Connecting Spiritually

I am a holistic health counselor. This means that I believe that health is influenced by many factors including nutrition, physical activity, relationships, vocation, avocation, and last, but not least, spiritual life. Today I want to share an idea for enhancing your spiritual connection to God, whatever your religious belief. (If you are a nonbeliever, you will have to tell me how you connect to your spiritual side. I don’t know much about that.)

Last year I was listening to Dr. Joseph Mercola, an integrative medicine doctor, in one of his many video lectures when he said something in passing that I found incredibly valuable. It was about prayer.

Now, I was raised a protestant, and I have prayed all my life. I can’t imagine trying to go through life without prayer, and it is a rare day that I forget to pray. I need that connection to God.

In all the years I attended Sunday School and church services, in all the sermons, and in even the occasional prayer class, I do not recall the idea that Dr. Mercola offered ever being discussed. This astonishes me, because I find the idea Mercola mentioned incredibly helpful.

So what was the idea? It was that you need to prepare yourself to pray by feeling God’s presence first. For the non-emergency type of prayers, at least, feel God’s love and support first, then ask for what is on your mind.

So I have been trying this out. I think about how great God is, how all-knowing, how generous, how benevolent, and how blessed I am. This brings to me a wonderful feeling of God’s presence right there with me. I enjoy this feeling: I feel loved and supported, and I want to return often to this feeling.

When I feel connected to God, I start going through my prayer list, not before. I pray about all those things that are on my mind: my concerns for myself, my family, friends, community, country, and the world. Because I feel supported and loved by God when I am praying, it helps me trust that God will answer the prayer in the best possible way, maybe not in the way I asked, but in the way that is truly best overall. It’s a great way to pray.

Try this out, and I think you will greatly benefit from the time you spend connecting to God through prayer.

Namaste!