Elevating Our Tefillah

Hachanah breeds kavannah. Hachanah causes a person to be present. When a person comes to a mitzvah unprepared, his mind will be in a million places. Therefore, a person must sit down and meditate on what he is about to do. One should take five minutes before davening Minchah to meditate on what he is about to do and to daven for success in this.

In fact, the tzaddikim arranged the words of the Mishnah thus: Early chassidim would pause for an hour before they would begin to daven, ומתפללים! אחת שעה שוהין they would utilize their meditation time to daven for success in the mitzvah they were about to carry out! Tefillah is very much a part of this preparation.