”when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray” [Mark 6:46]

”when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray”. The crowd was the field in which Jesus laboured. But it prevented Him having audience in prayer with his Father, so He needed to send it away.
Some of the things we need to shut out, if we would be still in prayer before the Lord are – anxieties about little things that have been taking so much of our time; the important job we are about to tackle; care about everybody else; the demands that everybody is making upon us; self-pity for our present condition. All these are part of our ‘multitude’ or field of service. When we take them to prayer, our mind dwells on them instead of on the Lord.
If you would walk with your heavenly Father, you’ll need to ‘send them away’. They’ll return soon enough, anyway.