The Jesus Prayer (part 4) Personal experience

I became acquainted with the Jesus Prayer over 25 years ago but never began applying it until 2000. Around that time a friend who had been in Macedonia brought me back a Chotki (a knotted cord for keeping track of prayers) and I began implementing the practice.

The Jesus prayer has become for me a wonderful tool for helping in the cultivating of an awareness of God's presence through out the day. I have a job that doesn't particularly engage my mind and this type of prayer is easily implemented in situations like that. It has also been useful as a discipline when dealing with stress or a wandering mind.

I have also used the Prayer in tandem with the Chokti. Not when working, of course. This has been useful when out and about. I keep it in my pocket where i can easily reach it. I will expand more on prayer using the Chokti later.

Experiment. This along with other practices or disciplines (as they are often referred ) that we discuss are simply tools to help us in deepening our relationship with God.