The Rosary

[KendraDZ1902]

I fully enjoy praying the rosary, but I have been having some trouble. I am bipolar and right now, well for this week, I have been manic. Mania includes multiple symptoms. 2 of them are racing thoughts and distraction. I find it very hard to concentrate on the mysteries while I am manic. Heck, it is hard for me to pray period. I find myself going off on tangents with my talks with God, forgetting that I am praying.
I also find myself not being able to focus on what prayer I am saying. For instance, last night I was in my 2nd decade of the rosary and I couldn’t think of the ending to Hail Mary. :banghead: I sat there for about 15 seconds before it came to me again.
I don’t want to be irreverent, so should I stop praying the rosary while I am manic?
Help!

 

[SeekerWillie]

Would using a recording of the rosary help you stay on track? I use one in the DVD player of my car as I’m driving to work in the morning. It helps me keep on target while I also focus on the road.

 

[Nelka]

I fully enjoy praying the rosary, but I have been having some trouble. I am bipolar and right now, well for this week, I have been manic. Mania includes multiple symptoms. 2 of them are racing thoughts and distraction. I find it very hard to concentrate on the mysteries while I am manic. Heck, it is hard for me to pray period. I find myself going off on tangents with my talks with God, forgetting that I am praying.
I also find myself not being able to focus on what prayer I am saying. For instance, last night I was in my 2nd decade of the rosary and I couldn’t think of the ending to Hail Mary. :banghead: I sat there for about 15 seconds before it came to me again.
I don’t want to be irreverent, so should I stop praying the rosary while I am manic?
Help!

Wow! Reading your post feels like I wrote it myself.

I’m not bipolar so I have no excuse.

If I am tired or if I have just watched television or something like this it makes it harder for me as I either have fewer lights on inside my head or it’s like the television sounds are still bouncing around my head.

Words seem to fall out of my head as I am in mid sentence which is annoying, sometimes I will say the wrong prayer and have to start that bead again.

Relaxing your mind first may help, I don’t mean yoga or anything but have a chat with your Guardian Angel, many problems are demons nudging you in the ribs which is probably why my dog disappears when I start to pray.

 

[book_and_bead]

Hi Kendra,

I love the rosary too, and I have trouble focusing on meditating the Mysteries because my mind tends to wander. I use this site to help me; I sit at my computer, put in my headphones, and follow along. Perhaps this site will help you remain focused.

comepraytherosary.org/

You can join a worldwide Rosary in progress (they show you how many people are praying on the site) or start your own from the beginning.

I’ve also done what SeekerWillie suggested for my hour long commute to and from work; that’s also a wonderful way to get a daily Rosary in and have a prayerful start to my day!

iTunes has free Rosary MP3 for download from the Rosary Army if you’d like to get them and burn them to an audio CD.

Hope this helps!

 

[landon13]

We should never stop giving the effort to praying the most perfect of prayers given to us by Our Blessed Mother. As a Mother, she will hear our prayers and supplications no matter what we are going through in life, even if we cannot get all the words out of our mouth or remember the exact wording of the prayers. If the effort is there and is real and sincere, she will take that as if you were laying your issues and problems before your own earthly mother.

God bless and keep praying!

 

[SeekerWillie]

Would using a recording of the rosary help you stay on track? I use one in the DVD player of my car as I’m driving to work in the morning. It helps me keep on target while I also focus on the road.

Oops! That would be my CD player.

 

[pianistclare]

You might want to try the Chaplet of Divine Mercy on your rosary beads. It a good bit shorter, and has less “moving parts” as it were.
And with what you are suffering, it might be soothing in it’s message. Not that the rosary isn’t, but there all kinds of prayers you can pray on beads. Many other chaplets, and also the Jesus prayer.
For ex: you could do the St. Dymphna Chaplet for people struggling with various disorders.
The chaplet in honor of St. Dymphna consists of seventeen beads, 15 for the fifteen years of her life and 2 for the intentions of the Holy Father.

The chaplet is available in red, white or green. Red is recited in honor of her martyrdom. White in honor of her virginity. Green for the hope of relief for emotional disorders. Intentions may be made at the beginning or end of the chaplet. The complete chaplet is online. You can pray it on your fingers.

*First bead: Recite the Our Father

Second bead: Offer a Hail Mary for the Holy Father’s intentions.

Fifteen beads: Say a Glory Be to the Father on each bead in honor of the fifteen years of St. Dymphna’s life.*

Don’t give up. All prayers are valuable and make sense to God. Think of the prayers of children; they sometimes are far from the way they should go. Jesus said we should be like little children. I believe that means that our little prayers are pleasing to him, as long as we are sincere
God bless.

 

[friardchips]

Wow! Reading your post feels like I wrote it myself.

I’m not bipolar so I have no excuse.

If I am tired or if I have just watched television or something like this it makes it harder for me as I either have fewer lights on inside my head or it’s like the television sounds are still bouncing around my head.

Words seem to fall out of my head as I am in mid sentence which is annoying, sometimes I will say the wrong prayer and have to start that bead again.

Relaxing your mind first may help, I don’t mean yoga or anything but have a chat with your Guardian Angel, many problems are demons nudging you in the ribs which is probably why my dog disappears when I start to pray.

• or maybe this is because your guardian angel commands the dog to leave - prayer is holy!

