• Let me step into the circle. Let me step into the circle of life.

• This is what I want to happen, that our earth mother be clothed in ground snow in rest before the time of seed and planting, then the season of blossom and fruit. That fire clear the forest but just enough, the birds gathering thistle, willow, and cottonwood, the mountain shielding the valley from the winds and too much rain, the spruce growing in the shade of aspen, fir in the shade of yellow pine. Into the bodies of stars and the round bright sun, life beamed, given and returned to the sky. I give this prayer, my drum alive.

• I am the world, myself, all living beings.

• Water, oceans of my life.

• I remember you.

• Together we belong.

• All of us, forest and fish, human, together — treasures.

• Let peace begin with me. Let me be an instrument. Let me be the voice of peace. Let peace begin with me.

• More than kindness know, let me in kindness act. Let me find my way to children's door so that I may find in the full smile of their face a healing force. Let me find a child who needs a sewn bear and warm milk. The human spirit longs for peace among the flocks and together we share our cupped hands.

• I live on this earth with grace and caring.

• Just to start begins it all.

• Our prayer: always the human race, our family circle, the bird and the bear, hollyhocks and forget-me-nots — one embrace — the mud body of earth.

Janell Moon in How to Pray without Being Religious: Finding Your Own Spiritual Path