I was singing a silent song to God during a 10-mile run, but then I switched to verbal prayers and felt an immediate loss of inspiration.
I thought, “That’s interesting. How can sharing my thoughts with God be a ‘downer’?” I began singing again and felt a return of the happiness in my heart.
In his book, Peak Performance, sports psychologist Charles Garfield describes a state of mental focus that athletes experience where they’re no longer verbalizing – the mind is relaxed and focused on one thing at a time, but without verbal thinking.
I thought about this, and I realized that fill up my brain with words I’m taking over the field of awareness – shutting God out, because “making words” leaves no space for God’s side of the conversation.
When I pulled back from verbalizing and sang from my heart, it felt as if I was sharing with God. It bothered me a bit that it was a fuzzy kind of awareness – that it didn’t have the nice, clear, cool edges of logic. But it didn’t have the coldness, either. I was less full of myself, leaving my awareness open for God’s answers.
