Yeah, I can see how praying could influence reality by altering your perspective or your behavior, really just by reminding yourself regularly about the things you really value.
There’s obvious ones like “God please help me be a patient and considerate co-worker”, but even “God please give me a new awesome car” - someone who prays about that 4 times a day is going to be focused on saving for it. God helps those who help themselves and all that.
On the other hand “God please make a free car park for me outside the shop” ain’t helping anyone.
sh00g@kbin.social 11 months ago
Prayer can be a powerful self meditation tool. It's effectively a way to organize your thoughts by talking to yourself. What is not helpful is sending "thoughts and prayers" every time something bad happens without actually attempting to do anything to address the problem at hand.