There have been songs sung about patience, album titles and bands named after the word, an opera named after it also known as Bunthorne's Bride, plays written about the word, poems written, a game named after it also known as “solitaire”. We name our children after it. In fact, it is a female given name, a virtue name first used by Puritans in the sixteenth century, and then there are phrases like “patience is a virtue”. With as much as the word patience is used, the true meaning behind it is rarely understood. We are impatient people living in an impatient world.
Let’s understand a little better about what PATIENCE is, why it is so important to have and utilize, and how IMPATIENCE can be a defeat in your life preventing you from living life victoriously.
A question was asked about patience and a good reply given:
Question: Does TRUE patience mean that I must endure without generating negative emotions?
Answer: Patience is the ability to withhold decision to act. It is a deliberate decision to wait instead of the paralyzing indecision that comes from procrastination. Apart from the wisdom to know when the time is ripe to act, it also demands self confidence and hope to retain a positive frame of mind to ensure that the eventual decision doesn't suffer in quality due to either stress or worry or even too much eagerness.... procrastination results from lack of confidence.
During the patient wait, the mind is actively assimilating and analyzing all aspects including the impact and implications of related events as they are unfolding so as to ensure that the process of decision moves forward rather than getting stuck into circular or pendulum-like stagnation as is the case with procrastination.
Patience does not simply postpone a decision for fear of facing its consequences.... it holds it back in order to give sufficient time to progress and it is taking into account the need for the various factors of the situation to show up and develop fully so as to avoid preemptive, presumptive or half-baked decisions.
It's not patience if there is any negative emotion or attitude.... that would be forbearance or timidity. If you get all riled up and just not act on it, it is still impatience that is happening internally; you just chose not to reveal that you were impatient externally.
We live in a fast-paced society in a fast-paced world. Everything seems to be whirling around us. The days seem to move swiftly, the seasons seem to change before we get to enjoy it and the year seems to go by so fast that we say “WWHHEEWW! What was that?!”
We have fast-food restaurants, drive-through banks, microwaveable food, instant coffee and other foods, DSL, IM, etc… We have gotten so spoiled and used to the fast life. We become impatient with our children, our spouse, our employees, the driver on the road that didn’t go as soon as the light turned green, etc. So, when something that causes us to have to wait occurs, especially if it is an unexpected wait, it is an annoyance to us because we have forgotten how to be patient. We have gotten in a situation of expecting immediate gratification.
We don't always get instant gratification, and some of the best things in life require years of hard work and waiting. Fortunately, patience is a state of mind. It is a virtue that can be cultivated and nurtured; Therefore, it is also a choice. You choose whether you will be patient or not. It will not be easy but you can train yourself to learn how to be patient.
This week we will discuss on what we can do to identify where we are impatient and ways to increase our patience.