Catherine Therese Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Just lately, my prayer has been more than a little disproportionately about my life and questions over where I'm headed, and not nearly God-focussed enough. Each time I attempt to shift my focus back to God, it is only moments until I get side-tracked again. For anyone with similar struggles, I'd love to hear any ideas you have that have helped you to spend time actually WITH Him, and not just playing a tape inside your head with a vague awareness that He's with you even through your neglect of Him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vee Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I hope these might help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAqIvHb9mm4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsZ9TpZ16n4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximillion Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I know what you mean CT but I wonder if you have thought that this is your prayer, for now. There is great grace to be had in being where one is at............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatitude Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 CT, I am in a similar position. This may not apply to you, but when I find myself becoming self-centred in prayer, I usually seem to be getting self-centred towards others as well. So I make a conscious effort to listen to people more than I talk, to ask questions in a conversation, not to dominate it with my own interests. I also turn more to intercessory prayer. I recite the rosary with relevant scriptural passages added for meditation, and I offer up each decade for a person whose situation seems to correspond to that mystery. This does help. Beyond this, I agree with Max's advice - just try to make a very short, very simple offering of your prayer exactly as it is and trust that your intention is pleasing to God. I do this through a morning offering, which in my case is just the words, "Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you," repeated a few times. I am a big fan of the Carmelite writer Ruth Burrows, and in one of her books she talks about how the feeling of 'bad' prayer is one of the hardest and most frustrating burdens to carry, but that we simply have to learn to trust God and relinquish our desire to do something special - it's enough to trust him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlySunshine Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Just lately, my prayer has been more than a little disproportionately about my life and questions over where I'm headed, and not nearly God-focussed enough. Each time I attempt to shift my focus back to God, it is only moments until I get side-tracked again. For anyone with similar struggles, I'd love to hear any ideas you have that have helped you to spend time actually WITH Him, and not just playing a tape inside your head with a vague awareness that He's with you even through your neglect of Him. I have similiar struggles because I have problems keeping attention focused in prayer. It's not so much that I'm focusing on other things but I have trouble forming prayer in my mind. A lot of times, before Mass, I'll kneel in prayer but nothing comes to me. I've learned that just kneeling there, silent, in recollection is enough and brings me peace. God speaks in the silence of the heart so you don't need to say anything. Just being with Him is enough if you make the effort. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponsa-Christi Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 This may or may not help you, (and it may even be bad advice altogether!) so take it with a grain of salt. But I've found that sometimes when a particular issue is "distracting" me in prayer, it's a sign that this issue is something that God wants me to look at more closely, or to put more attention into resolving. But as I said, this may or may not apply to your case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Credo in Deum Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Sometimes I tell Him all I can muster is this simple tape, but that I want to give it to Him with all my heart just the same. Then I thank Him and I trust that He is happy with my little gift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marigold Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 All great responses. Don't worry CT, I'm constantly thinking about myself and know that God loves me anyway! Whenever I catch myself doing it, I focus right back on God and just keep doing that ad infinitum. As Sr. Faith told me, if you've become distracted twenty-nine times, it means you've returned to God thirty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immanuel Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 All great responses. Don't worry CT, I'm constantly thinking about myself and know that God loves me anyway! Whenever I catch myself doing it, I focus right back on God and just keep doing that ad infinitum. As Sr. Faith told me, if you've become distracted twenty-nine times, it means you've returned to God thirty! Love this^^^^^..It gives me hope for my prayer life as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luigi Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) This may or may not help you, (and it may even be bad advice altogether!) so take it with a grain of salt. But I've found that sometimes when a particular issue is "distracting" me in prayer, it's a sign that this issue is something that God wants me to look at more closely, or to put more attention into resolving. But as I said, this may or may not apply to your case. I agree. If something is weighing heavily on your mind, it must necessarily also weigh heavily on your heart (and probably vise versa). You won't be able to return to "pure prayer" (if there is such a thing) until you resolve the issue to some extent. 1. When I find myself thinking of someone else during prayer - an old girlfriend, a cousin I haven't talked to in a while - I consider it a sign that God wants me to include that person in my prayer. Something must me up with them, and God's giving me an assignment on their behalf. When I do that, I quit thinking about the other person. So I'd say include the problems in your prayer. 2. By the same token, if I can't figure out what to do in a challenging situation, I make it sort of the centerpiece of my intentions - not that I think only about that topic while praying, but I acknowledge from the very beginning of my prayer time that it's heavy on my mind. 3. If it's a particular problem, I pray the rosary as sort of a split-screen in my head - What's going on in this mystery? How is that similar to this problem? Which character in this mystery do I identify with NOW, in this situation? Does that provide any insight into what I ought to do, or how I ought to think about the situation? Sort of comparison-and-contrast of me to the mystery. 4. Lastly, I benefit when I can come up with an analogy/image. When I was having real trouble with a family member, I stumbled upon the image of my 'heart' (although I suppose it's really my mind) as a pharmaceutical pestle or chemistry dish of some sort - I can put anything in there to pray about it, even if it's poisonous, and it won't burn me. When I was overwhelmed with intentions to pray about, I gave up on the "three Hail Marys for each intention" approach - not enough time in the day! Instead, I went with the image of my heart (or mind) as a salad bowl - all the intentions get thrown in there, then I pour prayer on all of it, like salad oil. Toss thoroughly. And if I'd made a complete hot mess of a situation, I use the image of a kid who tried to cook something and it came out looking like UMP. So what you do? - You take it to Mom or Dad and say - "This is what I made. Can you do anything with this? It ain't pretty, but it's mine." If you can come up with an analogy/image, it might let you get back to your regular patterns of prayer. Edited July 30, 2014 by Luigi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domenica_therese Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 The Liturgy of the Hours helps me be less self-centered when I pray because I don't choose the topic. If it falls out of my schedule, I feel the lack. And the big problem for me when it comes to life and future distracting me in prayer is if I'm too busy trying to figure it out on my own to trust God with it. Then it's a trust issue more than a distraction issue. For a long time I didn't have much of a prayer life at all because all I did in prayer was demand answers and then run away from them. :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandelynmarie Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) Someone once told me, "Pray as you can, not as you can't." And another told me, "The first rule of prayer is showing up!" ;) I do my very imperfect best to give Him all things...every distraction, every bit of boredom, every fear, every happiness...I try to use these things to return my thoughts & heart to Him... Prayer, I think, is essentially being with the One we love, with the One Who loves us...as long as we will that, I believe the how & the quantity & what we perceive as quality are incidental... Edited July 30, 2014 by brandelynmarie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlySunshine Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Someone once told me, "Pray as you can, not as you can't." And another told me, "The first rule of prayer is showing up!" ;) I do my very imperfect best to give Him all things...every distraction, every bit of boredom, every fear, every happiness...I try to use these things to return my thoughts & heart to Him... Prayer, I think, is essentially being with the One we love, with the One Who loves us...as long as we will that, I believe the how & the quantity & what we perceive as quality are incidental... That's similar to what a priest told me. I told him that I was being distracted in prayer and was wondering how to rectify the problem. He told me that just showing up is half the battle. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritasluxmea Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I've been having the same problem recently as well... What helped me was to offer my "plans" to him and stop thinking of my life one way or another. I simply think "watch and wait" and focus on where I am today and what needs to be done for tomorrow, and not think further than that. Hope that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Therese Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm very grateful for each of your responses - each one of them offers something unique from the others and something that is obviously well thought out and most likely arising from personal experience... it's always comforting to know you're not alone! I'll be sitting with this thread and taking little gems from it to bring to my prayer for some time to come. Really - very much appreciated, thanks Pham! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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