We always said night prayers when I was a child. Before my father died, the three of us would kneel in the living room and pray. Later, when there was just my mother and me, we knelt in my bedroom before I went to sleep. We would pray for our relatives and friends and for anybody we knew who was sick or having difficulties. Then we would offer a prayer ‘for the soul who needed it most.’ We sent love and positive energy to anyone, anywhere who was at the edge of despair. Who might be all alone. Who might be suffering from terrible pain. Who might be plagued by guilt or regret. Or by something a child of ten or eleven had no idea about. But certainly someone who felt cut off from love.

I felt personally comforted by these prayers. I knew absolutely that they had an effect. It was a wonderful feeling to ease someone else’s suffering. I felt reassured that if I ever needed such advocacy, there would be someone, somewhere sending blessings to me.

I don’t remember who suggested this type of prayer to us. And for years, I forgot about it. But lately, with all the suffering in the world, and experiencing feelings of powerlessness, I have taken up this practice again. At least once a day, I send out wishes of love and comfort – to someone I have never met and never will, except in a very spiritual way. I send healing and forgiveness. I pray from my own weakness and questioning. I pray because I feel I can repair the channel of loving unity that has been broken by hatred and complacency and walls of ‘otherness.’ For even a moment, I link with a soul and we are one with the Great Oneness. Through this, we both experience healing and the energy that is so powerfully Alive.