We advise people to keep requests somewhat general, and then as the request is presented, there is freedom to put specifics on the request depending on the current situation, your mood, and well, a host of other factors. Every day, Prayer Watchman reminds me to pray for my wife. I am free to think about that phrase, apply it to what I am thinking, and feeling, and offer thanks for something she did, to pray for myself because her behavior challenged me to change something in my own life, or to pray for her as she deals with a new challenge of her own with the kids. The request reads the same, but I am changing, circumstances are changing, and my prayer life can be as fresh and vital as I am willing to make it. Here again, the danger of monotony is highlighted because the quantity of prayer gets magnified by Prayer Watchman.
Prayer is too powerful, too critical to allow monotony to set in.
Praying in the right frame of mind, at least to me, is a personal awareness of communion with the ruler of the universe. God is fully majestic, all-powerful, aware of each and every thought I could possibly generate, and yet He has invited me to come before Him. The proper frame of mind, then, allows me to come needy and broken, unworthy and yet anticipated. I am welcome and safe here, and God wants me to pray. I may not understand much of what happens in people's lives, their burdens, even why things come about, but I can express those frustrations and desires to God.