During an exceptionally inspiring conversation, a stranger unknowingly showed me an entirely new way that we can go about our daily lives, as a collective, that brings more love, more serenity and a much deeper sense of connection to all that is.

We spoke about many things: love, purpose, perception and loss. But the one thing that stuck out in particular was his words about prayer. They struck one of those deep cords of truth within. I felt their effects reverberate throughout my entire body.

“What we want moves further away, but what we already love and appreciate comes freely.”

He mentioned he doesn’t set a time aside each day to pray or to sit in meditation. Instead he gives thanks to everyone and everything continuously, all the time.

This man lives his entire life, each and every moment, like a prayer.

Setting aside a few moments each day to pray, to meditate, to plug in, is better than not doing so at all, as it provides a plethora of benefits.

As he spoke, he showed me the possibility of a new way of being, a new way of walking throughout this life.

It’s so easy to be swept away by the busyness and the consumer culture of Western society, always craving more, wanting more or wallowing in a feeling of not having, being or doing enough.

Deeply moved by our conversation, my mind couldn’t help but daydream how different our world would be if we all lived in this way.

What if every single one of us lived each and every moment like a prayer?

What if…

Every time we ate, we prayed for all the people who brought our food from the earth to our plates.

Every time we dressed, we prayed for the people who turned mere fabric into beautiful clothes.

Every time we took a step, we blessed the earth below us.

These things not need be said aloud of course, but sweetly, silently, momentarily—a constant prayer.

What if…

Each time we spoke of people, of places, of things, it was in the frequency of a prayer.

When the sun rose, we blessed the warmth it brings.

When we used water to cook, to clean and to consume for our own nourishment, we blessed the cleanliness it brings.

What if…

The work we do and the way we go about it—the way we listen to others, the quality of compassion and the attention we do things with, the way we walk, the way talk, the way we move through this life here on earth—all of these, we lived as prayer.

How would it change what we say or do?

How would it change the way we see the earth, each other and ourselves?

It would change everything. Absolutely everything—in ways we could only even begin to imagine.

If we focused on what is, if we loved what is, instead of yearning for more, how could everything not change?

“What we want moves further away, but what we already love and appreciate comes freely.”

~

Author: Alexa Torontow

Editor: Evan Yerburgh

Photo: Author’s own