Pray with your eyes open sometimes. You’ll notice who else needs it.

Shutting your eyes is a focusing trick, not a requirement, and it has a side effect worth knowing about. With them closed you only ever pray about what you already had in mind. Open, in a room or a corridor or a canteen, you start noticing the faces that would never have made your list. The person who looks exhausted, the one sitting alone, the one who has clearly been crying.

Try it once this week with your eyes open and your list abandoned. Pray for whoever is actually in front of you.