independence Archives - Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness

How to Pray Without Ceasing

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Jonathan RobinsonJanuary 16, 2023

heart With Thanksgiving upon us, I thought it was a good idea to blog about giving thanks and the power of gratitude. In my book The Experience of God, I asked each of the forty well-known spiritual leaders I interviewed about their favorite method of feeling closer to their Creator. While the range of responses was surprising, the answer I heard more than any other was that of focusing on feeling grateful to God throughout the day. As Ram Dass put it, “Gratitude opens your heart, and opening your heart is a wonderful and easy way for God to slip in.”

In Western culture, we often think of prayer as asking God for something. Yet, in many spiritual traditions, prayer is primarily considered a way of thanking God for the blessings in one’s life. Many years ago, I received an important lesson about “thankfulness prayer” from a Native American medicine man named Bear. As a condition of being interviewed about his life, Bear requested we meet at a location sacred to his tribe. Once there, he suggested that both of us begin by offering up a prayer to the Great Spirit. My simple prayer was that our time together be well spent, and that it would serve our becoming closer to God. The bear began his prayer in his native tongue, as I listened patiently. After ten minutes of listening to the sounds of his tribal language, I began getting impatient. After twenty minutes of listening to his prayer, I was secretly irritated. While I grew restless, Bear looked like he was soaring as high as the eagles that flew overhead. Finally, after fifty minutes, Bear finished speaking his words of prayer.

Trying to hide my sense of irritation, I began my interview by asking Bear, “What did you pray for?” Bear’s calm reply was, “In my tribe, we don’t pray for anything. We give thanks for all that the Great Spirit has given us. In my prayers, I simply thanked Spirit for everything I can see around me. I gave thanks to each and every tree I can see from here, each rock, each squirrel, the sun, the clouds, my legs, my arms, each bird that flew by, each breath I took, until I was finally in full alignment with the Great Spirit.” It was clear to me that this man really knew how to pray.

From Bear’s inspiration and the wisdom of many others

I’ve interviewed, I began trying this new method of prayer. To make this form of prayer in my daily life, I began by simply saying, “Thank you God for (whatever is in my awareness).” Sometimes I would “prime the pump” by first thanking God for things that are easy for me to feel grateful for. For example, I might say, “Thank you for my health. Thank you for such a beautiful day. Thank you for my wonderful wife.” Then, once I truly felt a sense of gratitude in my heart, I would use “thank you” as a “mantra” for whatever I was currently aware of. For instance, if I was driving somewhere I might say, “Thank you for my car, thank you for my Iphone, thank you for this beautiful music, thank you for this nicely paved road, thank you for the man that just cut me off, thank you for the anger that he stirred up in me, thank you for the opportunity to practice forgiveness.”

The secret of this technique is to see all things as gifts given to us by God to enjoy or learn from. Normally, we take virtually everything for granted, and rarely stop to appreciate the wonderful things we are given. It can be eye opening to realize that even middle class folks of today live better than Kings lived just 100 years ago. Yet, without the “thank you technique,” all the amenities of modern day life can go unappreciated.

Thankful Once you have used this method for awhile, you can even use it to begin to value things that are unpleasant. In the example above, getting cut off by an aggressive driver was not my idea of a good time. Yet, if I’m doing my “thank you” mantra, I’m more likely to see how such an event can serve me. From a higher state of mind, I can see that this driver is helping me learn patience, compassion, and forgiveness—three things I’m not very good at. Fortunately, there are many drivers and people who are willing to help me learn this lesson! Thank you God for all that help.

Like any mantra or phrase that a person repeats, repeatedly saying “thank you” can build up a momentum of its own as you use it throughout the day. However, it’s important that it doesn’t become a mechanical mental exercise. With each thank you that is thought, it’s essential to feel a sense of appreciation in your heart for the gift you’ve been given. Besides helping a person tune into an ecstatic feeling of gratitude, this method can also help a person become more aware and present in the eternal now.

Let’s All Celebrate Anti-Independence Day

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Jonathan RobinsonJanuary 16, 2023

fire We’ve all celebrated Independence Day. I say it’s time we graduate from that teenage like holiday and start celebrating Anti-Independence Day. Perhaps we could call it Interdependence Day. The July 4^th holiday and the American cult/culture it helped create celebrates our desire to be and do whatever we want. That’s a good start. Yet, that’s not the end of our journey, just like being a teenager is not the end point of a person’s maturity level. The truth is that we live in an interdependent world, and if we hope to make the world a better place, we need to acknowledge that we’re all in this together.

Before becoming mature adults, teens need to first assert their independence. But the goal for a teen is to not stop there. A middle-aged person still partying and being reckless like a teen is not a pretty sight. But isn’t that what we’re doing? The U.S.A. has been around for well over 200 years, yet we’re still proclaiming we’re the greatest and we don’t need anyone else. Immigrants? We don’t need them. The poor? Let them fend for themselves.

Like a cancer that grows at the expense of the body that supports it, too much of a focus on “me” and my wants can be bad for the human body—or the human race. In an age when even our phones and tablets start with the pronoun “I,” what we need is a little more “we.”

On a practical level, what would this look like? It might look like people deciding to forego more hours at work for more time with their family– or volunteering at a soup kitchen. It might look like being kinder to your neighbor or your co-worker. After all, if we truly are interdependent, then what goes around comes around.

As a happiness “expert”

I find it interesting that the number one way to quickly boost one’s happiness involves asking yourself a simple question. The question is, “What act of kindness can I do for a stranger or a friend today?” Since we truly are all connected, when we acknowledge that fact by an act of kindness, we actually feel happier.

So I propose we celebrate Interdependence Day. We could make it on July 5^th—right after Independence Day. Just as High School follows Middle School, Interdependence Day would represent a graduation from the mindset that we once needed to survive, but are starting to outgrow. On Interdependence Day, instead of shooting off fireworks, we could practice acts of kindness. By doing that, we’d feel better, our beneficiaries would feel better, and we’d be making a statement that we are indeed all connected.