It is possible to turn every situation, and everything one studies, into a tefillah. Here are a few examples:
It states in parashas Mishpatim (Shemos 23:5) כי תראה חמור שנאך רבץ תחת משאו וחדלת מעזב לו עזב תעזב עמו, "If you see the donkey of someone you hate crouching under its burden, would you refrain from helping him? – you shall help him repeatedly." This mitzvah is called perikah, unloading because you help unload the donkey. Chazal (Pesachim 113:) ask why the Torah discusses שונאך, someone you hate. Is it permissible to hate one's fellow man? The Gemara answers that if he saw the owner of the donkey perform severe aveiros, he has a mitzvah to hate him. Even so, he must overcome his hatred and help him unload the donkey.
Chazal say that the mitzvah of perikah is solely when he meets up with the donkey collapsing under his load. If one is very far away (like on another mountain) and sees the owner struggling with his crouched donkey, he isn't obligated to go there to help him.
Reb Yehudah Assad zt'l spoke about these halachos and turned them into a tefillah. He said to Hashem, "Ribono Shel Olam! You keep the entire Torah. This means you keep this mitzvah of perikah as well. So why don't you unload our burden and bundles, when you find us crouching under the weight of our tzaros? You should perform the mitzvah of perikah and save us. If You will say that You don't want to help us because we sinned, behold the mitzvah of perikah is even when the owner has sinned. It seems that You aren't performing this mitzvah of perikah because You see us from far away, and then the mitzvah doesn't apply. So, our solution is to come near You, because then You will be obligated to save us. We come near to You with tefillah, as it states (Tehillim 145:18) 'קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו', 'Hashem is close to all those who call upon Him…'"
The chasid Reb Yaakov Shalom Freund zt'l said in a tefillah to Hashem, "I am not asking You for what You don't have; I am asking You what You do have. And I am not asking for something that is hard; I am asking for something easy. Give us a good year."
A poor man would go to the local butcher at the end of the day, and the butcher would kindly give him the leftover meats. Generally, it was the hearts and brains of the animals, the parts that most people don't want to buy.
One evening, the butcher told him that no hearts or brains were left. They were sold out that day. The poor man said to Hashem, "Ribono Shel Olam! What do I ask from you? Just for a drop of heart. Just for a drop of brains!"
In the Rosh Hashanah machzor, on the second day, after Zichronos, there's a tefillah that begins with these words, אפחד במעשי אדאג בכל עת אירא ביום דין בבואו לזכרון, "I am afraid because of my bad deeds, I am worried all the time. I am afraid when my deeds will be reviewed before Hashem on the day of judgment."
In Elul, the Belzer Rav zt'l would often repeat these words, and he would say them in a haunting, yamim nora'im tune. And then he would say (in the same tune), "The Rambam paskens that we must do teshuvah, and the Raavad doesn't disagree. What will be the תכלית, what will be the סוף?"
These are examples of how we can arouse ourselves to tefillah. We should invest in Tehillim and the Selichos, and it is good to find time to invest in tefillah in our own words, as well. It is the season for tefillah, and we should utilize this powerful tool to its fullest.