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February 26, 2007

Patience IS a Virtue

Patience is something that we all struggle with at one time or another during our lives here on this plane of Life. But, for some, patience is a lesson in life that could be well heeded so as to bring about a great change in one's life. But, unfortunately, the people who would most benefit from the lesson that learning patience offers are the same ones who least want it or seek it out.

I'm reminded of a recent incident that I observed of a person's behavior surrounding a situation that took patience to get through. And I'm reminded of one instance where I was directly tested as to how firm I was in my steadfastness with my own level of acceptance of a Life situation that had presented itself to me and challenged my own patience.

Patience is a wonderful quality to master. It truly can bring wonderful Life rewards and outcomes that were not thought possible before. But, the person has to want those outcomes to be a part of the possibility of their life. And most don't.

Why? Well, I believe that patience is something that does quiet the mind. And it quells the constant buzz in the mind and the breaking of the silence in the soul. It also causes the spirit to become more in tune with what the universe has to offer and is always presenting to us every single day we exist as conscious beings.

Many don't want this silence though. They're not willing to go through what it takes to get to a place of peace inside. They want the disturbance to continue in their mind. The disturbance that is supposedly caused by the Life situation that has presented itself in front of them and that they're now a part of and resisting the reality of.

Obviously, patience is the opposite of impatience. And people, most people, the vast majority of people like impatience. They prefer it. They actually seek it out when it first appears. They thrive on it. It's the food for their hungry soul.

It's what gives them a sense of life or feeling alive. It's what gives them the many reasons they have to complain about life and how it is not giving them what they want, when they want it. And they like living their existence that way.

Complaining.

Impatient.

Resisting.

I recall two recent separate incidents, one where I watched a woman in the waiting room of a medical clinic, and the other involving myself. Both of us would've benefited tremendously from massive doses of patience. She as she waited in the waiting room of that medical clinic, and me as I waited in a bad traffic situation. Why? Because the mind was doing everything it could to keep us in a state of constant turmoil and angst over what was (not) transpiring as we awaited our turn through the Life event that was in front of us.

The woman in the medical clinic was sitting in a chair in the waiting room of the medical clinic. She had a magazine on her lap and she would look up every few seconds to glance at a television set mounted high up on the opposite wall of the waiting room. While she was seemingly reading her magazine and extremely rapidly flipping through the pages of the document, she also was shaking her left foot which was dangling from her left leg that was crossed over her right leg. Her left foot was moving like it was on a massive dose of steroids. It was almost a blur it was moving so fast.

So, here this woman was....sitting there, moving her foot rapidly, licking her finger and flipping the pages of the magazine without even reading it, and every few seconds looking up at and then down from the television mounted up near the ceiling on the wall. It was truly a sight to see. A painful one. But, to her advantage, she most likely didn't even know what she was putting herself though. She was not even present in that room enough to realize what was manifesting itself in her body movement, and occurring inside her. That is, how impatient she was and how much she would've benefited from a dose of patience as she waited.

My situation involved me being stuck in traffic on a Phoenix freeway. The speed limit on the freeway was 65 miles per hour. Traffic was so bad though that I was going about two miles per hour. And I had an appointment across town to get to. It truly was a hassle to be in that situation at that time and I found my patience getting severely taxed. So much so that I left the freeway thinking that the surface streets would be better then that automobile standstill I just left.

However, the universe sometimes has a different lesson in store for us, if we only pay attention to what it is attempting to show us. My lesson in patience was not now behind me, it was soon to be in front of me rearing its head again and forcing me to pay it full attention.

I was now stuck in street traffic due to construction on a nearby major road that closed the street down from three lanes to only one lane. And this was during rush hour. And with traffic exiting the overhead freeway from the slowdown it was experiencing. And I had an appointment that I couldn't miss without having outcomes affecting others in my life.

But what I found most interesting was the fact that my mind wanted me to do everything but accept the 'is-ness' of the current situation I was in. It was telling me to 'go around' traffic. Not let others in who were wanting to squeeze in front of me. Do potentially dangerous actions that could even put me at risk of getting hit by other vehicles.

It was an amazing process to be a part of, and watch, as it transpired in my mind. But, I just ignored the voice inside my head, and I sat in traffic and watched what happened outside the car, and what happened inside my mind. How it was trying to trick me into doing something other than just patiently accept the actuality of the situation I was literally stuck in.

Throughout this course of events I watched other drivers who appeared to be exhibiting the compliant behaviors that my mind was prodding me to fulfill. They were cutting others off. Speeding through red lights. Tailgating. Honking horns.

To me, they were in a different world inside their minds. We all shared the same outside Life situation. There truly was nothing we could do about it to change the traffic jam for blocks around. But we were all in different worlds inside our separate vehicles, and in our minds.

Of course it is a natural human reaction to Life to resist what is and then become impatient that Life isn't 'working out' the way we expect/demand it does. But, these Life events are the ones that are left ripe for learning, if we are so inclined to do so.

I've found that it is an amazing and beautiful process to simply accept what is. Patiently. Is it easy? No. The mind wants to control the situation. It wants what it wants and nothing or nobody is going to get in its way or expectations as to when the results need to occur. But reaping the benefits from allowing patience to take over a situation does indeed take practice. Lot's of practice. And frustrating situations. And it'll still get the best of the best of us at the worst of times as Life continues to stream towards us. And we it.

Will anyone else care that you've chosen to reject impatience and resistance to the moment you're stuck in and that now you're patiently waiting for whatever situation you're involved in to transpire? No. No one will care. In fact, no one will even know the virtue of patience that you're living in inside in that moment.

But, you will know. You will be going through life patiently being with what has been offered to you by the universe to learn from. And what would that offering be?

Life.

Patience is a virtue. But first one has to see just how impatient they are before they can see how patient they can be.

Everyone can be patient. This human aspect is not something relegated to the rich and famous only. And goodness knows, we all have so many, many situations that come to us every day. Situations asking us "So, do you want to BE patient or impatient today?"

I would suggest that one patiently consider the question every time it is posed.

Give it time, have patience, and Life will reward you. Every time. Guaranteed.

Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'

(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)

Posted by Andre Best at February 26, 2007 3:27 PM

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Comments

Sigh. Patience is something I need to work on, all right. And it's very odd (and sometimes comical) how the Universe, or whatever you call it, places me in situations time and time again that seem calculated to test my (im)patience to the limit. Like being stuck in line at the checkout behind some old bag who wants to pay for everything in one-yen coins that were last legal tender in '52, not to mention all her coupons that expired three months ago. It happens time and time again. I don't know if I'll ever get the hang of being patient in these trying situations. How do you do it, Andre? Practice makes perfect? Are you there yet?

Posted by: Miko at March 14, 2007 8:59 PM

Miko,

No, I would not profess to even being close to being patient at all times when challenged by Life. But, over the years my impatience has been tempered by tolerance and acceptance of what is. That is, whatever is happening is just Life, no matter how hard we resist, it is just Life and nothing else. Resisting and being against what is happening (impatience) only hurts the impatient one.

With lots of practice and insightful pondering WHEN IN the so-called impatient place, anyone can become as patient as they wish they could be. Give it time, give it many efforts over that time, and patience will show itself as something that one always had, but didn't allow to express itself as it should in one.

Andre

Posted by: Andre at March 18, 2007 7:23 PM

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