mnh1982

Do you "pray"? If so, to what, or to whom?

I find myself doing what, for lack of a better term, I would call praying, every day. But usually, it's for guidance from the loved ones who have gone before me, or just out into the ether, hoping for a little clarity.

I wonder sometimes if what I'm really doing is pleading to my rational, determined, objective Self to give my emotional, romantic, indecisive Self a freakin' pep talk about how to deal with my AH.

Can that be considered a form of prayer? To appeal from one side of oneself to the other for a change in attitude or behavior, & to "grow a pair", as it were?

Thoughts?

samseb5351

I prayed for many years while following a recovery program that had "spiritual experience" as a center piece. After a while I started to slowly realize I did not believe anymore, I became skeptical of the foundations of my belief and less reliant on the emotional comfort, big highs and lows associated with blissful selective ignorance. I found ways of living a rich and happy life that aligned with reality I became a skeptic, positive atheist and secular humanist. My main tools of living are contemplation and mindfulness, which Ironically were things I started practicing in my "spiritual" recovery days, through suggested ways
Ike prayer, meditation, doing inventory and breathing exercises. The main difference is I kept the pragmatism of the practices and dropped the mysticism. All of my early curious experiences lost the higher power tag and became simple contemplations.

Even-though I live life today out of a space of atheism, if I am honest I would have to say in a weird way Prayer was not a total waist of time. When I prayed, the things I would say were about aligning myself similar to the serenity prayer kind of like "help me see" requests or "help me do", prayers about contemplation of the day, After praying you still had to be the doer, so it kind of was an alignment for the day, to try and look at things and act in a way that make life more interesting, robust and rich.

It looks to me like you are coming to a similar conclusion about the some helpful ideas of prayer, perhaps you could change it to a simple contemplative practice, eventually you may not need mysticism "guidance of loved ones" or even the separate selves ideas. Like me you may conclude its just a simple process of reflection and attempt to get through life see through the many self made suffering narratives we all cling too.


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Wholesome

I think a persons belief are their own and that if one prays it is a very personal thing between them and whatever it is they are trying to connect to. We all live in our own private realities based on our own upbringing, history and narrative. Do what feels good and right for you.

I myself send a message out to the universe every once in awhile.... I just sent one out for me and my injured son, and I received. I'm not saying that I got an answer from the universe but more that in my need got resourceful. I think that if you feel like you need to reach outside of yourself then by focusing your energy on that thought that you will find a not necessarily a solution but perhaps a direction. Prayer to me is a focused beam of thought.... I am now turning on the high beams of my intention.

CousinA

On my knees to a deity? Nope. But I often walk around my apartment and ask somethinh "what am I gonna do now?" out loud. Maybe I'm talking to myself. Maybe not.

-allan

silentrun

You might like the spirituality section on this forum. It helped me figure some things out. In a way I do. Sometimes it will hit me when I haven't asked like a sudden clear understanding of a situation. A couple of times I have been in so much anguish that I said "To much" and I will see the answer. I don't believe in a God but I do believe we have capabilities that could be described as divine.

anattaboy

Ditto to what Sam said. At times of utter disbelief or WTF of what life hands me, I still close my eyes to ask. It does help center and block out peripherals--much like deep meditation. I'm actually grateful for AA. It helped me evolve. My only HP's are time and gravity (inertia comes into play whilst driving but so does the Tao)

brynn

Anattaboy...you always make me smile...inertia, indeed!

I might be an anomaly in the secular forums because I actually do believe in god, I just don't rely on him to keep me sober...thats up to me.

So yes, I pray to god.....but a lot of times I find myself uttering simple 'prayers' and I think I'm appealing more to myself...or my rational self....more than anything, to sit up, take notice, and take action!

greens

Well if it's working for ya, keep it up!
I used to, and I felt this little high off of it. It no longer does anything for me, so I quit, but I'm open to utilizING it again in my future if It strikes my fancy. Maybe I just need to think abit it differently. Still love my meditation tho.

Ananda

as a Buddhist from a Christian country, I have started to realize that of course I "call out to god" at times. It is simply the form that I was raised in and is natural to fall back on in times of trouble. It is simply what it is, not a big deal. I don't actually "believe" in god, but at times of crisis it is a programed reaction. And I'm fine with that.

If there is a god, I don't actually have a problem with it...It's just not what I "believe", not my "opinion", not my "preference". I really just don't care

Mostly I just look at what it signals to me when I call out to god, it is a state of mind, a place that my ego is in at the time. It isn't "bad", it just is what it is.

sometimes I just have to take the knee jerk reactions out and accept that when circumstances are a certain way, I will react in a certain way at first.

sugarbear1

I also do the "What's my next step" kind of prayer, but it's not to me, I'm no deity or higher power!