I’ve learned through the process of writing “How to Allow” and engaging in conversations with readers, that there are lots of different ways of looking at prayer. For some, the whole idea of “prayer” goes against the grain of the notion of Allowing because they feel they are asking from a place of need, rather than acknowledging that God or the Universe has already created what they want and they need only match it vibrationally.
There are some other wonderful people out there, some of the kindest most spiritual people I know, who read my book and said, “Oh I love your book and already practice what you’ve written about. I call it prayer. And, I get everything I want in my life.” I was a bit taken aback because I certainly didn’t want to offend anyone’s sensibilities when it comes to prayer. I’m a wholehearted believer in prayer myself and have been practicing it since my father taught me to kneel down at my bedside and pray every night before I went to sleep. But I would have to say that my notion of prayer has evolved a bit from “Now I lay me down to sleep . . .” But, I thank my Dad for helping me onto the spiritual path to where I am now and the incredible knowledge I have of the way the Universe really works.
There are some deliberate creators who would go so far as to say that every thought is a prayer. In their eyes every thought we think is going out there to attract it’s equivalent vibration, so we’re always asking. That’s certainly another way of thinking of it!
When I first began understanding the Law of Attraction and Allowing I came across a beautiful quote, which made quite a bit of sense to me:
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.” Meister Eckhart
Knowing that we’ve already asked for the things we want by just focusing on them or wishing for some improvement, and that Source or God or the Universe has already answered and pulled together just what we want, then to say only “thank you” to our Source would really take care of things. It would acknowledge that we already know we’ve asked, it’s been given and we appreciate it. And, most importantly, we release our grasping for our desire because we know it’s here now and could materialize right on the heels of our vibrational alignment with it. That would certainly be prayer in its simplest form, but that simple statement reflects such a profound understanding and appreciation that it really constitutes an amazing prayer!
Recently, there has been an incredible discussion on prayer in one of the many forums where members offer their own takes on the teachings of Abraham-Hicks. One body of thought is a form of prayer that practitioners call Science of Mind. There are some great books, many of them written before our time, which talk about the Science of Mind and “Treatments.” Florence Scovell Schinn wrote several books that are worthy of your time. One contributor to the AbeList (an online forum) volunteered the practice that she and her prayer group have conducted for 16 years and it fits marvelously with the Art of Allowing, as we know it. They begin with a first stage where they say, “This is what God is—light, life, peace, power, abundance, joy, freedom, energy, wholeness, harmony, Oneness, love.” And, in part two they say, “And I am THAT!” Then they affirm what is already a done deal in their vortex, by saying “Therefore my life works in these ways . . .. (filling in the blanks). They then conclude with thanksgiving, and release, what they call the letting go and Allowing part.
The process they use has lots in common with the first Daily Tool in “How to Allow” in that it’s helping you to get to a place where you feel good, are in your vortex, before you begin focusing on anything that you want. It seems like it could be a great process for some, especially when done on a regular basis in a group.
I’m highlighting all of these different angles on asking or prayer because I’m finding that we all bring such a different set of beliefs to the table when it comes to prayer and even what we want to call it. And, some deliberate creators are seriously put off by the word or the idea of prayer, in general. And, I think the controversy or tentativeness about whether or how to practice prayer could lead some of us to miss out on some major miracles.
I still believe in keeping it simple and easy and wrote “How to Allow” to provide just such a roadmap of daily rituals that would help you to know you’ve done your work and that you were on your way to Allowing in the things that you really want to create in your life. And, I don’t want to contradict that with something else that you need to do in a certain way if you are to Allow your natural Well-Being.
It’s just that there are tons of stories where people like you and me have prayed in what I’ll call this “Allowing” sort of way and have experienced truly miraculous healings of situations, which before seemed impossible. I share some of these stories in “How to Allow.” If you will look for it, there is tons of literature filled with stories of miraculous healings of relationships and financial disasters, business turnarounds, and other triumphs against hopeless odds, when the person involved changed his or her thinking. And, often these miracles have taken place in a day or two! I’ve seen and been a party to a number of these so-called miracles myself and I no longer am so amazed, because it’s just the way the Universe really works.
So, you can call it prayer, a Daily Tool, visualization, or whatever sounds best to you, but if you imagine that you already have what you’ve asked for and do your best to feel the way you’d expect to feel in your new circumstances, you cannot be denied any dream or desire. It’s just the way the laws work. If you change your imagining and your expectations, you will change your life. It’s the way you were meant to live.
And, remember that it never hurts to just say “Thank You,” in that certain way in which you already know you’ve asked, it’s been given and it’s on its way to you. There’s a lot of power in that prayer!
By the way, I’m not sure if it was a miracle, but my electricity came back on today after Hurricane Irene caused major damage on our street. They literally had to bring in a crane to lift a tree off of our neighbor’s house, which had also taken down our power line. Yet we were only without power for one day. There have been other times where we lost power for nearly a week, after only a minor thunderstorm. So, this time, I got myself into my vortex, appreciated that it wasn’t super hot, that the Electric Company and Tree experts were working around the clock, and did things I enjoyed which didn’t involve electricity. The Pepco guys said our situation was “really bad,” as an entire utility pole and wires were damaged in our back yard. Yet somehow, we’re back in business in one day. When I was worked up and miserable during a prior outage it somehow took nearly a week to fix a minor issue. Did a miracle occur here? There are still thousands without power. I’m not sure. But I know that I changed my focus and my expectations and I’m back on my computer. “Thank you, Universe.”
I’m going to continue to believe that miracles happen, often. Someday we may stop calling them miracles and just learn to expect to be powerful creators of what we want. And I intend to be involved in those miracles. And, prayer (not in a pleading but in an Allowing sort of way), will always be part of my repertoire.
