Tzadikim say that the most effective tefillah is one said with a broken heart. Even if a person is very troubled and cannot clear his mind to have much kavanah, if he prays with a broken heart, it is considered as if he had proper concentration and devotion.
Sefer Yosher Divrei Emes (Ois 42) writes: “In truth, the main kavanah is to pray with a broken heart, with self-annulment and with dveikus with Hashem.”
He relates a moshol from the Magid of Mezheritch zy”a: Every lock has a key that opens it. The key is designed to fit the lock and the lock will not open unless the right key is inserted. However, there are thieves who open a lock without a key. They simply break the lock. So too, there is key to open every door to Heaven, but the simplest way to get in is to break the lock. The way to do this is to break one’s heart and annul oneself to Hashem. In this way, the lock that separates us from Hashem is broken and our tefillos can ascend straight to Him.
He concludes: “In my youth, I learned some kavanos but I do not use them at all because the main kavanah is having a broken heart... Therefore, I chose to focus on just one kavanah – to connect to Hashem as much as possible... If I am able to focus for a moment on one simple kavanah, such as one Name of Hashem, I do it, but I don’t allow it to distract me from having the main kavanah.”
