Simple, Short and Sweet

Unity's Daily Word sits by my bathroom sink. I read it every morning  and, more times than I ever expected, it speaks to me and my situation. Sometimes it is the only time I give to prayer and meditation in my day.

I have been having trouble sleeping recently. Sometimes I can’t fall asleep and sometimes when I wake up at 4 A.M. I can’t fall back to sleep. My mind turns on and wanders through the most recent soccer match I watched to how my mom is doing to a project I have going with Unity or another organization I volunteer for and on and on.

If I stay in bed, I try to interrupt my mind with an affirmation. I try to turn it (whatever "it" is) over to God and quiet my mind. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't.

If I get up, I often write in my journal about what's on my mind. This is really useful when I've had an insight during the day that I don't want to forget or that I want to explore further.

One recent morning at 4 A.M. when I was still awake, I began pacing around my sitting room and then into my bathroom. I picked up my copy of the Daily Word. However, it wasn't the word for that day that grabbed my attention. It was an ad for uPray, a new app from Unity. It’s free. I immediately downloaded it.

The tab for the first page is PRAY. It asks “How may we pray with you?” That is followed by a box to: “Enter prayer request here.”

The next tab is titled AFFIRM. There are several affirmations in each of these categories: Guidance, Prosperity, Harmony, Protection, Inner Peace and Healing.

The third tab is MEDITATE. There is a three minute meditation “to quiet your mind, relax your body, and refresh your spirit.” There is also a woman's voice saying the Unity Prayer for Protection written by James Dillet Freeman that we say at the end of our service every Sunday. And finally there is a link to Unity.org for more meditations and affirmations.

That morning at 4 A.M. I looked at the various categories of affirmations. I do not remember affirmations very well so I always choose short ones like this one from the Inner Peace group:

I am at peace.

It is so simple, short and sweet. I went to back to bed then and fell asleep right away. I have used it at night regularly since then and it has calmed my mind. Writing in my journal and using affirmations like this one are the most effective ways I have found to quiet my mind at night.

~ JEAN