Exercise 36: A Welcoming Prayer

Here is an audio presentation of this practice:

Background: This prayer become popular in the centering prayer movement.  It was originally written by Mary Mrozowski.  It is a method of recognizing, then releasing difficult emotions.

Proponents of this prayer state that the focus should be on our feelings about life circumstances, rather than the exercise itself.

36 A

The Exercise:

1.  Create a safe, quiet environment for yourself.  Turn down your phone and consider lighting a candle.
2. Breathe deeply in through the nose and out through the mouth.
3. Take a mental inventory of where you are, right now.  List the feelings you are experiencing.  Do your best to engage this with a nonjudgemental attitude.  Your feelings are neither good nor bad.  They simply are.  
4. Choose the feeling which seems to be the most impactful.  Think, or say “Welcome ___________”  (E.G. ‘Welcome, Fear.  Welcome, sadness.  Welcome, anxiety.  Etc.)
5. Say, or think, ‘I let go of my desire to change this feeling.’  or ‘I let go of my ___________’  or ‘God, I give you my _____________’
6. Progress on to the next emotion, repeating steps 4 and 5.
7. When you have worked through these emotions, spend a moment doing a mental inventory, assessing whether you feel differently.

36 B

1. Create a safe, quiet environment for yourself.  Turn down your phone and consider lighting a candle.
2. Breathe deeply in through the nose and out through the mouth.
3. Take a mental inventory of where you are, right now.  List the feelings you are experiencing.  Do your best to engage this with a nonjudgemental attitude.  Your feelings are neither good nor bad.  They simply are.  
4. Choose the feeling which seems to be the most impactful.  Think, or say “Welcome ___________”  (E.G. ‘Welcome, Fear.  Welcome, sadness.  Welcome, anxiety.  Etc.)
5. Breathe once.
6. Say, or think “I let go of my desire for security and survival.’
7. Breathe again.
8. Say, or think, ‘I let go of my desire for esteem and affection.’
9. Breathe again.
10. Say, or think ‘I let go of my desire for power and control.’
11. Breathe.
12. Say, or think, ‘I let go of my desire to change the situation.’
13. If you wish, you can repeat this process for a second, troubling emotion.

If you would rather engage the welcoming prayer as an audiofile, consider this:

 

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