Having Patience

When asked do we have patience, we probably don’t look at the bigger picture do we? Some of us will straight away say no, and some of us will straight away say yes. The ones who straight away say no, are probably thinking of things like learning a new skill, whereas the ones who say yes, are probably thinking they have patience to learn a new skill, however do we look at the bigger picture? We get impatient when the internet connection isn’t fast enough, or if the train doesn’t arrive on time, or when there’s an advert break on tv, or when we want an online order to arrive quickly, or being put on hold. I am guilty of this.

Do we ever take time to stop and observe though?

We live such a fast paced life now, that we get aggravated when we have to wait. If I am honest, we are all impatient, in some way that we probably don’t even recognise. There are lots of things we have achieved already, and still lots of things we all want to still achieve, but does it happen quickly? No it can take days, months, even years, to get the things we want to achieve, but most of all it takes patience. We need to trust ourselves that it will happen, and we need to trust the path we are on, or even the diversions it takes, and if it doesn’t happen, it wasn’t meant to be and that usually means something better is around the corner.

The important thing is to not give up.

The good thing is patience is something that is never too late to learn. It doesn’t matter how old we are, we can all learn how to be more patient, and how to adapt it better to our lives. Whether its career, relationships, getting into shape, patience will really work in favour of this. Each day is a step closer to achieving that goal. Things don’t just happen over night, I mean Rome wasn’t built in a day, and can you imagine how that would turn out if they just gave up? However being persistent, work hard, and do small things everyday, will help achieve that goal in the long run. While you might not see results as quickly as you want too, over time, you will start seeing changes. The thing is you can work on a goal for as long as you want in a day, but it’s not going to achieve anything quicker.

What can we get out of having patience?

It’s like the story of the hare and the tortoise, the tortoise won. If you are the hare in life, are you going to really achieve what you want to achieve? If we aren’t going to have patience, then we are only going to make irrational choices, and try and fast track everything we want, for fear of missing out, but it’s not actually achieving anything, it’s actually slowing us down. What are we getting out of being impatient, apart from self punishment? Patience is not waiting, it’s about how you act while you wait. Most of all we need to have patience with ourselves, we need to stop sticking so much pressure on ourselves. Give ourselves a break. If I’m honest, this post has taken me over a week to type, because I was loosing patience with it. It’s not up to the normal standard I set myself, and it’s not coming across as well explained as I want it too. However I have had patience with it, and even know its taken me longer than expected, and set me back on other posts, I’ve stuck with it.

How can we have more patience with ourselves? It’s not easy, but there are things we can do and small steps we can take. We can start off with listening to our emotions, notice when we feel stress, notice our thoughts and pay attention to what arises in us. This way we can not be troubled by life’s changes and delays. Easier said than done right, but at the same time, it would be nice to have peace with our minds.

When it comes to having patience with others though, it’s a whole different story. What ways we live our lives to others will be very different. Life is a process and we are all growing and learning things at different speeds. When we feel let down, or others irritate us, we need to try and bare this in mind. Regardless of what others do or think, we have a choice in how we allow it to affect us.

Just remember that acting with patience, is your way of telling life that you are in charge.

A x