“Prayer is more than meditation. In meditation, the source of strength is one’s self. When one prays, he goes to a source of strength greater than his own.” - Madame de Stael
I read a great short story the other day about a family and their “5 minute rule.” The four children in the family had to be ready for school 5 minutes before it was time to leave each day. They would gather around their Mom, and she would pray for each one by name, asking for the Lord’s blessing on their day. Then she’d give them each a kiss and off they’d run. What a great ritual to start every day and what a blessing to have a Mom that demonstrated such importance of gathering and pausing before the start of every day! This Mother was setting a daily intention for her family. When you start your day with quiet time to call out what you want for that day – it’s setting a daily intention.
Why are mediation and prayer important? Because silent spiritual reflection is a core need of every single human being. You can fight it and you can ignore it but the lack of meaningful quiet time to pray, reflect or meditate will catch up with you eventually. When it does, you will feel a troubling sense of emptiness accompanied by fear, uneasiness and doubt. For many people this does not happen until late in life. I saw this in the eyes of my troubled 95 year old Grandfather. To this day, it haunts me that he left this earth without any spiritual connection to anything.
Today, there is so much NOISE around us that silent reflection can be a challenge…but it is possible. You can fill your day with many refreshing and calming moments of quiet reflection by getting into the good habit of pausing several times in the day to step aside of what you are doing and give yourself the gift of brief but meaningful silence. This is why setting a daily intention of meditation or prayer is so critical. If you start your day with a 1, 5 or 10 minute intention setting session, you are armed and set for the day. Let’s determine what category you fall under so that you can identify your starting place. Each of us fits into one of three categories:
1. Master - You are a prayer and meditation master! You pause many times every day to quietly reflect, pray and meditate. You are a joyous, fulfilled, kind, compassionate, loving human and you have a deep and meaningful understanding of your part in this world.
2. Drifter - You do pray and meditate but you drift in and out – never finding a consistent rhythm. You either allow the noise and busyness of the day to rule your life -- or when things are going well you stop because you feel you don't need meditation or prayer any longer….until the next problem or challenge comes up in your life and you begin again.
3. Searching - Deep inside you know something is not right – you’re hoping the emptiness and uncertainty will eventually go away. You do not engage in any quiet reflection, prayer or meditation. You avoid exploring the meaning of “eternity” and the haunting echo in your soul.
Most of us fall under the category of “drifter.” The good news is that we can change! We can choose to do and be anything we want. If you want to get better at prayer and meditation – you can. You just need to set your daily intention to prayer and meditation and then start your journey -- perhaps even starting your own “5 minute rule” every morning.
Most people need something to help keep them on track – gentle reminders to prompt them during the day to pause – so that distractions don’t derail them. Solution: the meaning to pause® bracelet. This bracelet gently and privately vibrates every 90 minutes with a friendly nudge to keep you on track and mindful of your daily intention to meditate, pray or reflect. This bracelet holds the key to keeping you focused on your daily intention and helps you stay true to your commitment to allow for quiet time during your hectic and busy days.
For more information go to: www.meaningtopause.com
“The value of consistent prayer is not that He will hear us,
but that we will hear Him.” ~William McGill
