In reading Dalio’s book and also doing some research in the psychology of the human brain, I have become convinced that out of all the components of the 365 Commitment, prayer is the most important. I have been making sure that I say some sort of prayer every morning and night for 170 days. Now I know that the standard Christian teaching is to pray in your closet and to not let people know, but I am referring to this as a practical matter.
Prayer and Meditation are essential for assisting someone to rise above and see the truth of their situation, to separate their minds, and understand the source of emotions, stress, frustration, and habits. Prayer that is fleeting and just another check box, may serve the purpose of checking in with deity, but it certainly does not provide time for contemplation, reflection, inspiration, and understanding.
So yesterday, I decided to change the way I pray a bit. I know I have written about this before, but I supposed that as I progress here, making tweaks and adjustments to how I live the 365 commitment is part of the process. I am still praying about similar things and following the same basic formula for prayer – however – now I am taking my time and being much more reflective and spending more time in quiet contemplation. Here is what I am trying –
Morning Prayer – I am making sure that I have the time to spend at least 15 minutes, 30 is preferred. Since this is the most important activity of the day, then I should at least spend some quality time. I make sure I am in a private, quiet, and distraction free environment. I make sure that I can speak out loud when praying, and I can listen quietly without a lot of distracting noises. In the morning, I am praying about what I want to focus on, what my goals are and how I am doing on achieving them. I reflect on my progress and honestly address how I am doing. What progress did I make yesterday? I think and ask about what I could do today to further progress my goals. What would be the most important things I could do? What could I do today, to make today great? I spend time quietly listening for answers to this question.
I think ask who I could serve? Who could I help? How could I do so? I go through a list of people in my mind that I know I could help in some way and I ask carefully about what I could do to help them. I listen for answers.
I also spend time thinking about what I am setting out to do, I ask for help, I ask for strength. I make a commitment to achieve what I am planning today. I also add a series of deep calming breaths before and after each portion of this prayer routine.
Evening Prayer – I follow the same pattern as the morning, same conditions. However, I am spending my time reviewing my day. What mistakes I made, what weaknesses did I exhibit, where did I fail? What opportunity was before me that I did not capture? I consider each of my commitments and consider if I accomplished them or not. I make sure that I focus on what I am grateful for. I spend more time listening and attempting to close out the day. I ask for very little favor, I am mainly recapping the day. I focus more on breathing, relaxation and spend a good amount of time trying to free my mind of any thought.
This last few days, I have decided to take this process more seriously. I really do believe that prayer and mediation is absolutely required for success, and so I am trying to improve how I pray every morning and night.
Guy Reams (170)
365 Member
