What is one of the most valuable commodities that anyone can possess in this day and age? What is the one precious thing we all seem to lack? I believe that, given the opportunity, some of us would even trade everything for a lifelong supply of this magical substance. It is the one thing that can secure so much happiness, inner peace, and long-term fulfillment. It’s called PATIENCE!
The word patience is defined as: The ability to wait calmly for something to happen without complaining or giving up. So how long must our problem solving minds be silent before we’re considered patient? And also what can we possibly hope to learn from being patient?
After participating in many forms of competitive competitions you learn that your greatest weaknesses can be exposed. In one-on-one situations you have to be able to fight through the problems that get in your way. Just who is that enemy that gets in your way of what you want to do? Is it a family member, a friend, a co-worker, or the biggest foe of all --- YOU? I have seen many great people fail because of themselves. They want it all RIGHT NOW and don’t realize that experience and time are allies.
Imagine the possibilities of having no more bumpy roads along in your life. There will be less bad decisions, regrets, misunderstandings, impulsive assumptions, reckless behavior or jumping to ridiculous conclusions. No more sleepless nights. With true patience you will find it so easy to peacefully wait your turn; we will be able to make the right decisions at the right time.
Over the years, I have seen how a lack of patience, uncontrolled emotions and rash actions can crush dreams, destroy lives and wreak havoc in whatever people do! Patience is the antidote to the restless poison of the ego. Without it we all become ego-maniacal, destroying our future happiness, as we blindly rush in. In these out-of-control moments, we bulldoze through the best possible outcomes for our situations, within a matter of minutes, only to return to the scene of the truth in our heads: BIG mistake! Then the process of picking up the pieces begins, trying in vain to salvage what may be left of the opportunities and future prospects we have now annihilated. More often than not the damage simply cannot be undone. How many times have I heard the sad words: “If I had only listened to your advice?” It’s a lesson we have all struggled with and hopefully grow from!
Have you been called impatient when you do things? Someone who is impatient helps to create: fear, anxiety, and failure. While patience helps promote: tolerance, composure, serenity, and restraint. All of these traits help to promote a good mental outlook.
“Patience is a virtue”
People usually say this when someone they know is being impatient, or is at least tempted to be. Or perhaps we occasionally say this to ourselves, in times that try our patience. But WHY is patience a virtue? There is a lot to say about this, but one reason that patience is a virtue is that it is a means of connecting members of a family or community together in deeper ways.
When a parent is habitually impatient with a child, when children are constantly impatient with aged and infirm parents, when people are dismissive of their colleagues and uncaring of their subordinates, when neighbors are indifferent to the plight of the lonely and handicapped who live on their street --- in these and innumerable other ways we create “displaced” persons in a tranquil and affluent land.
It strikes me that as a society we are impatient with the aged, when we are behind them in traffic, waiting for them to finish their transaction at the supermarket line, and in a variety of other circumstances. Perhaps now that I’m shifting into that area, I am more sensitive to this because what used to seem far off on the horizon – old age --- is now becoming a reality and I don’t want to be pushed to the margins or the target of anger born from impatience. More importantly, as I come to appreciate in deeper ways the value of each individual human being, I see that we tend to disregard the need for patience in our dealings with the old and the very young.
Community of this type is fading in many ways due to technology, individualism, and a general lack of planting ourselves in one place for life. We have to be more intentional about forming such communities given some of the additional challenges we face. However, one way to accomplish this is to seek to cultivate and display patience with ourselves, those we share a home with, and those we encounter as we go about our days in whatever places we find ourselves.
We’ll have to accept the reality of life that not all we aspire to will be given to us instantly. We need to sacrifice and wait. Things come at the most appropriate time and opportunity. If we have the patience to wait, that opportunity will be given to us just as we need it. But then if we don’t wait, we become desperate and we lose hope, thus losing the opportunity in the end. Accomplishments and success are much more appreciated and valued if we invest time into them. If we want to achieve something, we need to work hard for it and not just rush things just to have it. Life is just like a well-baked cake. It needs the proper mixture of ingredients and enough time for baking. If life is half-baked, it is never interesting nor fulfilling.
QUOTE TO CONSIDER
THOUGHTFUL GEM
"People may learn more about you than you want
if you loose your temper."
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