Health & Fitness
The Art Of Patience
The choice is yours. You can create rules around your social connections that makes your life easier or you can blindly follow the rules that society has created. The choice is always yours!
Many think patience means that I would be a victim of other people's stuff, that I would have to accept whatever was being served up. That I would have to suck it up and just accept whatever was happening. Being patient actually is the opposite of that.
Patience is first cultivated with myself as I take note of what I like and do not like around me. Next, patience is accepting what I can and cannot change. Have you ever been in a car with someone who complains about traffic the entire trip, and how bad the other drivers are, and even how horrible the colors of the buildings are?
I do not like complainers around me. I used to bristle when I felt like I had to sit and listen to complainers. Not so much anymore. These days, if I find myself amongst people who complain, I either leave even if it is to go to the bathroom, or I take out something to do while I am stuck in the situation. In the example of the car, if I KNOW that the people with me are avid complainers, then I can choose another way to get there. Maybe even choose to not go or decide to not allow their negative words affect me.
What small steps can you take to Improve your capacity for Patience?
Be aware of what your patience levels are now, take a few moments to assign a number on a 1 to 10 scale. 1 means zero or not much patience and 10 means lots of patience, you are indeed a Zen master. Rate your level of patience with the people you interact.
People you interact with Patience Level
Your spouse or partner
Your children
Your parents
Your boss
Your best friend
Your biggest enemy
The grocery store checker
The flight attendant
Etc, add people as you see fit
Now take the highest number on the list and decide what can you do to increase the score a little. Ask yourself questions like:
- What situations are you most likely to lose your patience with this person and why?
- Can you invite them into a conversation and see if you two can create some guidelines for making the relationship stronger?
- Then take the lowest number and do the same, this maybe a little harder and you may decide to let go of the need to be more patient with this person and just end the relationship.
The choice is yours. You can create rules around your social connections that makes your life easier or you can blindly follow the rules that society has created. The choice is always yours!
