Affirmation… prayers for secular folk?

As promised, I tried doing/saying affirmations as instructed in 12 Months To Your Ideal Private Practice. I did this every weekday, for 3 full weeks. On the fourth week, my affirmation commitment fell to 3-4 days. By the fifth week, my inner cynic was screaming:

AFFIRMATIONS ARE PRAYERS DRESSED-DOWN TO APPEAL TO SECULAR FOLK

As a practicing Jew, I wondered if my time would be better spent praying. You may ask, why not do both? Two reasons:

1. There’s only 24 hours in a day, and only so many of those hours, IMHO, should/could be spent on contemplative exercises.
2. Prayer informs every part of my life, not just my business… a “kill two birds…” scenario.

So for the time being, I’m dropping the affirmations from my daily rituals. In it’s place, I’ll say this**:

I gratefully thank You O living and eternal King, for You have returned my soul within me with compassion – abundant is Your faithfulness.

My AM ritual will continue as follows:

• meditate mindfully for 15 minutes.
• 100 push ups (every 2nd day)
• Check my GTD-esque system for “things to do”
• 5 minutes of gesture drawing.

If all goes well, the above should help my body/mind/soul toward focusing on, and helping to grow, my private practice.

I’ll post the results in 3 weeks time.

** The Modeh Ani is a Jewish prayer that observant Jews recite daily upon waking, while still in bed.