A
atheistgirl
Guest
I thought I’d start this thread now, a little ahead of time, to save time, as the post I’ll be making on my prayer exercise will be quite long, so I thought I’d make a start with some background information to save time and words later on and to give you an idea of the setup as people said they were interested. As I write this, the exercises will continue for a few more days.
Why?
I’ve been asked by several people here to pray. It’s not something I bothered with, until I engaged in a conversation with Buffalo and Lochias, and, in the course of that conversation, I promised them I would undertake a prayer exercise.
My word is my contract. If I say I will do something, I will. It would be a gross violation of who I am, to break my word, so for that reason, and that reason only, I undertook/am undertaking this exercise.
However, I approched the exercise with a very positive frame of mind, with enthusiasm and with great interest, and in fact, I can report now well into the exercise, something I looked forward to greatly on a daily basis as time went on.
How long?
When the exercise is complete, I will have been praying for 40 days.
Structure/Length?
I have been ‘‘praying’’ for 15 minutes in the mornings and 30 minutes in the evenings/night, totalling 45 minutes daily.
Where?
Both ‘‘prayer times’’ took/take place outdoors on my property.
How?
Sitting on the earth facing the mountains in the morning, watching the stars/moon/setting sun or focusing on something like the flowers, a tree, or whatever, in the evenings/nights. I had/have my Bible with me during the exercises, but as yet (remember the exercises are still going on) I’ve not opened it during the meditations.
Alone?
Not always. Several times some or all of my children joined me. Sitting watching the night sky is something we do together anyhow, the only difference is we chat and share our thoughts as well as being silent and taking in the wonder of it all - there was a little more silence on these occasions however.
I asked my husband to join me twice. This is because he is my anchor. When I can’t get focused, my husband provides me with a stillness and calmness that is so deep it’s beyond words. He has enormous presence or aura of peace and stillness around him. There were two occasions when I just couldn’t get focused at all due to work and family stuff - not bad stuff as such but just stuff that eats up your mindtime, and these are the times I would normally just lay on my husbands chest, or hold his hand, or whatever, and he can just still me instantly - so I asked him to join me on these two particular occasions. His presence with me, helped to calm my mind and help me focus internally. Without working out the number of days exactly at this point, I would say it’s something like 80% alone, 20% with family.
Prayers?
I have been praying two prayers with formal word structure during the exercises, used during both meditation sessions.
Buffalo said I should say Jesus - I trust in you, which I am. The other prayer, which I remembered and liked from when I was doing a lot of reading about prayer, is Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I believe this is called the Jesus prayer and has been used as a meditative aid by monks and religious for centuries.
Apart for these two formal prayers, the rest of the time has been spent silently in contemplation.
One of the things I reflected on was the link Julia Mae posted about the taxidriver and the old lady, which you can find here.
There were other reflections during the meditiations, but for the most part I tried to simply be still and listen. To connect with the nature around me, in silence, and to be open to whatever.
Is this new to you?
No, I’ve been contemplating nature, the universe, and the world around me ever since I can remember. I’ve always made quiet me time, no matter what was going on around me. I need a certain amount of stillness and silence in my daily life to refocus and recharge and I’ve always been able to do this communing with nature. And learning from nature. For example, in one single incident, that lasted all of two minutes, watching a calf getting jostled in a field, I learned to control my impatience, and have never lost patience since, the way I used to as a teenager, by simply remembering that calf.
But the listening for God aspect, as a conscious element of my contemplation, is new.
Results?
To be written up at the end of the month. I just wanted to get this bit written up, so I can spend time trying to order my reflections into something that won’t be so long it’s boring to read, and will be understandable - well, in so far as anything I write is understandable
I’ll tag these reflections when the exercise is complete onto this post. I’ve been keeping a diary, well, notes, each day, so I’ll reread them and try and condense everything into a post that will make some kind of sense
That’s it for now.
Sarah x
Why?
I’ve been asked by several people here to pray. It’s not something I bothered with, until I engaged in a conversation with Buffalo and Lochias, and, in the course of that conversation, I promised them I would undertake a prayer exercise.
My word is my contract. If I say I will do something, I will. It would be a gross violation of who I am, to break my word, so for that reason, and that reason only, I undertook/am undertaking this exercise.
However, I approched the exercise with a very positive frame of mind, with enthusiasm and with great interest, and in fact, I can report now well into the exercise, something I looked forward to greatly on a daily basis as time went on.
How long?
When the exercise is complete, I will have been praying for 40 days.
Structure/Length?
I have been ‘‘praying’’ for 15 minutes in the mornings and 30 minutes in the evenings/night, totalling 45 minutes daily.
Where?
Both ‘‘prayer times’’ took/take place outdoors on my property.
How?
Sitting on the earth facing the mountains in the morning, watching the stars/moon/setting sun or focusing on something like the flowers, a tree, or whatever, in the evenings/nights. I had/have my Bible with me during the exercises, but as yet (remember the exercises are still going on) I’ve not opened it during the meditations.
Alone?
Not always. Several times some or all of my children joined me. Sitting watching the night sky is something we do together anyhow, the only difference is we chat and share our thoughts as well as being silent and taking in the wonder of it all - there was a little more silence on these occasions however.
I asked my husband to join me twice. This is because he is my anchor. When I can’t get focused, my husband provides me with a stillness and calmness that is so deep it’s beyond words. He has enormous presence or aura of peace and stillness around him. There were two occasions when I just couldn’t get focused at all due to work and family stuff - not bad stuff as such but just stuff that eats up your mindtime, and these are the times I would normally just lay on my husbands chest, or hold his hand, or whatever, and he can just still me instantly - so I asked him to join me on these two particular occasions. His presence with me, helped to calm my mind and help me focus internally. Without working out the number of days exactly at this point, I would say it’s something like 80% alone, 20% with family.
Prayers?
I have been praying two prayers with formal word structure during the exercises, used during both meditation sessions.
Buffalo said I should say Jesus - I trust in you, which I am. The other prayer, which I remembered and liked from when I was doing a lot of reading about prayer, is Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I believe this is called the Jesus prayer and has been used as a meditative aid by monks and religious for centuries.
Apart for these two formal prayers, the rest of the time has been spent silently in contemplation.
One of the things I reflected on was the link Julia Mae posted about the taxidriver and the old lady, which you can find here.
There were other reflections during the meditiations, but for the most part I tried to simply be still and listen. To connect with the nature around me, in silence, and to be open to whatever.
Is this new to you?
No, I’ve been contemplating nature, the universe, and the world around me ever since I can remember. I’ve always made quiet me time, no matter what was going on around me. I need a certain amount of stillness and silence in my daily life to refocus and recharge and I’ve always been able to do this communing with nature. And learning from nature. For example, in one single incident, that lasted all of two minutes, watching a calf getting jostled in a field, I learned to control my impatience, and have never lost patience since, the way I used to as a teenager, by simply remembering that calf.
But the listening for God aspect, as a conscious element of my contemplation, is new.
Results?
To be written up at the end of the month. I just wanted to get this bit written up, so I can spend time trying to order my reflections into something that won’t be so long it’s boring to read, and will be understandable - well, in so far as anything I write is understandable
I’ll tag these reflections when the exercise is complete onto this post. I’ve been keeping a diary, well, notes, each day, so I’ll reread them and try and condense everything into a post that will make some kind of sense
That’s it for now.
Sarah x
) I live as healthy as I can, eat well, exercise a lot through work and the farm and being a mom, and take real good care of myself, so I thought these comments were particularly interesting in that I did nothing different than I always do, other than the disciplined time for meditation and prayer.