At the very least, be scrupulous with the Shema that is recited twice daily, taking care to recite it without any extraneous thoughts, God forbid. This is an important matter of immeasurable greatness. The mnemonic by which to remember this is the statement,³⁹ “Whoever recites the Shema upon his bed, the forces of harm (Mazikin⁴⁰מזיקין generally refers to the demonic forces, but is used here to refer to anything that may cause harm in the world.) depart from him.” The term, “the forces of harm-Mazikin-מזיקין” means all forms of harm in the world, whether bodily harm or spiritual harm.

footnotes: ³⁹ Talmud Bavli, Brachot 5a ⁴⁰ Talmudic usage of the term Mazikin-

Even if you find it impossible to pray entirely without extraneous thoughts, train yourself to, at least, begin without extraneous thoughts.⁴¹

footnotes: ⁴¹ And you will become progressively better at it.