Have you ever started davening, your lips moving to the familiar tefillos, only to realize just a few minutes in that your mind was elsewhere (like up to fifth item of your Shabbos shopping list)? Unfortunately, this scenario is familiar to many of us. But there’s hope. Here are some tried-and-true ways to improve your kavanah

Going to the “Boss”

For years, Brooklynite Dina Sara LEvine struggled to focus during davening. “I tried many different approaches to improve my davening, including warm-up brain exercises, various brain function improvement techniques, and trying to ‘force’ myself to focus more,” she remembers.

Despite her efforts, nothing helped.

Then she came up with an idea: She would launch a davening “campaign.”

As she relays, “It was my way of taking my struggle to the ‘Boss’ for help. I knew that when we ask Hashem for something physical, the answer might be ‘not now,’ but when we ask to come closer to Him, we are always helped. “My strategy for the campaign was to talk to Hashem and tell Him that if I receive the prayed-for item, ability, or quality, it will help me better fulfill ‘ivdu es Hashem b’simchah’ (serve Hashem with joy) and bring Him nachas from me,” she continues. “Such a tefillah could be about a commitment to any relevant improvement, be it having more ahavas Yisrael, or doing a specific mitzvah with more focus. In my case, I chose serving Hashem with joy. And one day, I suddenly realized that I had become a really happy person — happy for no external reason!”

Little did Mrs. Levine know where this campaign would eventually take her. “One day, I was reviewing the introduction of a sefer on the halachos of brachos when my attention was drawn to the statement that it’s a halachah nto focus on the meanings of Hashem’s names when we say a brachah — specifically that Hashem is Master of all; always was, always is, and always will be, and that for Elokim we are to think that Hashem is all-powerful, all-capable, and Almighty. “Hashem gave me a flash of an idea: to write those words on a Post-it note and put it into my siddur, above the words, so I could look up and see them when I davened. It was a great help. Not only was I more focused, I began to feel more during davening and when making brachos.

“Very quickly I realized that if this technique helped me, it could help others,” says Mrs. Levine. “I was inspired to design a bookmark type of card, similar to my Post-it note. The name Kavanah Kard suddenly popped into my mind. I also printed a small, business-size Kavanah Kard that would be easy to carry and plain enough to be used by men. Thanks to sponsors, I was able to keep the Kards free.

“Then came the big job — getting people to use them. I ordered display boxes and took them to everyone I knew and even didn’t know. People took multiples to give to others. So many people got into the act.” In total, 6,000 Kavanah Kards have been given out.

“In addition to having greater response to my tefillos, I’ve also experienced more spiritual elevation using the Kavanah Kards,” notes Dina Sara. “It was very noticeable when I was in Israel and davened at the Kosel. My experiences of elevation are not unique. Many tell me how much more meaningful their davening is with the Kards. The man who is sponsoring the new cards described how when he gave one to his friend at shul, the man actually cried at how uplifted he felt during davening.”