1 reply to this topic

[Rabbi Shapiro]

When davening one is meant to connect with g-d. However If I dont feel anything despite years of trying then why daven? Is there any way to change this?

Yes. Rethink what you consider "connecting" to G-d. You are looking for a certain feeling that you are not getting. You assume that you should be getting that feeling, and if you don't, you are not "connecting with G-d."

Change that assumption. You have a preconceived notion of what a connection to Hashem feels like and you are disappointed that what you feel or don't feel does not match that preconceived notion. How would anyone know what a "connection" to Hashem feels like? When you daven, you are connecting to Hashem whether you feel that in your physical senses or not.

So don't try to get any particular feeling. Just know, in your mind, that when you are davneing, you are talking to Hashem, you are thanking Him for everything you have, and submitting your "budget request" for the short and long-term future. When you internalize that Hashem gives you everything you have and that davening is your way of expressing gratitude, as well as requesting everything you will get in the future, you will develop the true feeling of "connection," which, on our level, means gratitude, which leads to love of Hashem, and the feeling of comfort that He controls and oversees our lives. These feelings come as an effect of the intellectual internalization of what davening is. They do not come by themselves because you davened.

This takes work. For starters, try this shiur on the topic, and also this one.