 

[HoistedSheep]

Sometimes it helps me to read a passage from the Bible before I pray the rosary, especially one that has to do with the mysteries. This helps me relax and focus my mind. But pray the best you can. When I feel easily distracted, I try to remember that the Blessed Mother is listening and that it’s alright if I l loose attention if I try to get back in the right direction, especially since I often use this lack of focus as an excuse not to pray. Prayer is important and helpful no matter how tired or out of focus you are. It’s alright just to say to the Blessed Mother that you can’t focus and just let her know what’s on your mind and how you feel. She is always there to listen, and I’m sure she will help. Also, I recommend praying to Saint Dymphna. She has helped me a lot lately.
I hope this helps. I want you to know you have inspired me to pray more. I often use this lack of focus or distraction as an excuse not to pray, and I should never do this.

 

[otjm]

I fully enjoy praying the rosary, but I have been having some trouble. I am bipolar and right now, well for this week, I have been manic. Mania includes multiple symptoms. 2 of them are racing thoughts and distraction. I find it very hard to concentrate on the mysteries while I am manic. Heck, it is hard for me to pray period. I find myself going off on tangents with my talks with God, forgetting that I am praying.
I also find myself not being able to focus on what prayer I am saying. For instance, last night I was in my 2nd decade of the rosary and I couldn’t think of the ending to Hail Mary. :banghead: I sat there for about 15 seconds before it came to me again.
I don’t want to be irreverent, so should I stop praying the rosary while I am manic?
Help!

For starters, you are not being irreverent. Do you really thing that talks with God are not prayer? Don’t limit your understanding of prayer to tight, neat formulas. That is not to say they are wrong - not in the least. But a heartfelf conversation with God is as much a prayer as anything the Church has come up with.

Don’t be hard on yourself. Prayer needs to be a part of our life; but we are not called or required to slavishly follow one single format. if the synapses are firing way out of order, do your best. God knows your heart better than you do.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

You might want to try the Chaplet of Divine Mercy on your rosary beads. It a good bit shorter, and has less “moving parts” as it were.
And with what you are suffering, it might be soothing in it’s message. Not that the rosary isn’t, but there all kinds of prayers you can pray on beads. Many other chaplets, and also the Jesus prayer.
For ex: you could do the St. Dymphna Chaplet for people struggling with various disorders.
The chaplet in honor of St. Dymphna consists of seventeen beads, 15 for the fifteen years of her life and 2 for the intentions of the Holy Father.

The chaplet is available in red, white or green. Red is recited in honor of her martyrdom. White in honor of her virginity. Green for the hope of relief for emotional disorders. Intentions may be made at the beginning or end of the chaplet. The complete chaplet is online. You can pray it on your fingers.

*First bead: Recite the Our Father

Second bead: Offer a Hail Mary for the Holy Father’s intentions.

Fifteen beads: Say a Glory Be to the Father on each bead in honor of the fifteen years of St. Dymphna’s life.*

Don’t give up. All prayers are valuable and make sense to God. Think of the prayers of children; they sometimes are far from the way they should go. Jesus said we should be like little children. I believe that means that our little prayers are pleasing to him, as long as we are sincere
God bless.

I never knew about this. Thank you so much. I will definitely be doing this.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

For starters, you are not being irreverent. Do you really thing that talks with God are not prayer? Don’t limit your understanding of prayer to tight, neat formulas. That is not to say they are wrong - not in the least. But a heartfelf conversation with God is as much a prayer as anything the Church has come up with.

Don’t be hard on yourself. Prayer needs to be a part of our life; but we are not called or required to slavishly follow one single format. if the synapses are firing way out of order, do your best. God knows your heart better than you do.

Oh no, I do believe my talks with God are prayer. I just have a very difficult time staying on topic when I am manic. I will be in the middle of prayer and something I am praying about will remind me of something and I start thinking about that. I will catch myself and feel bad. It is just so difficult for me to stay on topic with all of these racing thoughts.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

Sometimes it helps me to read a passage from the Bible before I pray the rosary, especially one that has to do with the mysteries. This helps me relax and focus my mind. But pray the best you can. When I feel easily distracted, I try to remember that the Blessed Mother is listening and that it’s alright if I l loose attention if I try to get back in the right direction, especially since I often use this lack of focus as an excuse not to pray. Prayer is important and helpful no matter how tired or out of focus you are. It’s alright just to say to the Blessed Mother that you can’t focus and just let her know what’s on your mind and how you feel. She is always there to listen, and I’m sure she will help. Also, I recommend praying to Saint Dymphna. She has helped me a lot lately.
I hope this helps. I want you to know you have inspired me to pray more. I often use this lack of focus or distraction as an excuse not to pray, and I should never do this.

I’m so glad I inspired you to pray more! I’m glad I could do that for you. :hug1:

 

[suko]

I don’t want to be irreverent, so should I stop praying the rosary while I am manic?
Help!

I get distracted easily, too. Sometimes I might go through a whole decade, or more, before I realize my thoughts are on other things that I shouldn’t be thinking about. But the most important thing is that when we do realize, we gently turn our attention back. Don’t get frustrated, angry or anything. God is pleased that u are making the effort, even if it’s a battle for u.

If interested, here’s a great 5 minute video on distractions in prayer: youtu.be/0744-KoXSDU

God bless!

 

[otjm]

Oh no, I do believe my talks with God are prayer. I just have a very difficult time staying on topic when I am manic. I will be in the middle of prayer and something I am praying about will remind me of something and I start thinking about that. I will catch myself and feel bad. It is just so difficult for me to stay on topic with all of these racing thoughts.

Me too - but mine is ADHD. Sometimes drives me nuts.

 

[CalCatholic]

I have found the ‘Scriptural Rosary’ a blessing. Since you recite a verse of scripture (from the mystery) in between each of the ‘Hail Mary’ beads, it not only makes it easier to keep your concentration (because you have to read it), but you also get the benefit of reciting a lot more scripture. There are ‘Scriptural Rosary’ booklets or you can get a ‘Scriptural Rosary’ app.