In order to facilitate the development of true prayer, take these steps:
1) keep a prayer rule according to the blessing of your spiritual father - not more than you can read unhurriedly on a normalday;
2) before you pray, in your free time become familiar with the prayer in your rule, fully take in each word and feel it, so that you would know in advance what should be in your soul as you read. It will be even better if you learn the prayers by heart. When you do this, then all of your prayers will be easy for you to remember and feel. There is only one final difficulty: your thoughts will always stray to other subjects, therefore:
3) you must struggle to keep your attention focused on the words of your prayer, knowing in advance that your mind will wander.
- St. Theophan the Recluse
