How to pray the rosary?

This is not a blog post about how to pray the rosary. This is not about step by step praying the Rosary. This is about what the spirit of praying the rosary is.

It is easy for us to get stuck in the "right" and "wrong" way to pray.  Their are traditional methods to pray the rosary. There are typical styles. There is a tradition of rosary praying.  But the rosary is a tool to bring us closer to God.  How exactly you use it to draw yourself closer to the heart of God is up to you.

Take this rosary, the one in the photo, for example.  It is irregular in size, shape, bead number etc.  But what if, instead of praying Hail Mary prayers you named physically ill people for the first set, mentally ill people for the second set, and people struggling for the final set.

Or what if you took each bead and named a characteristic of God?
What if you took each bead and named a gift God has given you?

Fundamentally the rosary is a tangible object that helps us to focus our prayer.  Lots and lots of people love the traditional prayer.  I have at times in my life found it very meaningful.  But the heart of the rosary is having a heart that is open to God.

You can pray the "correct" rosary with judgement and cruelty. You may call it prayer.  I however, don't care about formulas as much as I care about intimacy with God.

Be creative. Be faith filled.