Are you a prayer? . . .
I have a morning routine that involves a few things, one of them being praying. So I was super excited when I read how prayer increases your positivity in Dr Judith Orloff’s book
Positive Energy.
Dr Orloff’s four awesome reasons for praying on a regular basis:
1. Physically: Prayer improves health.
1200 studies later, Harvard scientist Dr Herbert Benson found that praying initiates a relaxation response in your body: heart rate, breathing and metabolism slow down, promoting healing and boosting your immune system. People who pray get sick less often.
2. Emotionally: The relaxation response during prayer has been shown to reduce stress, so you’re more optimistic. Your link to a higher power lends purpose and meaning that makes life worthwhile.
3. Energetically: Prayer, as an expression of goodness and love, opens your heart, activating healing vibes throughout the body. It tips the energy balance from negative to positive by instilling hope, well-being and compassion.
4. Spiritually: You establish ongoing contact with a higher power, whether perceived as “out there” or “in here,” which allows you to access an energy reserve larger than yourself.
Net net – reaching out to a higher order can have an impact on your gratefulness and your disposition. It can leave you feeling full of hope instead of hopeless, full of abundance instead of scarcity, full of positivity instead of negativity.
If you don’t know where to start, I’ll offer you
this simple serenity prayer that I found on a plaque many years ago:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Here’s to enjoying the healthy benefits of prayer internally and externally.