For some people, their faith is an afterthought to all of the other things going on in their life. From having to go to work, running errands and dealing with family life, generally speaking, their relationship with God gets placed lower on their to-do list and they begin to lose their faith. That is until one day when something really bad happens and then they decide to move God back to the top of their priority list. So why do so many people put off daily prayer when they know it will benefit them greatly if they did it on a regular basis?
Life Is Filled With Distractions
From TV to social media, our world is being overwhelmed with things that call for our attention and keep us distracted. In the last ten years, attention spans continue to shorten due to the fact that people are consuming thousands of bite-sized chunks of information on a daily basis.
Because of this, the idea of prayer (which requires a great deal of attention and the need to quiet your mind) is not as appealing as watching a funny video on YouTube or scrolling the endless images that spike dopamine on Instagram. But if you are sincere about your faith and want to see improvement in your life, how can you begin achieving the goal of daily prayer?
Daily Prayer Starts With One Small Step
“Developing new habits and achieving goals starts with the process called ‘chunking'” says Dan Jones, a Christian life coach from the Coaching Institute. “Every time I am helping someone to instill a new habit that they want to do on a daily basis, I make sure that they begin with just one or two minutes every day at the same time. Doing someone at the same time every day makes it much easier for the brain to remember so that it becomes habitual like eating breakfast or brushing your teeth.”
Very often people will talk themselves out of taking on new habits because they become overwhelmed with the task. However, if your mind focuses on just the small steps and not the entire goal, it makes it much easier for your mind to accept so that it does not feel like a burden. By starting small, you will quickly begin to reap the rewards of the many benefits of daily prayer.
Benefits Of Daily Prayer
Think of daily prayer in the same way you would as eating healthy or going to the gym: it’s not something you are going to see right away but its more of a long term effect that will grow over time like compound interest.
For example, when you begin taking health supplements, it can take your body anywhere from four to six weeks until enough of the vitamin or nutrient has absorbed into your bloodstream. The same is true for daily prayer. By connecting with your faith on an ongoing basis, over time you will begin to see small improvements with how you handle things in your life.
The truth is that no matter how much you pray, the stresses of life will always be there. However, what will change is how you respond to them and how they affect your life. Those who pray on a regular basis notice that they are able to handle more stress-full situations without letting it affect them in a negative way. All it takes is ten to fifteen minutes each day and you will see a great improvement in your mental and emotional health.
