Dr. Ritika Sambyal, Dr Deepak Pathania
drritrzsam10@gmail.com
“The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in nothing.” – Hannah Whitall Smith
When asked about the frequency of her prayers, a friend recently gave me an unexpected answer: “I generally pray more when I am happy.” Her response struck me because it flips the standard human script. For most of us, prayer is an act of crisis management. We turn to a higher power when we are broken, stressed, or cornered by circumstance; we seek out temples and bow our heads primarily to ask for relief, hoping our burdens will be lifted. To remember the divine in moments of absolute joy, however, is a rare and beautifully genuine act. It shifts the fundamental nature of faith from a desperate plea for help into a profound expression of pure gratitude.
Most of us treat the divine like a 911 dispatcher. We reach out when the tire blows on the highway, when the medical report comes back with too many syllables, or when the bank account looks thinner than a ghost. This is the “Panic Prayer”-a reactive. We are masters of the “Panic Prayer.” In our collective human experience, we have been well-trained to cry for help, instinctively reaching for the divine like a child reaches for a parent after a scraped knee.
But here is the question we rarely ask: Are we ever taught how to whisper “thank you” when nothing is wrong? We are taught from childhood how to cry for help, but we are rarely taught how to whisper “thank you” when the sun is shining and the bills are paid. This is High-Tide Faith: the art of the happy prayer.
Most of our spiritual lives operate on the “break glass in case of emergency” basis. This is reactive faith-the Panic Prayer-is valid and deeply human. However, it is also involuntary. Pain is a loud motivator; it demands an audience. In contrast, Joyful Prayer is a proactive choice. It is the act of turning inward when the sun is out, the bills are paid, and the heart is quiet. While praying in sadness is natural, praying in happiness is artful. It requires us to bypass our ego’s tendency to take credit for the “good times” and instead acknowledge a source larger than ourselves.
There is a compelling argument that praying when happy represents a higher level of consciousness. Why? Because it requires intentionality rather than desperation. When we pray only in crisis, our spiritual life becomes a series of frantic insurance claims. We only “call the office” when there is a wreck. However, when we cultivate a practice of Happy Praying, we move from a state of lack to a state of abundance. When we pray from a place of abundance-what we might call “High-Tide Faith”-we are not asking for a rescue; we are practicing presence.
Praying when life is good is a radical act because it serves no immediate “utilitarian” purpose. You are not asking for a rescue; you are practicing presence. By acknowledging the “high tides” of our lives, we build a reservoir of resilience. We are not just reacting to the world; we are proactively shaping our perspective. It is the difference between a student who only studies the night before a failing grade and the scholar who reads for the sheer love of the truth.
By learning to pray in the sunshine, we refine our “spiritual hearing.” We find that the conversation becomes richer when it is not shouted over the noise of a crisis. Let us strive to be people who do not just use faith as a life jacket, but as a sail-something that carries us forward even when the waters are calm and the horizon is clear.
So, next time when you find yourself caught in a moment of pure, unadulterated contentment-over a cup of coffee, a quiet morning, or a shared laugh-do not let it pass in silence. Radicalize your happiness. Whisper a big “thank you” into the void. You might find that the void whispers back. Just Like in the words of Margaret Lee Runbeck, “Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.”
(The authors are Faculty, Udhampur Campus, University of Jammu; and Assistant Professor, Govt. SPMR College of Commerce, Jammu)
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