What is prayer for someone who doesn't believe there's an omniscient, supreme being?

I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.~ Joseph Campbell

I always find myself doing a knee-jerk when someone asks me or the general population around me, as in Facebook, to pray for him/her. When I was a little girl I lost that part of my brain that believes in ghosts, goblins, angels, or god. I began to think that if there was a god, he was must be mischievous and sadistic. You see, I was brought up in a home with constant turmoil. I had a father who was so overwhelmed with his fate he stayed away from home as long as he could and drank a quart, yes a quart, of whiskey every day and a mother who fought internal demons and took her frustration and pain out on the only two people around her. Since my dad wasn't around much, I was the one who took the brunt of her exasperation.

While my friends were thinking of proms and other school activities I was reading the bible and philosophy books. I found myself there, imagining that I was trapped in a bottle, kind of like a ship in a bottle, and was part of some big experiment. 'Let's do this or that to her to see how she'll react.' I was literally being driven crazy. I ran upon Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain. At one point he is questioning the suffering of children and how a god, who could save them, would let them suffer. I even considered suicide as an escape plan. One night, I looked up at the stars and prayed for deliverance. But what happened next is I took charge of my life, became of age and left—for good. I never went back. For those who believe in the god or fantasy would say that my prayers were answered. For me, I took charge of my life.

I look around. The internet has brought so much more of the world to our foreground. I see tortured pets and children, war, war crimes, (actually, war is a crime). While looking at all this, I also see love, in my own life as well as all around me, I see wonderful people out there reaching out to those tortured children and pets, reaching out trying to stop war, going in diseased areas trying to put an end to suffering, famine, and hunger. The Yin-Yang truly represented.

So, what is prayer to someone like me? Someone who doesn't believe that some powerful being is listening?

I believe that faith equals confidence, a positive outlook on life. People blindly follow other people exhibiting self-confidence. Trusting in one's instincts and abilities aids in going on each day. A confident person emerges from a crowd in a full forward stride. Situations are analyzed, questioned, then decisions are made and there is no second guessing. It's like going through a traffic light. If it turns yellow, don't stammer, make a decision.

I believe that hope is a happy anticipation of a good outcome. Hope is looking for the positive, that white dot in the middle of the black. Optimism reigns here. The glass is half full. Rain brings not weeds but new life.

I believe that prayer is thinking positively of a person. Prayer is happy anticipation that someone can beat the odds. Confidence that their personal power will overcome whatever odds and/or pain s/he may be experiencing.

Angels are those people who go out and work in the world to ease others' pain: nurses, volunteers, people who rescue animals, people who go to those areas of the world to help those in need, people who work in nursing homes, people who work with other people suffering from severe mental or physical handicaps.

Miracles are things that come about against the odds. What we feel is normal or average makes those things that are outside that norm—so awesome that we call them miracles. They are simply in a long line of the continuum of possibilities. She will never walk again--then she does. He won't live past age two, he's now 20. It is a miracle, to me, that we exist at all among all these stars, planets, and rocks. It is a miracle that I can see it, feel it, experience it. It is a miracle that I found my life mate among millions and millions of people.

For me, and possibly others like me, who do not believe in an anthropomorphic supreme being (god), are there angels? Is there faith, hope and prayer and awe in this vast world of wonders? My answer, while down to earth and tangible, is yes.