The Stigma of Gh'awd

Being a spiritual person is difficult for me. Words like "prayer" or "God" have religiously loaded meanings that I don't want to associate with. I have a hard time saying "bless you" when someone sneezes, because it's an abreviated form of "God bless you". I prefer the old German term "Gesundheit" for good health, although upon wiki-ing this term, it also is tied to God bless you. Argh! I can't escape religion!

When I talk of god, I like to refer to woman. I'm not trying to piss people off or to fight the system (at least I can claim it consciously), I just want to use something without the stigma.

Do I pray? Yes, but not very often. This is hard for me as well, because I used to pray as a Christian, and when I pray as not a Christian, it feels awkward and wrong. To remedy this, I've begun sending energy. Instead of talking to god in prayer, I send energy and good vibes to people around me, or to others I'm thinking about. It may sound hokey, but to me, so does talking to god in your head with your hands together. I try to be careful though, because when I get angry, and don't want to accidentally send off some of that to others.