How to Pray Article Series: What Do I Do When I Get Distracted While Praying? (Part II)
Posted: Friday, January 08, 2010
by Babes Tan-Magkalas
http://www.stjosephsite.com
This article is part two of a two-part article about what to do when distracted while praying.
There are other ways to avoid or minimize internal distractions. Some spiritual writers advised that one simply brushed distractions away as if they were annoying flies. But you have to do it gently. It's like when you're having a conversation with someone outdoors and a fly suddenly landed on your nose and you just gently brush it away and continue with the conversation.
Another way to is to settle down and collect your thoughts before you start to pray. St. Therese of Avila , a Doctor of the Church is called the Doctor of prayer. She said that most of the problem one has during prayer is related to what one does when one begins to pray. So she really stressed the importance of beginning prayer by placing oneself in the Presence of God. This simply means to collect your thoughts. Give some time to settle down to prayer. Breathe deeply, find a comfortable position, forget about what you were doing a few minutes before, etc. Don't begin your prayer already distracted.
Some people would look at an image, perhaps a picture of Jesus and imagine Him before them. There are times when I look at the picture of the Divine
Mercy and imagine myself being showered by the light coming out of his heart.
Your health also affects the way you deal with distractions during prayer. If you're sleepy or tired, worried, or tensed or hungry, it is easy for the mind to wander. Someone said to pray now while one is healthy because it is so hard to do so when you are sick. It's so hard to think when one has a bad headache, how much more to pray. So try to minimize these problems as much as possible.
If you cannot, then pray about them or pray for the grace to be able to pray given your current health condition.
Playing soft meditation music also helps to minimize distractions during prayer. There are many meditation music available out there it's really a matter of choosing the one which works for you.
Praying out loud can also keep you focus during prayer. It works especially when you're talking to God, when you're pouring your heart out to him. You can easily know when you get distracted because obviously, you stop praying. So you can do this when you're alone and you'll be surprised how it keeps you from getting distracted.
The bottom line is when you get distracted while praying, tell God all about it
and ask Him to help you. And He will.
Have you been praying for something for a very long time and still your prayer hasn't been granted? Go to www.how-to-pray-effectively.com and learn how to pray & develop a close relationship with God. Please also visit my blog for the answers to your biggest questions about prayer .
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