By Xenia S. Estrella
“Lord, grant me patience, but please hurry.”
This amusing line is on a frame, hanging on my mom’s dining room wall. It’s a sure conversation piece with every visitor. Funny at first; sure, but if you really think about it, that line speaks (mind you, non-humorous) volumes. Oh, how impatient we all can be! In all seriousness. Man. Is. So. Impatient. That is, sometimes, even when patience is an obvious necessary skill to have in order to achieve goals. As a result, people fail; people give up; and, people (supposedly) lose interest.
Patience can be a singular word to describe wisdom.
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison. He could have made such a ruckus while he was incarcerated, but he didn’t. He developed the virtue of patience, instead, knowing that everything has perfect timing. He knew that hasty decisions could lead to even more mistakes and failures. All this wisdom eventually gained him the title, “Father of modern South Africa”.
Patience is determination.
According to wikipedia.org, Miss Universe 2015, Pia Wurtzbach, joined the Binibining Pilipinas Pageant three times before winning the Binibining Pilipinas Universe title. She had a goal and nothing was going to get in the way of her fulfilling it. Instead of losing faith and giving up, this beauty (inside and out) mustered up the necessary courage from inside her and held on to her dream.
Patience is dedication.
Philippine film icon, Gloria Romero, patiently took care of her husband, Juancho Gutierrez, who separated from her. He came back years after as he needed attending to, following a near-fatal stroke that completely paralyzed the whole left side of his body.
It’s so easy to lose one’s patience. It’s also easy to declare its irrelevance to life, especially when so many things have been happening against you and you’re so eager to get something, or somewhere, already. If you want to reach genuine happiness in life, though, patience is a necessary skill to develop — and possibly master. It’s better to have patience when there’s no other choice but to wait.
Remember that patience is a decision.
Nobody (but yourself) will stop you from panicking when you’re under pressure; nobody else will keep you from getting frustrated when you can’t get what you want yet — you still don’t have a job, or that outcome, or the relationship that you want. It is just a better idea to maybe go through life with calmness, coolness and collectedness, knowing that you’re allowing things to happen as they do, but at the same time controlling the way you react to outcomes and opportunities that come along. Patience is not just about waiting; it is also about accepting where you are and wisely deciding to either remain steady or move to do what you can for yourself.
Know that things are bound to happen for you when the timing is right. Learn when to act and when to wait it out.
Find alternative activities that can help you get closer to your goal.
At least be ready with a Plan A and a Plan B for reaching a goal that you’ve set. If one doesn’t work well, at least there’s another action step that you can do, just in case. Excitement may build up, but you won’t find impatience where you see progress in the things that you are doing.
Be kind to yourself.
Do you realize that you’re being mean to yourself when you’re impatient or intolerant? Sure you get annoyed with others; sure, you can possibly give someone a piece of your mind. But in the end, you’re the one who gets angry. You allow your blood pressure to rise, your muscles to tense; basically, you’re putting all the stress on you. Stress is definitely not good for one’s health. Again, be kind to yourself.
Practice gratitude more frequently. I’m not saying you don’t know how to appreciate blessings that come to you. I’m just saying that if you are someone who, for some reason, keeps yourself from expressing gratitude, for the universe to absorb so it can send you more blessings in return, you might miss seeing some of God’s bounty.
Blessings are plentiful; these keep people happy.
Blessings come every single day.
Patience will help you see every single blessing, so work on being patient.
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If you want to work on your patience, wait no more. Schedule a complimentary discovery call with Xenia, today.