I think it is really helpful to teach any young child ‘how to pray’ and I don’t mean in the old-fashioned religious way. I mean in the ‘there is an eternal natural balance based in goodness, which we are part of and can tune into’ and this tuning in can clear any unease we feel, or support and maintain us on a steady and growth filled life path.

Without a sense or understanding of prayer, we can get stuck in uneasy feelings and thoughts – they can ruminate (go around and round). And when we get stuck inside ourselves, we can start over-personalising thinking ‘this is all my fault’ or ‘there is something wrong with me’ which leads us further down into ourselves.

Working on fixing this unease from inside these feelings is almost impossible, the best way is to connect into a larger balance, let them settle, be open for inspiration or insight which then clears and put things into perspective.

Through this prayerful process, we learn to move much more naturally away from things that aren’t right for us and towards things that are; we begin to be able to manoeuvre effectively through the currents of life. Over time prayer can give us an understanding of the world around us, our personal balance with it, and through this process our thoughtfulness, wisdom and internal knowing build.

Regular prayer can help to smooth the waters, to ‘make the crooked places straight’. It gives us space ‘just to be’ and the balanced settled calm that comes from this helps us to create steadier and stronger lives.

Having a religious or spiritual practise of prayer can support our lives in important, clarifying and deeply nurturing ways.

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