I Pray Daily, I wasnt Raised in the Church but as I got older I started going and realize its Not for Me, but that Spiritual connection that I have on my Own thru research and Prayer! I have found my balance with how I live my life.
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I am starting to include prayer into my life. It is hard because like @Dejavu I do not believe in a Christian God but I do feel like there is something…
Right now I say specific prayers like mantras. They are less about actually asking God to guide me in some way and more about planting the message into my being so that I can live that message every day.
I say about 5 prayers every morning and I try to end my day each night with a final prayer of thanks. But more often than not I forget that evening prayer.
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I used to resent my grandmother for telling me she was praying for me, or asking me to pray for her. I had a very very negative conception of prayer that was tied to a very very negative conception of God. Today I am so grateful to have moved past those thoughts. I have a big God, and he’s nothing like the Christian one I used to think existed. My God is the stuff of mysteries, the life source,the spirit of the universe, the reason why my breath happens without my trying, the amazing things nature does, the energy between two people when they talk, it’s the little miracles. I am also of the opinion that the Christian God is the same God I talk to, and so is Allah, and so is really any conception of God. I know that might bother some people, but it is my opinion and I’m entitled to it. Check this out:
"Water is everywhere and in all living things — we cannot be separated from water. No water, no life. Period. Water comes in many forms – liquid, vapor, ice, snow, fog, rain, hail. But no matter the form, it’s still water.
Human beings give this stuff many names in many languages in all its forms. It’s crazy to argue over what the true name is. Call it what you will, there is no difference to the water. It is what it is.
Human being drink water from many vessels – cups, glasses, jugs, skins, their own hands, whatever. To argue about which container is proper for the water is crazy. The container doesn’t change the water.
Some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it iced, some fizzy, some with stuff mixed in with it – alcohol, coffee, whatever. No matter. It does not change the nature of the water.
Never mind the name or the cup or the mix, these are not important.
What we have in common is thirst. Thirst!
Thirst for the water of life! As it is with water, so it is with God."
-Robert Fulghum
Anyway, these days I love prayer. Prayer is my communion with God. It is my ability to be present in the moment and connected to the thing that makes all life. It is a moment of letting go of my own will and surrendering to the undeniable fact that things are going to be how they are going to be. It offers me a window out of my own thoughts and the material dimension that it is so easy to get wrapped up in. I get to see the mystery rather than sit in worry, self pity and self will. I get to turn things over and out of my hands.
I pray often. I pray for attributes that I want and that will help me be a good force in the world. I pray for humility, kindness, love, courage and whatever else I feel I might need that day. I pray that I can stay present and aware. I pray for direction and guidance that I might take right action. I pray for others who struggle and hurt. I pray for those people who are bothering me in some way. And nearly always over half of my prayers is gratitude. Expressing thanks for life, health, freedom from my old ways, the people I get to meet, the beautiful world around me and on and on…
I have a lot of prayers that I like:
Great spirit prayer-
"Oh, Great Spirit,
Whose voice I hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to all the world.
Hear me! I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes
ever hold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand
the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.
Help me remain calm and strong in the
face of all that comes towards me.
Help me find compassion without
empathy overwhelming me.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy: myself.
Make me always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you without shame."
Translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887
A Chinook prayer-
“May all I say and all I think
be in harmony with thee,
God within me,
God beyond me,
maker of the trees.”
Unitarian Universalist Prayer
"I know little of who you are. I know little of your plan. I can understand only specks of your power. I cannot begin to comprehend all of what you are. But this I know. You do not give love, you are love. You do not project beauty, you are beauty. You do not allow hope, you are hope. You do not lend strength, you are strength. All that is good is your gift. All that is bad is the consequence of man s attempt to reject or mold you. The solutions to my problems, my fears, and my shame are all found in you.
All things I wish to be come from my desire to be closer to you. I see you every time I see the light shining through a tree. I see you every time a sunset or mountain vista takes my breath away. I hear you ever time I open myself to the wonder of life. I feel you every time my heart fills with joy and love. I doubt you only when I allow fear, and greed, and selfishness to assume the power to control me. I know that if I allow you in my life I feel peace. When I embrace you I feel love. When I seek you I find strength.
Father, show me the way to serenity so that I may be of help to others. Show me the way to responsibility so that I may give to others.
Mother, show me the path to compassion so that I may comfort others. Show me the path to healing so I may help others heal themselves.
Grandfather, show me the road to wisdom so that I may teach others. Show me the road to strength so that I may carry others until they can carry themselves.
Grandmother, show me how to feel love so that I may love others. Show me forgiveness so that I may forgive myself and others.
God, help me remove the blinders of self-will. Help me see what is true. Teach me so that I can be of service. Free me from fear, from hate, from greed, from discontent so that I may contribute myself to your work. Allow me to see what you would have me do and grant me the strength to follow through. Without you I am empty. With you at my side I am whole.
Thank You."
Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi-
“Lord, Make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
Where there is discord, harmony.
Where there is error, truth.
Where there is wrong, the spirit of forgiveness.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console.
To be understood as to understand.
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
3rd step prayer-
“God, I offer myself to Thee
To build with me
and to do with me as Thou wilt.
Relieve me of the bondage of self,
that I may better do Thy will.
Take away my difficulties,
that victory over them may bear witness
to those I would help of Thy Power,
Thy Love, and Thy Way of life.
May I do Thy will always!”
AA Big Book
And I say these Just For Todays out loud, usually before I head in to work or school or a challenge:
"Just for today - I will try to live through this day only and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.
Just for today - I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said that “Most folks are as happy as they set their minds to be.”
Just for today - I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my “luck” as it comes and fit myself to it.
