Mental Prayer, Hourglasses and timing

[Chen_Zhen]

Currently I use my wristwatch timer to keep track of my daily mental prayer. This works fine and it is nice because I pray in the morning before leaving home and can make sure I don’t run overtime.
But lately I have been interested in purchasing an hourglass for this purpose. I like their aesthetic appeal and they seem more “appropriate” in that way. I’d also like to use that instead because using a watch I tend to glance at the time and think to myself, “OH!..I have X amount of time and therefore I better get to this part of my time set aside” or quickly stop to make concluding prayers.
I think with an hourglass I’d be more likely to let the time be less of an issue and if I glance at it I’d probably see that time is running low, but maybe since I have an estimate and not an exact numerical time, I’d let things flow more smoothly.

My “questions”:
The 30 minute ones I searched for say they are accurate within 5 minutes. That seems decent, and I was wondering if anyone had experience with these and what they recommend.

Does anyone have another method they use or recommend?

I rarely hear of the saints “keeping time”. How did they do it? Sure, there is a necessity when I have work to do, but I almost feel bad making it so technical.

 

[wild_thing]

Good for you that you are taking time for mental prayer!

I think whatever makes you feel more comfortable with Our Lord. If an hourglass feels more reverant to you, by all means, use it.

To be fair, a good portion of the saints were monks and nuns. Their hours of prayer were dictated by their order and the Liturgy of the Hours. Bells would guide them as to when to pray, when to work, etc.

As a layperson, you have other responsibilites to consider as well, so as much as it doesn’t seem as reverant to have to keep track of the time, it is neccessary. God understands this and wouldn’t want you to neglect your duties.