Watch this first: https://youtube.com/shorts/EXS7sSPUOt0
This is a funny (and costly) Miley Cyrus story that carries a great lesson for us all — she reportedly lost a multimillion-dollar deal over a single unguarded moment caught on video. It reminds me of a mantra I was once given to pass on: "My prayer is my life, my life is my prayer."
There was a moment when she had the chance to reflect on what her actions were saying, what her life was praying, and what that was costing — or manifesting — for her. And, from what we can see, she took action to try to clean it up, to pray a different prayer.
In 12-step work, there's something called the tenth step, where a person "continued to take personal inventory, and when wrong, promptly admitted it."
Imagine that — that there are people outside the 12-step world who actually do this kind of work. Imagine what the world would look like if more people did.
That's real work. Self-awareness is the arena, the innermost place where the battle for concession plays out — that moment in time when you see your part in what's unfolding, and where seeing it actually translates into meaningful action, rather than negative acceptance.
Take a moment and look at your life as if you were reading a prayer. What would it say to you?
Years ago I heard a freeing statement: "If you pray for something and get it, but you don't really want it, you can pray it away." Freeing, because how often do we stay stuck in something simply because we believe we can't get out of it? Like the woman who is convinced she has to drink — until she hears someone say, "You know, you don't have to." And it's like someone turned on a light in a room that had been dark for what felt like forever. She begins telling herself a new prayer: "I don't have to drink right now." A prayer that slowly manifests into a sober, clean life.
Take a look at your life - would you like it to say?
This is a moment of divine revelation. That you can "repent". Change your thinking and let your life be the prayer you want answered.
Your choices, words, quiet moments can be small amens to the person you're becoming.
And if what you're living isn't what you meant to pray — begin again, right now, with this breath - pray it away.