Just for today - I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
Just for today - I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out; if anybody knows of it, it will not count. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do - just for excercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt but I will not show it.
Just for today - I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticize not one bit, not find fault with anything and not try to improve or regulate anybody but myself.
Just for today - I will have a program. I may not follow it exactly but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.
Just for today - I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.
Just for today - I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me."
Al Anon
May have over done it with this post 
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Thank you for sharing - very powerful 
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Interesting. I definitely have to go to library for his books.
Great topic. Prayer for me is the practice of acceptance and a affirmation of positive behaviors.
So for example I pray to whatever God there may be for acceptance of whats coming my way or “gods plan” and to guide me towards the practice of good behaviors, empathy, honesty, compassion, love, etc…
The God of my understanding is not a Santa Claus so I make sure to not treat prayer as a request or want list.
Thanks for the topic.
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Many are probably in the public domain and free.
I was raised catholic in NYC and attended catholic schools in the 1970’s, that experience pretty much shut the door on organized religion for me. However throughout my life situations would occur where i found myself wondering about a God. My personal belief is do unto others and be kind first. Helpful if you can be and always honest. But then i saw this prayer and it stayed with me, ive said it many times and im certain I will continue to. What i find so interesting is that now living in Arizona, out of nowhere, 2 buddies from H.S. (class of '85) show uo at my house asking if Im me. (Facebook before its asked). One lives around the corner and the other on the other side of Phoenix. So to answer now in earnest, i say one prayer, its Father Mychal’s Prayer. We ask our children say grace at supper and I listen to a lot of music, because music does indeed enrich the soul, (even if its heavy metal laced with satanic messages)
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I’ve been playing with the idea that prayer is generally an expression of ourselves and our values in the the spiritual realm, as well as an exercise in aligning the two. Whether we ask for something from our higher power, listen for something, practice gratitude for something, vent our emotions out, seek to nurture a personal relationship with our concept of God, or otherwise, it is us being ourselves with a spiritual awareness. This is why I have such a difficult time with the idea engaging in formal prayer that doesn’t come naturally or feel authentic.* From a Christian perspective, I can think of it as purposefully sharing my life with God. Since I tend to be selfishly oriented, that can often take the form of asking for things, but on the whole it is much wider than that.
*This is actually why resentment prayers work well for me. If I’m able to do the prayer, it means I’ve found the part of myself that truly authentically on some level wants the best for that person I’m feeling resentful towards.
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Every morning I place my trust in God asking for help and guidance to stay sober, overcome my fears, release my angers, my resentments, my anxieties and all of my self seeking dishonest thoughts, I ask for help to be of service to others as best as I possibly can and for help and guidance to make the right decisions and “let thy will be done, not mine”.
I follow this with the serenity prayer and a prayer for help for others I might be concerned for.
At night I take inventory of my day, if I’ve stepped out of line ensure I apologise or make amends as soon as I possibly can then I go to sleep with a 30 minute guided meditatation using the St Francis Prayer.
I find this keeps my conscious contact with god quite strong, sometimes during they day I’ll repeat my morning prayer routine inside my head, it keeps that guidance and awarness of my surroundings in the right place.
I am a huge supporter of prayer and meditation based on my own personal positive experience.
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I found the prayer for someone you hold a resentment against incredibly effective.
Could be my higher power but if I were to explain it I would consider it to be a daily practice of humility, empathy, unselfishness, and compassion.
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Thank you thank you for this post! It was very helpful to me!
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Thank you for this topic. I actually wrote down a few things people said in my journal/workbook.
I used to be spiritual, but somewhere along the way I became disconnected. I couldn’t sense anything bigger than myself, even though I wanted to and tried to. I am feeling the door crack open just a bit now and am actively working on rediscovering and strengthening the connection to my HP.
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I pray whenever the thought of prayer crosses my mind. I pray in the morning and at night to thank God for the day and waking up. I tend to pray a lot for the safety and happiness of my friends and family. Prayer is very personal and the there’s no wrong way to pray💕
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I miss driving my kids to school for those same conversations. There were times I could not believe the wisdom and conviction they could have. It helped me to accept that they have their own Higher Power. thanks for reminding me.
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As always, thanks all for your open and honest experiences with this. It really helps me to see a wide range of approaches in order to form my own. I don’t know how or where else I would learn these things 
At my meeting last night they give our marbles to signify resentments or troubles. If someone is having a resentment or problem, they take a marble to act as a reminder to pray for that person daily for two weeks to release that resentment. They then return the marble in front of a future meeting, usually to applause and encouragement. Thus far, I’ve felt not ready. I have a long list of resentments and I don’t feel ready to tackle them and I still feel unsure of myself with a daily prayer routine. In other words, I made excuses.
Last night I took a marble for the first time. It sits out on the ottoman with my books etc - I hope to remind me to pray for this person morning and night. My starting point is that this person would just go away and not be involved in my life or the people I care about. I am turning it on it’s head and am praying for them to have all the things that I want - happiness, peace, serenity and a life filled with love, including love from people that I do care about. I am praying that I get to a place of peace and acceptance about this person’s involvement in the life of someone I care about and that I can grow to care about them too.
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So glad to hear it ! Thank you!
How would a “resentment prayer” go? I have a few resentments that I would like to get rid of but I’m not sure how to DO it.
This is the resentment prayer that I carry it in my wallet:
“Please help me be free from anger and remind me that the provocation of ________, fancied or real, has the power to kill me.
Please show me how I can be helpful to them and relieve me from anger, retaliation or argument.
Please show me how to demonstrate ________ the same tolerance and compassion that I would cheerfully show a sick friend.
Bless them, change me.”
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This is so powerful. Looking forward to hearing the changes.