Contemplative Prayer

I am writing a paper today on contemplative prayer as part of the curriculum for the Spiritual Director program at Haden Institute.  As I was writing this paper and discussing what contemplative prayer was, I began writing how most of us are doing contemplative prayer without even realizing.  For example, watching children playing carefree and gaily and our hearts are opened with joy and love.  We usually believe the children playing have evoked these emotions within ourselves, and yet it is not the act of the children playing that creates these feelings, they already exist within us.  The children playing was only an exterior event that captivated our attention long enough for our minds to quieten and allow our true nature to gently arise within.  Prayer, meditation, contemplation etc., whatever we wish to call it, is so often left to a scheduled time in our daily life, where we can enter a place of stillness and silence.  Those are truly sacred, special moments.  However I challenge people to live a contemplative life while engaging fully in the world.  Creating within our daily activities an intention and awareness of living consciously, we may just experience our entire lives being lived as a prayer.