NPR: Prayer May Reshape Your Brain ... And Your Reality -- which is good, since both of mine are still a work in progress.

If you poke around over on the NPR site there is a fascinating series about prayer, meditation, spirituality and the brain.  In particular, the piece "Prayer May Reshape Your Brain ... And Your Reality" intrigued me.  There is both an article and an excellent audio piece I recommend - 8 minutes and 7 seconds long, if you have the time (for me it got very interesting around the 4:17 mark).

I must confess, though, that what left me irritated with myself was -- and I am chagrined to write it here -- my reaction to some of the study subjects' prayer and meditation routines.  Many of these people pray and/or meditate one to two hours a day, every day*. 

Personally, I have had some pretty profound spiritual experiences -- this whole damn blog came from one, in fact -- but ... one to two hours?  For reals?  To say that I find that daunting is ...

well, actually it's inaccurate.  I don't find it daunting. I find it ... well, the truth is it sounds really, really boring to me. 

Now, I am the kind of man who, when I was drinking and using, could spend literally 8 hours sitting on the same bar stool drinking.  8 hours.

And I suggest to people all the time that if they "turn up the volume" on their spiritual practice they will garner greater results.

Yet my first reaction to setting the bar at, oh, let's say one hour, in prayer and mediation a day is that I'm worried I'll be bored?

Jeeze, that's pretty sad.

But of course, by now AA has ingrained in me certain tools that come easily to hand when faced with a problem that either daunts, or, as in this case, embarrasses me:

I'll pray about it.

No, really.

I don't think I'll be praying for an hour to ask God, the Universe or The Great Whatever to help me to pray for an hour -- but I think that a major addition to my prayer routine now (which, I confess, is pretty solid.  It's not that I don't pray, or meditate every day ... it's just that I'm really ... ummmm ... efficient at it) will be to ask for the willingness and the focus and the desire to spend more time doing so.

And I will let you know here how it goes.

*Unfortunately one of them also sound a little crazy to me, which doesn't help when it comes to keeping an open mind on all things spiritual.  I am, it seems, still a terrible and judgmental man.  Stick with me, though -- I'm working on it.  But really, I might find a personal exchange with someone like that very trying:  "So, how's the coffee here?"  "God told me it was excellent."  "Ooookay."

(And how's that for effed up?  I mock the very things that I've experienced and written about here at Mr. SponsorPants:  Prayer, contact with a God of your understanding, etc.  What terrible pseudo-intellectual superiority do I still labor under?  I'm not sure, but I admit it's occasionally good for a few laughs as I go through my day.  I suppose the real trick is to take the seeking of a contact with God seriously, but not ourselves.  If, on occasion, my "not taking seriously" spills over onto other people ... well ... sorry!  Like I said, working on it.)

Comments

[Dave]

LOL

[Jessie R]

hmmm...that is a conundrum.

Truth, I took the quiz at the side but found that I could only answer a half truth. Most days I spend at least 1/2 hour a day in prayer and meditation, I read spiritual literature, and I talk to religious leadership quite often about my ideas and allow them to challenge me with their ideas and beliefs. It has been very enlightening. They tend to ask me a lot of questions...

Truth told, I'm leaning more toward the "crazy" people these days, they seem to be focused on God, willing to pray about things and have a peace about the shit piles that turn up in life that I cannot figure out.

I find a lot of your advice and your insight enlightening too. And if you can have this kind of insight while admittedly not being a perfect follower of the directions, well I wonder what can be accomplished if I continue to work for more meditation and prayer time... That is an awesome direction to move in compared to the old direction.

This post, well it made me sad at first. I need to look at my judgment too, be quick to see where you are right, where I haven't been taking accounts of others "positive" experience with God, and find those people and be interested in what they're doing right too. Willing to try it...willing to test their theories to see...

The Herbert Spencer quote is still a favorite. It harkens me back to advice that my Southern Baptist (shudder) Grandma used to give "Don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes." Hmm... Guess that's why we call it Trudging huh? LOL... DAMN I hate that she was right... Still so diseased.

I forget that when I actually move on that idea, I grow in Spirit and love.

Thank you very much for this today, you've helped me a lot. A LOT! I cannot show gratitude enough!!!!

[Steve E]

Jess, what's a conundrum? (I looked it up--cheater that I am!)

Interesting thing though. I neditate about 5 minutes every morning FIRST thing, B4 bathroom...out of bed, on the floor! Routine, but my words ar different each day.
No litany, just like, "Please let me help You God, to do something for YOU today. Anything, even if it's just "Don't argue, don't retaliate, lat me go soewhere I don't want to go, or visit someone I do not care to see, etc."