Review of Prayer
Ask yourself how you feel about the period of prayer:
1. Did it go well? Quickly, peacefully? Why? Did anything strike me
particularly? Did I pause there?
Was I given the grace to enter into the mystery? How
did I respond?
Did location, position, or approach to prayer seem to
help?
Did anything from the last review of prayer or
anything from what I had been doing, reading, experiencing between periods of
prayer seem to help?
Had I tried to keep myself in harmony with the mood of
the prayer and the day in those periods between prayer? Keeping interior and
exterior quiet? Has the gift for whish I prayed been a thread throughout my
prayer?
2. Did the prayer NOT go well...slowly, with difficulty? Why?
Did I prepare properly? How much and in what way? Did
I use what I had prepared, particularly in order to move away from an unhealthy
distraction?
Did I try different positions, locations, approached
in order to improve the prayer?
Did I try to cover too much material? Did I pause
enough, not only on pleasing, peaceful parts, but also on the puzzling or
disturbing parts? Or did I try to avoid healthy disturbance?
Distraction...where, how many? What was their source?
Something internal or external to myself?
About the past, present, future? What did I do about
the distractions?
Is there anything from the time between the periods of
prayer which may have hindered prayer? Fatigue? Tensions? Lack of quiet?
3. Is there anything from this review which will help me about the next period of prayer?
NOTE: Not all of the above questions need necessarily be asked after each period of prayer.