Cairn-Space. N. Thomas Johnson-Medland

      We can choose to reroute all of our arising thoughts and feelings in prayer. When we do this, we are structurally changing the types of ideas and notions that we allow to fire in the sequencing associations of our interior life. If anger arises we can learn to hear it, trace it to its roots (perhaps jealousy or hatred) and then cut it off with the antidote of returning to our prayer. If discord arises, we can learn to hear it, trace it to its roots (perhaps lust or spite) and then cut it off with the antidote of returning to our prayer.

      What we are doing in this work of returning to prayer and a re-approach of the stillness is helping us to learn new ways to process our emotions and thoughts. We are wrapping myelin sheaths around new associations we have built. Once we have done this for a while, we will have learned a process of helping our mind deal with distractions. Eventually it will slow down and tire, allowing us to enter silence in a fuller way.