Mother Natalia

I would say maybe a certain number instead of a certain amount of time, because otherwise if it's time, I feel like you're constantly checking your watch or you're listening for an alarm.

But that's why typically tchotchke, the prayer ropes, are broken into certain sections.

So it might have 33 or 50 or 100, but it's typically so that if you're assigned a certain number of Jesus prayers as a penance, then you can track that easily.

So anyways, I would say maybe you get a 33 knot tchatki and you're going to sit in silence and pray around the whole thing one time.

And then it's just, you'll feel when you reach the end and you don't have to keep your mind on it.

Or if you don't want to buy something new and you have a rosary and you want to do it on the rosary beads, that's fine too, you know.

Byzantine Jesus is not going to strike you down for praying the Jesus prayer on a rosary.

And because Byzantine Jesus and Roman Jesus are the same person.

So that's an option is just say like, I'm going to pray this once around.

once a day.

You could also link it in with a practice that you already have, like something you do every day.

So maybe as I drive to work every day, I'm going to recite the Jesus Prayer aloud as I drive to work.

And then on the way home, I'll listen to my podcast or do whatever.

I like to pray the Jesus prayer as I fall asleep at night.

That's had a bit of a Pavlov's dog effect, unfortunately.

Anytime I pray the Jesus prayer in the chapel, I just kind of conk out.

But that's also an option is to pray it as you fall asleep.

Can I give one other piece of advice?

The Psalms are so beautiful and express so many movements of the heart that we sometimes don't even realize are movements of our heart until we read them.

And so I also like to sometimes pray the Jesus Prayer for, I don't know, for this day or for this week or whatever, incorporating the Psalms.