From Chaos to Calm: 5 Strategies to Settle Your Spirit

Is the pace of your life sustainable?
Too many of us are living with an unsettled spirit.
We rush around living at mind-numbing speeds to avoid our own thoughts and feelings.
We don’t take the time to practice prayer and meditation, causing us to ignore the bigger and more difficult questions in life because it’s easier to just keep doing all the things…
But at some point, we will be faced with a new challenge, a life-changing event, or an unfamiliar concept that stops us in our tracks.
And if you’re not prepared, it can completely dismantle your life…

You need to slow down
It is important to acknowledge our humanity, namely, that we aren’t capable of (and were never meant to be) living at a single speed.
Life has rhythms and cadences that help give us boundaries and structure. It’s when we ignore these patterns or resist these movements that we are apt to get ourselves into trouble.
At times we need to speed up, take action, and forge ahead in order to accomplish great things. Other times, we must slow down, sit back, and reflect for the sake of our own wellbeing.
And this is the power of prayer and meditation. It allows us to stop and accept things as they are. It gives us permission to admit our shortcomings and process a new path forward.
But what exactly is prayer or meditation?
Prayer, in its simplest form, is the intentional practice of communicating one’s thoughts, emotions, gratitude, requests, or desires to God. Conversely, meditation is the process of training the mind in focused attention and awareness.
Both are important. Both are necessary. And the benefits are many. Mental clarity, emotional calmness, present-moment attentiveness.
And is this not commonly at the root of many of the world’s problems right now?
We are too quick to react to our impulsive thoughts and emotions. We are hasty in our responses to the opinions and actions of others.
On top of that, as a society, we are amusing ourselves to death (read Neil Postman’s book, it’ll change your relationship with entertainment in the best ways possible). We distract ourselves with temporary entertainment at the detriment of lasting peace. We are uncomfortable with sitting still, in the quiet, alone with our thoughts. We resist thinking about our thoughts or feeling our emotions.
I’ve had to work quite a bit on this throughout my life. I love my technology and, if I’m not vigilant and consistent with prayer and meditation, I can quickly default into passive, mind-deadening activities (endless scrolling, show-binging, procrastination-cleaning and organizing while listening to podcasts to convince myself I’m being productive, etc.)
The good news?
Prayer and meditation doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be short, simple, and even enjoyable!
So how can you get started?
Here are 5 prayer and meditation strategies to start settling your spirit…
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Block some time
I’m a big proponent of Michael Hyatt’s philosophy, “If it doesn’t get scheduled, it doesn’t get done.” So be sure to take a moment to think through when the best time for you would be. I prefer the mornings when things are still calm and quiet. Also, how long do you want to do it? I recommend starting with 3 or 5 minutes. You’d be shocked at how difficult it is to actually sit still and focus your thoughts for even a few minutes.
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Journal
Try journaling your thoughts. This can help to keep you focused as you work through your thoughts, organizing them in a meaningful and understandable way. The process of writing is incredibly powerful. “Thoughts disentangle themselves passing over the lips and through pencil tips.” – Dr. Howard Hendricks.
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Avoid distractions
There is nothing more distracting than a sudden alert or notification crashing through the calm and silence of a thought. Set your phone to do-not-disturb (or better yet, turn it off). Go to a quiet place with limited distractions. Remove yourself from the noise, improve your posture, and give yourself the best opportunity to successfully pray and meditate.
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Embrace the quiet
This is the real challenge at the heart of prayer and meditation. Lean into the awkwardness. Sit in the silence. It will be painfully strange at first. Give yourself time and keep at it. You’ll learn to love the process and enjoy the fruits of it.
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Learn how to Pray
Is there anything less flashy and more important than prayer? It’s one thing to acknowledge prayer but knowing how to actually do it is another. Jesus’ own disciples had to ask him how to pray and he gave them a very clear template. It’s more than asking for things or “sending positive vibes”. So challenge yourself to figure it out and wrestle with it.
Prayer and meditation nurtures a deeper understanding of ourselves, others, the world, and the God who created it all. It can bring solace, guidance, and a renewed sense of purpose.
And it’s important to remember that in prayer and meditation, the goal is not to RID your mind of thoughts but rather to FOCUS your mind on truth.
It’s impossible to stop thoughts from happening. But you can improve how you react to these thoughts and work to organize them in a meaningful and mindful way to settle your spirit.
This aligns with last week’s blog about worship and how we devote our time, emotions, and thoughts to someone or something greater than us.
So give these strategies a try and start incorporating regular prayer and meditation in your life today!