Are you spiritual but not religious (SBNR)? Are you feeling overwhelmed by the nonstop negativity on your social media feed and television set? Are you dealing with personal issues you’re having trouble resolving? It might be time to try this unconventional prayer.
This is not a traditional prayer like the Our Father or Hail Mary, the Jewish Shema, or any other prayer that’s rooted in ancient texts or scripture. The prayer I’m talking about is more personal and tailored to the world you and I live in today.
What are the benefits of prayer for those who are not religious?
One definition of prayer from the New Oxford American Dictionary is “an earnest hope or wish.” When you pray, you release your hopes and intentions out into the universe, instead of keeping them bottled up inside. It helps you recognize you can’t solve every problem by yourself, even if your ego believes otherwise.
Think of prayer as one more tool in your spiritual toolbox, which might include contemplation, breathwork, yoga, spiritual reading or an early morning walk. Like many spiritual pursuits, the goal of prayer is to get out of your own overthinking, overanalyzing head and connect with something greater than yourself.
A few years ago, I introduced three prayers for the SBNR.
As I’ve written previously, praying on a regular basis can keep you connected with the divine, and offer you guidance and comfort when facing the everyday challenges of life. As author David Brooks says: “You have to draw on something outside yourself to deal with the forces inside yourself.” The initial three SBNR prayers are:
- The Prayer of Gratitude. A simple prayer of thanks for all the abundance and good in your life, from your family and friends to the roof over your head.
- The Prayer for Guidance. A prayer for direction when you are at a crossroads and aren’t sure which decision to make or path to pursue.
- The Prayer for Help. When you’re facing difficulties, it’s a prayer that acknowledges you’re not in control and need a higher power to show you the way forward.
Introducing “The Prayer for the Best Possible Outcome”
The fourth prayer I’m about to introduce is meant to help you deal with the times we face today, with so much negative news fogging our vision and dampening our spirits. It’s a prayer of humility that recognizes there are problems in our community, country and the world, that we just don’t have the answers to but want solved.
What issues are buzzing in your bonnet these days? Political instability? Inhumane wars? Discrimination? Or maybe it’s something personal. There’s no shortage of issues for us to fret about. But rather than pray for a specific solution to any of these problems, with this prayer we pray for the best possible outcome.
The fact is we often don’t know the precise solution to the personal, societal, or world issues that are troubling us. What we do know is that we want these problems resolved in the best manner possible. Even if we’re not sure how that might work. That’s where the Prayer for the Best Possible Outcome comes in.
If you’re concerned about a personal problem, the prayer works like this:
Optional: Dear God,
“I am troubled and concerned by _____________.
Please help me/my family find a solution to this problem.”
You fill in the blank. It could be “my financial situation,” “my health” or “my angry brother-in-law.” Whatever troubles are weighing on you, base the prayer around it. Say it. Repeat it. Say it again. Use multiple prayers if there’s more than one thing on your mind.
If you’re concerned about a national or world problem, try this:
Optional: Dear God,
“I am troubled and concerned by _____________.
Please help my community/my country find a solution to this problem.”
Again, fill in the blank. It could be “the threat to our democracy” or “the degradation of the environment” or “the plight of the migrants.” Whatever troubles are weighing on you, base your prayer around it. Say it. Repeat it. Say it again.
With this prayer, you’re not asking for anything specific.
When you pray for the best possible outcome, you’re praying in general terms for relief. Since we don’t often know the best way to solve a problem, we’re not asking for a specific solution. Sometimes the answer or resolution we seek comes from an unexpected place or reveals itself in a surprising and unexpected way. We’re leaving that aspect up to a higher power and asking for a solution that’s for the highest good of all.
The next step: Have patience and listen, to see if there’s any action needed on your part. The great American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson referred to the process as “lowly listening.” We sit in solitude and wait quietly. While not trying too hard, we listen within for guidance.
Similarly, the music producer Rick Rubin talks about tapping into “The Source” for help and guidance. Once we put our thoughts out into the universe, The Source acts like a radio tower whose signals are waiting to be picked up by our internal antennae. We hear these signals not by straining our ears, but by emptying ourselves to create a space to hear them.
Granted, these 4 prayers may go against what you’ve been taught.
For most of our lives, we’ve been encouraged to be doers and problem-solvers. We’re taught that asking for help can be a sign of weakness. But in this complex and often overwhelming world, the prayers of gratitude, guidance, help, and best possible outcome can serve as anchors.
These simple yet powerful prayers aren’t about finding a quick fix. They’re about letting go of what we can’t control, and trusting that something greater than ourselves is present in our lives and in this world. In doing so, we just might find a little more peace in the chaos, a little more hope in our everyday lives. And every little bit helps.
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