Q: I have ADHD and I love to use the ideas from the book Praying in Color. Am I praying contemplatively if I use paint or drawing to center myself so I can listen for God? No matter what group I have belonged to, the idea of contemplative prayer is to be still and let go of inner distraction through breathing or a mantra. I know inner distractions are part of being human but sitting still is not easy for me.
A: Thank you for your question. It would perhaps be more appropriate to suggest that your artistic attributes and associated artefacts may be appropriate to be used to help you prepare for a Centering Prayer sit where you can pray contemplatively. This could help you to set your intention to surrender, rather than listen, to God in the Centering Prayer sit. You might also use an artistic icon as your sacred symbol in such a sit.
I understand that those who have ADHD can find sitting still for long periods of time a challenge. A helpful approach to adjusting to such stillness is perhaps to start with very short sits of only a very few minutes, with the encouragement to aim to stay still for this short time. At the end of this brief sit, you might stand up and walk very slowly for a few minutes, perhaps circling around your sitting chair/place. Then you might sit down again for a further short sit, repeating the process of short sits & slow walks over several times. This could have two helpful effects – first, experience suggests that the peace of Centering Prayer (even very short sessions) can carry over into the slow walk and progressively deepen into the next sit and beyond; second, having got used to remaining still for a few minutes can be a good basis to extend the duration of these sits, perhaps only by a minute each time, on future sessions.
Much shalom,
David Henderson
United Kingdom
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You may be interested in the article David co-authored, “Centering Prayer and Autism,” which you can find here in the 2022 December newsletter.
