The Welcoming Prayer Brings Freedom from Anxiety
For the last couple of weeks, I've blogged about the 3rd Guidepost of Wholehearted Living by Dr. Brené Brown. It reads, "Cultivating a Resilient Spirit: Letting Go of Numbing and Powerlessness."
Living wholeheartedly according to the research that Brené conducted appears to be counter-intuitive. For example the phrase "Lean into the discomfort." Isn't that the opposite of what we want to do? For a headache, we take a pain killer. For a broken heart, we try to find ways to not fully enter our brokenness. Who wants to feel pain? And yet...
"Lean into the discomfort." Counter-intuitive as it seems, leaning into the hurt by letting go, is where we find our healing -- and over the passage of many times of doing that -- is where we find our "wholeheartedness."
There is a particular way to pray that helps me to both "lean into..." and "let go of..." It's called "The Welcoming Prayer." Here's how to pray it:
Sit still and quiet with good posture, hands in lap. Focus on what hurts. Sit there focusing on it for several minutes. In other words, really focus on it.
Sink into it. Take a few minutes to feel the relaxation happen.
Welcome the pain as a sign that you are alive. (Counter-intuitive, right? Trust me. Just do it.) Welcome Jesus into the pain. Sit there in the welcoming mode for a few minutes.
And then "let go." Let go of whatever bound you to that pain. Let go of the pain. Let go into the arms of Jesus. However you want to say it. Just "let go."
This prayer has brought me release from "the whatevers" many times. Believe me, there have been days when I've had to pray the Welcoming Prayer many times during the day -- because I take it all back again. But doing the Welcoming Prayer instills a sense of anxiety-free peace. It's quite simple. Remember the steps:
Focus. Sink into it. Welcome. Let go.
Leave me a comment.
And remember, you're awesome! And God holds you in the palm of His hand.
2021 © Dorothy Gremillion
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