Praying

I've been thinking a lot about praying lately. I make a distinction between praying and prayer; which other, more intelligent and experienced people than I have written about. I've specifically been thinking about how hard it is to begin to pray, i.e. get up off my, umm, couch and pray, as opposed to how easy and comforting praying is once I'm actually praying. In a nutshell, the problem lies in my own self-indulgence. Now, if I could only re-assign those self-indulgent feelings to praying, perhaps I wouldn't be thinking so much about it. The quote below says it better than I can.

Amma Theodora said, "It is good to live in peace, for the wise man practices
perpetual prayer. It is truly a great thing for a virgin or a monk to live in
peace, especially the younger ones. However, you should realize that as soon as
you intend to live in peace, at once evil comes and weighs down your soul
through accidie (listlessness/ boredom/despondency), faintheartedness, and evil
thoughts. It also attacks your body through sickness, debility, weakening of
the knees, and all the members. It dissipates the strength of soul and body, so
that one believes one is ill and no longer able to pray. But if we are
vigilant, all these temptations fall away. There was, in fact, a monk who was
seized by cold and fever every time he began to pray, and he suffered from
headaches too. In this condition, he said to himself, "I am ill, and near to
death; so now I will get up before I die and pray." By reasoning in this way,
he forced himself and prayed. When he had finished, the fever abated also. So,
by reasoning in this way, the brother resisted and prayed, and was able to
conquer his thoughts.

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