The discipline of prayer is hard to cultivate. Most Christians earnestly try. For some like me, with a wandering mind, it is particularly hard. 

Prayer is communication. How does a person communicate in real life? Think about it. There is a speaker and a listener. There is conversation going back and forth. There is speaking, listening, clarifying, questioning, agreeing, empathizing, etc. There is tone of voice, pitch, and body language. All these cue us to continue the conversation in different directions. There is a coordination and understanding that is present in conversations even when people disagree about the subject. Now imagine, if we could neither see nor hear the listening party, how engaging will that conversation be?