I am certainly unfit to advise anyone else on the devotional life. My own rules are 

(1) To make sure that, wherever else they may be placed, the main prayers should *not* be put 'last thing at night.' 

(2) To avoid introspection in prayers--I mean not to watch one's own mind to see if it is in the right frame, but always to turn the attention outwards to God.

(3) Never, never to try to generate an emotion by will power. 

(4) To pray without words when I am able, but to fall back on words when tired or otherwise below par..

(C.S. Lewis [20th C.], Letter to Mrs. Ursula Roberts)

The prayer of the heart gives the pilgrim an immense joy and an unspeakable experience of God's presence. Wherever he goes and with whomever he speaks from here on, he cannot resist speaking about God who dwells in him. Although he never tries to convert people or change their behavior but always looks for silence and solitude, he nevertheless find that the people he meets respond deeply to him and his words and rediscover God in their own lives. Thus, the pilgrim, who is by his confession of sin and unceasing supplication for mercy, recognizes his distance from God, finds himself traveling through the world in his most intimate company and inviting others to share in it." 

Henri J. M. Nouwen. Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is;
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will,
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Reinhold Neibuhr (1892-1971)

Eternal Father of my soul, let my first thought today be of Thee, let my
first impulse be to worship Thee, let my first speech be Thy name, let my
first action be to kneel before Thee in prayer.
For Thy perfect wisdom and perfect goodness.
For the love wherewith Thou lovest mankind.
For the love wherewith Thou lovest me.
For the great and mysterious opportunity of my life.
For the indwelling of Thy Spirit in my heart:
For the sevenfold gifts of Thy Spirit:
I praise and worship Thee, O Lord.

Yet let me not, when this morning prayer is said, think my worship ended and
spend the day in forgetfulness of Thee. Rather from these moments of
quietness let light go forth, and joy, and power, that will remain with me
through all the hours of the day....

John Baille, A Diary of Private Prayer.

Jaroslav Pelikan, versatile historian noted for his magisterial studies of Luther and for the broad sweep of his interests, brought up in a strong-minded Church with continental European rather than British roots, proved himself ideally equipped to interpret the varying traditions to each other, Catholic and Orthodox as well as Protestant. His concern was chiefly to ensure that a better understanding of the past should prepare the way for a richer and more harmonious future. He always distinguished, as he said, between tradition, as the living voice of the dead, and traditionalism, as the dead voice of the living.

The Times, May 23 2006, page 69