2016-06-30
1) Give yourself time to prepare for prayer.

2) Set aside a chunk of time every day for prayer, because once you skip one day, it gets much easier to skip the next day.

3)Study the traditional prayers, so that you better understand them and how they fit into the prayerbook as a whole. This will increase your ability to concentrate on them and recite them sincerely and meaningfully.

4) When praying from the traditional prayerbook, concentrate on the words of the prayers, while also using those words as tools for meditation.

5) Spend time every day talking to God from the heart, in your native language, without using established liturgy.

6) When you speak to God, pour your heart out, complain, compliment, even share news of your life as if to an old friend.

7) If you find you can't pray, pray for the ability to pray. Ask God to help you talk to God.

8) Don't be afraid to be who you really are when you pray. In fact you can't be anything other than you really are with God.

9) Find a prayer group or house of worship where talking or personal relations don't interfere and the group as a whole takes praying seriously. (Otherwise it's better to pray on your own).

10) When praying with a group, don't feel the need to keep up with the group. If you get involved in one section of the prayer, stay with it.

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