from within and does not get satiated even in the midst of the highest hustle bustle. The need comes up to resort to something, someone, or somewhere to help free us from that loneliness and emptiness that creeps inside.

Praying can be a good remedy, something that we can easily resort to at anytime, anywhere. There are certain qualities or characteristics that enhance both the experience of praying and the manifestation of the desired outcome.  I have noticed that certain components of practicing prayers enhance while others hinder or reduce the desired impact. 

For example, supplication is not a beneficial component of prayer.

Prayer is uplifting, supplication is denigrating.  When desperation and helplessness sets in, the prayer turns into supplication,

“ Please, please, I beg of you to do this for me and I promise to……”

That’s a desperate attempt which can only bring desperate results. That’s not a desirable result. supplication makes you disempowered and helpless.

I propose a format that you might enjoy the experience of praying.  I have broken it down to specific steps- 

It is not rocket science and you may already be doing all of these steps without pausing to ponder the steps.  Yet the breakdown of prayer into steps helps you to see the transitional phases that transpire to bring the best outcome. 

Anyway, please take this for a spin and let me know what you think. You may leave your comments on our linkedIn page!

WHAT IS PRAYER?

Prayer is a fun activity. It is meant to feel uplifting and encouraging. It can be a tool for letting off steam, a form of release and ultimately an exhilarating experience. 

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO PRAY?

If you set aside any notion or belief system that you have developed regarding prayer please put them on pause for a second and try the following:

Think of prayer as a conversation with someone you trust, someone who can make a difference in your life, a friend, or a mentor.

Start by talking about where you’re at- exactly how you feel and what you think. Express it freely, let the words spill out as they may. It helps to say these things out loud if possible. You might go for a long walk and let the rhythmic movement of your body provide the venue for venting off. 

Talk about your mental emotional state in the moment; about how you feel, what you need, what you expect to change or improve and how. Let it all come out without any concern, judgment or criticism of yourself. Let all the pent-up emotions and thoughts that have been brewing inside of you come out and be released. 

There’s a freedom that comes with releasing pent-up thoughts and emotions. Feel the space that opens up inside of you as the heavy burden gets lifted off and the trauma begins to dissipate. 

 At this point a transition happens-You go into a neutral state-from the contracted space of helplessness, pain, and self pity to a neutral state. 

Now, you become receptive to change and are able to see and accept real resolution. Now  positive change can happen for you and you will enjoy receiving it. 

Grace starts pouring in. With grace all things are possible. It is at this point that you know your prayers have been answered even before there is any tangible proof of change. That alone takes you out of any negativity and into empowerment and positive thinking; a whole different state of being.

Surrender is the next step. It comes naturally and easily at this stage. It pours down bathing you in the state of Grace that allows you to trust and surrender knowing that you will be taken care of. 

Gratitude keeps company with surrender.  It is the all-time high-state especially when it happens in close succession after feeling so blue. The contrast makes it even more palpable. Gratitude is a welcome replacement for the pain. Free from pain and struggle you can become receptive to experiencing different perceptions of reality. 

When your perception of your reality changes your entire reality shifts. 

As beings of light and highly evolved souls our natural state of being is bliss. We are here to change this reality from the experience of pain and struggle to the experience of joy and bliss. This is true even in the harsh environment of our present earthly reality. Our reality was not meant to fall to such low levels of density and harshness. Our job is to uplift this reality and restore the state of joy and bliss.

In our next blog I will write about why our reality has stooped down so low and how we will remedy that.  You play an important role in shifting our reality from pain to joy and spearheading the multitude and masses to march onto the much prophesied Golden Age of Aquarius and welcome the spread of knowledge and wisdom that is the signature of Satya Yuga, the Age of Wisdom.