The Power of Prayer around the World - Prayer, Meditation and Affirmation

The Power of Prayer around the World - Prayer, Meditation and Affirmation

An understanding of the different methods of praying, or conversing with God, can help us to learn the benefits of each and how to utilize the best one at the most opportune time. These techniques have developed within different cultures and some may be easier for certain people, but they are accessible to all. Our advice would be to try several approaches so that they are available to you, depending upon your state of mind and situation.


For example, a three-hour delay at an airport could be an excellent time to try a simple meditation technique. While others are getting anxious and frustrated, we can use the time to become calm and more peaceful. We remember one workshop we participated in while attending a very stressful trade meeting that usually left us feeling drained and overstimulated. We were taught how to survive the meeting using a Buddhist walking meditation and simple mantra to quiet the mind and focus our energy, while being totally present with duties at the show.


At the end of the meeting, rather than feeling exhausted and drained, we felt invigorated and full of energy. We had learned to turn our attention to a loving, peaceful place rather than dissipate it into the crowds and chaos of forty thousand people.


The key to any of these methods, of course, is learning to access the wisdom we have available to us—to pay attention and remember what we have been taught. If we do not know what to remember, it is time to start looking and reading, and this book is a good first step in our search. As we read the works of holy people, Scripture, the lives of saints and yogis, we will find amazingly similar approaches to wisdom, love, and living good lives of service to our friends, families, and communities. These approaches can fill us with goodness we can draw from in times of difficulty. They can also help us to control our self obsession and pride in times of great success. If we learn to look first within for guidance, and then acknowledge the source of all good, we can find peace of mind. We can learn to pray—to connect with God for strength when we are in greatest need as well as in gratitude when we are feeling great joy.


PRAYER

One type of prayer is the informal, conversational version, as if we were talking to God as our counselor, best friend,or parent. We can use this as a running commentary on life or as a means of seeking a higher wisdom as we work, rest, and recreate. A wise and successful business person we know always starts business meetings with prayer, praying not for good profits but for wise decisions that are good for all concerned. This helps people to focus on the best possible solution for
all, not just for themselves.


Petition is another kind of prayer, one by which we are asking for specific results, such as a better job, the presence of a soul mate, more money, or for the health of ourselves or others. The results of this kind of prayer have varying rewards, ones that often depend upon the actual source of the request.


In general, we would expect that pleas made for the healing of a loved one might be more successful than requests to win the lottery. That is, pleas of a loving, spiritual nature might be more likely to be fulfilled than pleas of a selfish, materialistic one.


The third kind of prayer is that which takes place in formal ceremonies, such as in a church, synagogue, or ashram.


These usually follow a predictable format from day to day or week to week. These prayers are often based on historical precedent or cultural orientation and can be very comforting because they represent familiar and appreciated traditions. For example, Catholics can turn to the Hail Mary as a centering prayer in times of stress. The familiar words may evoke a feeling of connection with family and hundreds of years of tradition. The shortcoming of this method is that it can become a ritualistic type of worship without real feeling behind the prayers. It is not the prayers, but the participation on the part of the person praying that may determine how effective this form of prayer may be.


MEDITATION

Individual meditation, a quieting of the mind, forms yet another type of prayer. It can involve the use of a mantra or focusing technique and, although it may not be as goal oriented as some of the other forms, it can also be thought of as prayer since it involves communion with God.


There are different methods of meditation. One involves clearing the mind of all thoughts, of going to the place of “no thought.” To employ this method, we should find a place to sit quietly without distraction and simply be.


This might be the most difficult thing for the Western mind to attempt and for some people it takes years of practice. In fact, yoga was developed to make the body flexible and peaceful enough that it could sit quietly in meditation.



The process of “sitting” as such is generally a Buddhist approach; individuals who want to pursue this method should find a good teacher to act as a guide.


