{"id":6560,"date":"2014-06-06T22:19:16","date_gmt":"2014-06-07T02:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?p=6560"},"modified":"2014-06-07T06:16:12","modified_gmt":"2014-06-07T10:16:12","slug":"turning-into-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html","title":{"rendered":"Turning Into Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/107\/2014\/06\/prayingboy1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6562\" alt=\"prayingboy\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/107\/2014\/06\/prayingboy1.jpg\" width=\"183\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have prayed so much that I myself turned into prayer \u2014 \/ Everyone who sees me begs a prayer from me.&#8221;-Rumi<\/p>\n<p>Prayer is one of my favorite life practices. It is a constant companion from the moment I awaken until my head sinks into the pillow and my eyes flutter shut. Likely I pray in my sleep. For me, prayer need not be formal, from a sacred text or done in a rote manner. It is a connection to the God of my understanding, a link with all life. I was weaned on the Shema (the Hebrew prayer that acknowledges our Oneness with the Divine.) I still recite it in my mind every night. Throughout the day, I express gratitude for the multitudinous blessings that swirl about; for the dear people in my life&#8230;and there are many.\u00a0 I extend energy in the form of healing thoughts to those in need. I surround myself with ideas of abundance. As an interfaith minister, I glean rituals from various traditions. Sometimes the words are accompanied by melody, oftentimes movement. Stillness and silence are prayers in and of themselves. Being in nature, praying WITH God as co-creator of wonder, going on a miracle walk and noticing the glint of sunshine on an upturned leaf or the smile on an upturned face.\u00a0 Those too are potent prayers.<\/p>\n<p>There was a time when I thought of my home as prayer central, since people would ask daily for assistance with illness, challenging circumstances, for a positive outcome to whatever was on their mind at the time. I often felt like Jim Carrey&#8217;s character in the film Bruce Almighty, when he was sitting at his computer with post-it notes that had scribbled prayer requests on them. He got so tired of considering petitions one at a time, that he responded with a sweeping YES! to the petitioners. If you recall, all manner of chaos broke loose. At that point, he couldn&#8217;t put the genie back in the bottle.<\/p>\n<p>Whenever I am asked to pray for others,\u00a0 my mantra is &#8220;This or something better, for the Highest Good of all concerned.&#8221; \u00a0As I do that, I let go of attachment to outcome. I have found that although they may not be answered in the way I would like, prayer is ALWAYS answered. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no and sometimes it is &#8220;Patience, my love.&#8221;\u00a0 When I allow myself to trust that all is in Divine Order, I can relax with whatever may arise and become a\u00a0living, breathing\u00a0prayer~<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, <a title=\"Oriah Mountain Dreamer\" href=\"http:\/\/oriahmountaindreamer.com\" target=\"_blank\">Oriah Mountain Dreamer<\/a> for posting the Rumi quote on your page yesterday, so I could scoop it up, like a handful of\u00a0 refreshing water to quench my spiritual thirst~<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: <a title=\"Stefan\/Everystock Photo\" href=\"http:\/\/everstockphoto.com\" target=\"_blank\">Stefan\/Everystock Photo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &#8220;I have prayed so much that I myself turned into prayer \u2014 \/ Everyone who sees me begs a prayer from me.&#8221;-Rumi Prayer is one of my favorite life practices. It is a constant companion from the moment I awaken until my head sinks into the pillow and my eyes flutter shut. Likely I&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,40,1,12,8,41,19,50,3,22,4,16,10,38],"tags":[165,4897,164,1620,3060,4866,59,1686],"class_list":["post-6560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abundance","category-affirmations","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss-kiss-for-your-weekend","category-communication","category-death","category-empowerment","category-god","category-gratitude","category-healing","category-inspiration","category-my-personal-bliss","category-spirituality","category-transformation","tag-bruce-almighty","tag-edie-weinstein","tag-jim-carrey","tag-judaism","tag-oriah-mountain-dreamer","tag-prayer","tag-rumi","tag-shema"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Turning Into Prayer - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Turning Into Prayer - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; &#8220;I have prayed so much that I myself turned into prayer \u2014 \/ Everyone who sees me begs a prayer from me.&#8221;-Rumi Prayer is one of my favorite life practices. It is a constant companion from the moment I awaken until my head sinks into the pillow and my eyes flutter shut. Likely I&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-07T02:19:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-07T10:16:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/files\/2014\/06\/prayingboy1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Turning Into Prayer - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Turning Into Prayer - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"&nbsp; &#8220;I have prayed so much that I myself turned into prayer \u2014 \/ Everyone who sees me begs a prayer from me.&#8221;-Rumi Prayer is one of my favorite life practices. It is a constant companion from the moment I awaken until my head sinks into the pillow and my eyes flutter shut. Likely I&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2014-06-07T02:19:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-06-07T10:16:12+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/files\/2014\/06\/prayingboy1.jpg"}],"author":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdieWeinstein1","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html","name":"Turning Into Prayer - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/files\/2014\/06\/prayingboy1.jpg","datePublished":"2014-06-07T02:19:16+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-07T10:16:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/files\/2014\/06\/prayingboy1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/files\/2014\/06\/prayingboy1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/06\/turning-into-prayer.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Turning Into Prayer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/","name":"The Bliss Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Edie Weinstein","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386","name":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","caption":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW"},"description":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman\u2019s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.opti-mystical.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","https:\/\/x.com\/EdieWeinstein1"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/author\/eweinstein"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6560"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6566,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6560\/revisions\/6566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}