How to connect to tefillah from where you’re at, right now.

Let's talk about pressure.

Pressure can be a wonderful thing. It helps us meet deadlines, achieve big goals, and do the right thing when it's difficult.

But when pressure becomes a norm, when we're constantly feeding it to ourselves in unhealthy doses, it starts to have the opposite effect. It burns us out and turns us off.

Which is why the insight we uncovered last week, the one about focusing our prayers on developing "eyes of emunah," can be such a game-changer for our tefillah.

Before bringing in that insight, we mentioned several of the most well-known approaches to tefillah's purpose. Standing before Hashem and connecting with Him. Asking Him for our needs and thanking Him. Praising Him and triggering the flow of His largesse into the world.

All these aspects are key pieces of tefillah's essence. The problem is that when us average humans try to experience tefillah with them in mind, we struggle.

Turning abstract ideas into tangible experiences isn't our strong point.

And since the only tangible part of tefillah is the recitation of the words – which, on the surface, can get pretty monotonous – we end up bored and disconnected.

Now, that's only the first struggle we have to contend with. Because when we tell ourselves to get over the length and sameness of the texts, and try to make our tefillah meaningful anyway, we typically hit on another challenge – self-imposed pressure.

Concentrate. Why are you getting distracted?

Put some feeling into it, why are you just mumbling?

Remember, tefillah's power is incredible. You know all sorts of people who need yeshuos. Let's go, daven harder!

Rav Dessler speaks quite frankly about our tefillah struggles. He acknowledges they don't just come when we're trying to fulfill the Nefesh Hachayim's instructions of praying to remove the desecration of Hashem's name from the world. We struggle even when we pray for our own personal needs – because this concept of talking to an intangible Being doesn't feel real to us in the first place!

We’re not looking for excuses, of course. Difficult as it is for us to connect to tefillah, we still need to work on it.

The trick to working on it successfully – and happily! – is to stop skipping steps.

To acknowledge where we're really at. To sympathize with our struggle (instead of getting down on ourselves). And to choose an avodah that meets us where we are.

Because no matter where we are, there’s always a doable avodah right in front of us.

So let’s shift away, for the time being, from the emphasis of getting results through our tefillos. The pressure to "hit a home run" with each prayer makes us chase perfection, then crash and burn.

Instead, let’s turn to the opportunity tefillah gives us to learn new things about Hashem. About the spiritual world behind the reality we can pick up with our human senses.

What if we could look at tefillah like a leisurely stroll through a beautiful park? Take our time as we go through? Stop to notice details in the scenery that pique our interest? Turn off the path and explore a bit?

Aha. What does that mean practically?

Instead of pressuring ourselves to reach lofty levels of tefillah experience, let's start by simply appreciating the words we're saying.

Let's enjoy the ride of tefillah. Learn new, intriguing, touching things every day. How's that for a first step?

Some examples:

"Pokeiach ivrim" (“He Who gives sight to the blind”), and all the surrounding brachos. As we go through them, we can stop and realize anew that though we see sight, clothes, stable land, etc. as basic facts of life, Hashem is lovingly providing them for us daily, hourly, every second.

"Hame'ir la'aretz” (“He provides illumination for the earth”): have you ever noticed – these words show that Hashem hasn't just given us the sun. He IS the rays.

"Hashkiveniu" (“Lay us down to sleep”) in Maariv alerts us to the fact that spiritual demons roam the world at night, and we need Hashem's protection from them.

We’ve listed three out of countless, limitless insights we can find in the words of tefillah that open our eyes to the world of Hashem, of spirituality. And discovering them doesn't have to be hard.

When we daven this way, we're calm. We're relaxed. We're engaged. Because we've removed that pressure to force something out. We're just coming along for the ride – which will likely turn into a beautiful, enriching one.