When you open your eyes in the morning and decide to get up, that’s a prayer.

And when you decide to take the first step upon your awakening, that’s the execution of the prayer.

This process can be multiplied and duplicated in every action throughout the day—in every action, reaction and interaction with anything and anyone.

From my favorite figure:

“In your light I learn how to love.

In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”

~ Rumi 

Was there ever a point that you dropped to your knees in the dirt, on the pavement, on the tile, or maybe in one of (Rumi’s) infamous fields and thought that there was nothing left?

I think everyone has. Buddha did. Jesus did. I did. We all have. Suffering is the most important—and beautiful—way to pray because it brings out sincerity from the chambers in which it normally stays dormant. And those moments are the moments you need to find ways to pray…to ask someone or something for the things you want.

For me, even though I’ve dabbled in different religions and belief systems, that heart-deriven prayer comes from an innate ability I have to paint my soul on a canvas, to write my heart down on paper, and to give of myself to the point where I have nothing left—to commit to random acts of kindness or to worship beauty in the world around me.

In the smiles of people I don’t know.

I wander faithfully, finding small adventures in drives to remote places, baking randomly, getting lost intentionally on long runs or bike rides, and being emotionally attached to horses, rabbits, dogs, birds and plants. And I fall in love…hard.

But that’s okay, because that’s how I pray. And as a creative prayer-writer, I’ve accepted that some prayers come true and some don’t.

People die, people leave, dreams don’t come true, and some days you wake up and think that you aren’t the person you truly want to be or you think you will never be good enough. And that’s okay too because you are good enough, some dreams have to come true, and you will find someone to love forever.

You’ll create life and maybe—through the ripples of causality—take life away. And sunflowers will still bloom in your yard or your neighbor’s yard regardless of what happens in the midst of it all.

Do a dance. Paint. Bake. Eat kale. Ride your bike in the rain. Talk with strangers. Smile at birds. Pick up ladybugs and praying mantises. Watch butterflies. Feel rivers on your feet. Feel wind in your hair. Drink good coffee—because bad coffee is gross and you deserve a warm moment every morning. Feel the sun rising every day. Fall in love and let it take you where it takes you. Walk your dog…be it furry and barking or downward facing. Take a hike.

Hear your own heartbeat…and maybe, someday, the beat of another’s as you sleep.

I love you and I pray for you every day.

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Ed: Bryonie Wise