Good and Bad Distractions

What draws your focus the most during the day?  For some, it could be their job.  For others, it could be their children.  For others, it could be some external form of stimulus, such as a cell phone, or social media, or something else entirely.  Some things that draw our focus are good.  Mihály Csikszentmihályi, a psychologist, came up with the idea of cognitive “flow”.  When one is in a state of flow, one becomes absorbed in an activity to the point of losing track of the passage of time.  For example, if you have ever read a really good book, and glanced at the clock to realize several hours had gone by and you hadn’t noticed, you might have been in a state of flow.

It’s great if you can achieve this state when you are working on a particularly important project, either for work or for pleasure.  It is less helpful if you happen to get into a state of flow with something which is a distraction from more important things you need to do.

At first glance, the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, can seem to disrupt the “flow” of a day.  It can seem like a distraction to have to think about praying every few hours.  But, when viewed differently, the Liturgy of the Hours can be a necessary “reset button”.  When the day isn’t going quite how you expected for whatever reason, taking a few moments or minutes to re-center yourself with prayer can actually save you time in the long run.

The “Hours” of the Liturgy of the Hours are morning prayer (lauds), mid-morning prayer (terce), mid-day prayer (sext), mid-afternoon prayer (none), evening prayer (vespers), night prayer (compline), and the Office of Readings (which can be said at any time throughout the day).  For laity, joining in with praying the Liturgy of the Hours does not have to be an all or nothing venture.  The more principle of the hours are morning and evening prayer.  They are a good place to start. 

Priests and other religious men and women commit to praying the Liturgy of the Hours each day.  When we as the laity join our prayers with theirs, the Church as a whole is stronger.  Over time, you may start to feel as if you are missing something when you don’t get a chance to pray.  And, what may have seemed like a distraction at first can help you avoid other less helpful distractions in the future.

If you would like to start praying the Liturgy of the Hours, there are several options:  You could invest in a Breviary, if you prefer a physical book.  If you would prefer a website or an app for your phone there’s iBreviary (free app available) or Universalis (free on the web, or a one-time fee paid app).