Still yourself. Quiet that troubled mind. Feel your breath; feel the beat of your heart. Close your eyes and turn your focus inward. I am here, I have been waiting for you. Shut out the world, the distractions of the day, the voices in your head, the self-doubt, the worry. The answers that you seek and the comfort that you crave are available to you right now if you make the time to listen.
In challenging times like these, do you turn to prayer? When things seem hopeless and you feel helpless? When circumstances are spinning out of control and you don’t know which way to turn? Do you pour your heart out to God, to the Universe, asking for grace, guidance, divine intervention? Me too.
When I feel desperate and defeated, when my mind is racing and my emotions are raging, I do a lot of praying and pleading for things to be different, to be better, to not be so hard. I fervently launch my requests out into the Universe, anxiously look for signs that they’ve been received, and impatiently wait for them to be answered in the ways that I think they should. This practice usually doesn’t end well for me, though – in fact, it almost always leads to disappointment and discouragement - because I’m always left wondering whether my prayers were heard at all.
Don’t get me wrong. Prayer is an amazing means to connect with a Higher Power. I know that it provides comfort to many in their times of need, but for me, it can feel like talking to someone on the phone with my mute button on. And although I remember being taught how to pray and talk to God, what I don’t remember is ever learning how to hear God when He talks to me.
Just like relationships with people in the physical realm, a healthy relationship with a spiritual power can only thrive with two-way conversation. So if you feel like your prayers are falling on deaf ears, I hate to tell you – it’s probably not because they aren’t being heard, it’s probably because you aren’t listening for the responses being offered.
Ouch. How’s that for some hard truth, some tough love? I can say this to you because I fall victim to this myself, over and over again. I end up being so desperate to be heard that I don’t give God a chance to respond. But the only way to hear His response is to stop talking, stop fretting, stop thinking, to clear your mind, and embrace the quiet.
This is where meditation comes in - the practice of being still, being present, being open. No matter how uncomfortable it feels, you have to be willing to say your prayer, ask your question, and then be silent and wait for the answer. Give God, the Universe, a chance to speak. Allow that voice, the other half of the conversation, to be heard. The guidance, the wisdom, the comfort that you seek is there waiting for you, I promise.
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