Non-religious Prayer

Hi,

Does anyone here have a regular prayer practice? I'm looking for a bit of of advice, from anyone, religious or non-religious, and would be greatful for any input. I've given a little background as follows...

Prayer is not something that I grew up with, but I can see the potential benefits. I am particularly drawn to the following quote by Mother Teresa (my imited experience has lead me to the same conclusion) :

“I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. ... I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”

I've practiced a fair amount of meditation over the past 5-6 years and this has given me both an understanding of how my mind works, while also honing my concentration. As a consequence I no longer get lost in thought for long periods of time. These meditation sessions, over time, evolved into a witnessing of my thought processes, which were / are almost always negative in content!

When I now sit down with the intention of thinking positive thoughts about a person / praying for them, I am met with a wall of negative energy / thoughts. I watch the negative thoughts produced about the person with impartiality but it is like wading through treacle. It's also difficult to generate positive thoughts about the person while this negative energy is in place. Does anyone else have similar experience along these lines? Is it just a case of persevering?

Thanks for any advice