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Prayer The Silent Stress Reliever:
You may have first
learned to pray at your mother’s knee. You decided that, in
times of trouble, prayer could open up a pathway to enlightenment
and peace. You might have said a prayer before a big test, before
showing your parents your report card, or before the final football
game of the season.
There appears to be a link between
prayer and healing. Medical studies have even concluded that patients
who have other people to pray for them tend to fare better than those
without such prayer support. Whether it’s a single prayer or
a flood of prayers, it has been said that prayer can move mountains—and
that is particularly true when the mountain is debilitating illness.
Because of the connection between
prayer and healing, it is no surprise that a number of doctors recommend
prayer and meditation as stress relievers. Prayer forces an individual
to take time out, to spend some quiet time alone with one’s
thoughts. Prayer also requires that a person look outward toward a
Superior Being for strength and support. Prayer can enable an individual
to re-gain focus and concentration so that he or she can better work
through problems and therefore experience less stress.
Prayer has been shown to be a positive
energy force. It makes an individual feel wanted and loved by a Higher
Power. It can help to motivate a person to seek solutions rather than
to simply complain about his or her problems. Prayer can enable an
individual to see difficulties in a new light, which can contribute
to stress reduction.
It is important to point out that
prayer for stress relief can come in a variety of forms. For instance,
there is spoken prayer, where an individual recites words to his or
her Creator. This may be the most basic form of prayer. Whether it’s
an Our Father, a prayer to the Holy Spirit, or a quick ejaculation
such as “Lord, help me,” prayer opens a window to communication
to the Almighty and therefore leads to feelings of comfort.
Another type of prayer is meditation.
This can be a particularly effective stress-reliever. Meditation forces
an individual to contemplate something other than his or her own problems,
whether it’s nature, a verse of Scripture, a scene from the
life of God, or some other source. The reflection can lead to quiet
contemplation which can slow one’s heart beat, lower one’s
blood pressure, and even lead to feelings of euphoria.
A number of 12-step recovery programs
have prayer as their foundation. The appeal to a Higher Power helps
an individual to put his or her problems into perspective. Prayer
recognizes that the individual is not alone—that there is a
greater Being guiding his or her life. Prayer, in essence, can help
individuals to cope when other methods—particularly drug or
alcohol use—have failed.
Surveys show that the vast majority
of Americans believe in God, so prayer is not a foreign concept to
them. However, many Americans haven’t prayed in years. They
may be afraid of condemnation from God or from other people. They
may simply not know the words they should use. They may even feel
so unworthy that they cannot summon up the courage to pray.
However, one advantage to prayer
is that it can be picked up quickly. If you find it difficult to pray,
consider picking up a book on prayer from a bookstore or from a religious
group. You might even consider joining a prayer group or Bible study
group in order to enrich your prayer life. If you’re still having
trouble, you might consult with a pastor to find some effective prayer
strategies.
The stresses of work and home can
seem overwhelming at times. As a result, a number of people find that
they must take time out to pray in order to better handle the many
challenges they face. Prayer is like anything else—the more
you do it, the more comfortable you become doing it. Even if you don’t
have a specific faith tradition, prayer can be a powerful weapon in
your arsenal against stress. If you start and end your day with prayer,
you may be amazed at how your stress level seems to plummet.
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