Give Me Patience!

Patience is a state of mind that we appear to never have enough of. In today’s society almost everything we want is available at our fingertips.  If we’re hungry, we can call up and have it at our doorsteps in minutes.  If we want to buy a new book, we simply go online and it’s downloaded immediately.  The same goes for entertainment, we can download and rent a movie, a game and even Facetime a friend and not have to get in our car and drive there.  We don’t have to wait for anything anymore so why is patience still so valuable?
 
Have you ever observed someone who is acting impatiently at the grocery store, at a mall, or in traffic for example? You might consider them rude, arrogant, inconsiderate, or selfish. What can we learn for these experiences? We can learn to not come across as being over-bearing, angry, judgmental. The best way to do this is to practice patience even though we are living in a world of instant gratification. We are not tested often enough to practice patience but when we are we must ask ourselves certain questions before we flip out and get angry such as: - 

• What is making me feel so impatient at this time?
• Is it the person, the event or simply the time restraint on my day?
• Was it something the person said or done to me that makes me feel this way?

After you have asked yourself these questions and have a deeper understanding as to what has you feeling so impatient, it’s time to analyze your situation: -

• Do I have a part to play in this situation happening?
• Is my impatience making this situation worse or better for me?
• Am I interpreting the situation all wrong here, is it really how it is?
• How is this effecting others in the situation right now?

 
“He that can have patience can have what he will.” - Benjamin Franklin

When you begin to think more deeply about this problem and how it affects others in the moment, or people you will see shortly after you are still consumed by your meltdown. You realize that you may just need to change your perception of the people involved or situation that was party to your impatient outburst - you could ask yourself: - 

• What control did I have over the situation?
• How else could I have perceive this person’s actions?
• Was this person having a worse day than I was?
• What can I learn from this situation that will help me to react differently if I’m in a similar situation again?
• Maybe I am was trying to control too much about the issue, maybe I need to let some of that control go?

 
In some cases, we are impatient because we feel we have no control over something, for example, delegating work to others and hoping they stick to our deadline.  We need to analyze how much control we actually need in all areas of our life. We may find that we are putting too much pressure on family, friends, and work colleagues. This causes us to be impatient with those people and events in our lives.  This in turn causes friction between our relationships.
 
Having patience is so beneficial when it comes to making decisions at work, or building your own business.  We make mistakes by being impulsive and looking for quick solutions. Being patient in our relationships is so important because we allow our loved ones to have a voice, an opinion, an idea on something. We are more approachable, appear calm, relaxed and more enjoyable to be around.  Patience brings people closer while impatience brings hostility and distance.
 
"Why is patience so important? Because it makes us pay attention." - Paulo Coelho

Patience does not come easily; it is something that must be practiced just like any behavior.  Patience is nourishing, it allows us to be thoughtful and calm. Look at some ways to be more conscious of our state of mind: -

1. Slow down – Don’t allow yourself to be in a rushed frantic state.  Give yourself extra time to get to work and be prepared for traffic. 
2. Yoga and meditation can teach you mindfulness.  Being more mindful heightens your awareness of your thoughts, feelings and gives you a better perspective in life.
3. Gratitude helps with the practice of patience because you are no longer focusing on the things that are not working but focusing on all the good things that are working in your life.
4. Journaling – Take up the practice of writing down your thoughts and feelings. This will allow you to observe your behavior and learn more about what triggers your impatience and how you can learn from these moments to create more patience in you.

Be happy, healthy and patient - it's all practice!