An easier method of meditation is to focus the mind on an object, whether it be a word, mantra, or uplifting concept such as a short quote from Holy Scripture. Again, we need to find a quiet time and space, perhaps sitting on the floor in a cross-legged position or in a comfortable chair. We may meditate with open or closed eyes. If we do not fight distractions as they arise, but simply replace them with the mantra or image we choose, our minds, at some point, will become very peaceful and focused on our object of meditation. As we meditate, we may allow images and colors to appear and simply observe them as we keep our conscious mind occupied with the mantra. We should not become overly distracted by what comes to us; in fact, we may choose to watch our thoughts and feelings from the perspective of an observer. When we practice this method we will realize we are more than our thoughts and feelings. A part of us is an observer. That quiet space or Presence, “the still small voice” (I Kings 19:12), is what we are experiencing. As we become more comfortable with our time of meditation, we will find ourselves refreshed and invigorated when we return to our daily routines.


We should not be discouraged if such meditation is difficult at first; let us simply return to the mantra or prayer and relax. We can also use the breath as a meditation. As we observe the breath going in and out, we learn to become one with the breath of life, the source of energy or prana that permeates our cells. As we become one with the universal energy, we leave our cares and worries behind.


Meditation often works best first thing in the morning, before our minds become cluttered with day-to-day worries, or last thing at night before retiring. However, any time we have a few minutes and feel the need to refresh, refocus, and reorient ourselves is a good time. Sometimes when life gets too hectic and stressful, our bodies will go into their own forms of meditation, a purposeful pause, as a way of helping us get perspective on the importance of things. It often happens when we are paying too much attention to the outer world and not enough to the inner one.


AFFIRMATION

Affirmation, or giving thanks, is another method of prayer. It involves a sense of gratitude for having already received that for which we are praying. Jesus illustrated this point when he instructed his disciples in prayer, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24). The second part of his lesson was just as telling: “whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (11:25). Thus, not only do we pray in gratitude, we pray also in humility for the ability to forgive and be forgiven. We will be blessed to the extent that we are also as generous and loving to others.



This is the principle of affirmation—creating a positive attitude toward life. As we practice being grateful for our families, our work, the beauty of the trees, and innocence of a child, we will develop this sense of gratitude in our daily lives, so that it will not feel foreign to us when we extend it to prayerful affirmations. One of Sir John Templeton’s Laws of Life illustrates this principle: “An attitude of gratitude creates blessings.”


Let us pray in thanks for acceptance to the college of our choice, for the loving partners with whom we will share our lives, for the safe journeys we are taking. Let us pray positively, for the qualities with which we infuse our request will be the qualities that come back to us. If we cringe in fear from situations or worry about people and relationships, our negative thinking will only increase our own discomfort and that of others. To love others is not to worry about them; it is to surround them with positive, loving energy and ask only for their greatest spiritual good. Whether we are praying at the side of a dying loved one or soothing a child’s temper tantrum, we cannot always “make it right.” What we can do is bring the highest form of our love to the situation and pray to God for guidance and correct action. “Let the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). That should be our highest prayer.


When we learn different approaches to prayer, we have available various methods to calm our minds and hearts. As we learn to access the quiet space within, we bring the greatest gift we can to any situation—a sense of peace from which real wisdom can flow and genuine love can flourish.


An aspect of prayer that can be overlooked is the possibility that it is not a one-way conversation. As we send out heartfelt requests in the form of prayer, let us also pray for the awareness to recognize guidance when it comes back to us. Openness to receiving answers to our prayers can make us more receptive to the various forms the answers can take.



These answers may come as actual words, pictures, or feelings as we pray. Other times there can be a delay and the message can come from the most unexpected places. We know of people who have received answers to prayers from the back of a well placed t-shirt or billboard, a seemingly disconnected comment from a street person, or picking up a book at a garage sale, which happened to a friend of ours. He was praying and searching for a deeper meaning to his life, asking God to guide him in his spiritual path and chanced upon a classic about the afterlife when he was searching for bargain house wares. By simply trusting the process and being aware of seemingly unrelated events, he was receptive to Divine guidance that can come in many forms.


The next prayer should then be for the courage to follow through, to act upon a commitment, which is the prayer. If we can develop the strength to actualize our faith, based on the answers to our deepest wishes, we will grow stronger and more trusting. We will develop a confidence that our prayers are heard and answered.