“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.” Paulo Coelho
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” Aristotle
“Why is patience so important?”
“Because it makes us pay attention.” Paulo Coelho“Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.” Rainer Maria Rilke
Most of us ascertain the degree of patience we believe we were born with. I surmise that most of us think we lose our patience regularly, and most of us react with patience when we least expect it. Likely we still enjoy commenting on a crying baby or frustrating situation that is not easy to deal with. I looked up the description for the word patience in the dictionary. I am out to prove that all of us have patience in one or more forms, and we exhibit this attribute daily. We simply don’t recognize patience for what it actually is and what it means.
Tolerate those in pain
Patience is tolerance of others who are different, disabled and are less endowed with any ability. When we accept others, support and encourage them, and offer compassion and empathy, we are practicing patience on a major scale. Perhaps we exhibit this when we are teaching our young children how to play any type of game, or riding any kind of a device at any age. We may be needed to tolerate the elderly as well as the young. Our understanding of hurt may differ from another person’s. This makes it necessary to tolerate those in pain for whatever they deem a hurtful reason, without judging them.
Persistence is another form of patience that requires us to stay the course and gain the degree, job, forgiveness, mate, or hoped for pregnancy. Many times it is easier to give up and move on. Dropping out of school is easier than studying. If we commit to studying, it necessitates work, stress, and pressure until we meet our goal. The job market is strenuous and calls for courage and action. Keeping a marriage alive and well requires constant concern, care love, and support. It certainly would be easier to give up on the marriage. In the end, our reward is awesome if we choose to stay in the marriage union, but patience is needed.
Perseverance is another form of patience
How many athletes deem their perseverance, as the key to their success. Attaining any degree job or worthwhile endeavor, many times, takes years of hard work, planning, faith, and perseverance at the helm. I have observed first hand cancer patients who have endured, suffered, prayed, and courageously faced a tremendous difficulty and pain to achieve a cancer-free body. They looked fear in the face and stared it down. The perseverance necessary is enormous? Perseverance is another form of patience. Without it, one can lose themselves and their control of the situation. Those suffering from spinal injuries, suffer and endure the pain while they persevere to the point of gaining back their sense of control and power. It is no small feat, and the battle continues daily. Finding a new path and enduring suffering as their daily companion is almost a give.
Endurance goes hand in hand with perseverance. Enduring the suffering of the body is necessary at times, for the recovery of the body. No progress is made without the courage and effort to endure the greatest of difficulties. Those who suffer alongside these powerful souls, are the supporters and cheering squads for them, and they are also the angels sent by God. They don’t cower away, nor turn away, but endure the hurt alongside the sufferers. It takes stamina and courage to face harrowing and stressful adversities. Strength and endurance are demanded.
Believe in a positive result
Unflappability is the staying power needed to have hope in a positive outcome, regardless of the bleak circumstances of an emotional situation. Being estranged from those we love is harsh. The emotional suffering cannot be viewed on the outside, but the bleeding is continual on the inside. There are probably, many times when we are depleted emotionally, and sense the desire to give up. It is the easiest thing to do. What is most difficult is to continue living and believing in a positive result. The mind is tortured and tired, yet it continues to battle for the breath of spring air at the end of the rainbow. That kind of patience calls for unflappability.
Staying power is another overlooked attribute of patience. It takes lots of staying power for parents to keep their marriage alive and well. Raising children adds to the burdens and frustrations. As much as the marriage ropes stretch, they don’t break. This has to do with the staying power of the adults. Whatever blows the marriage suffers, the adults must recall the good reasons why they found each other in the first place. Fights and unkind words must be forgiven while the partners agree to move forward without weighing down the relationship with stresses of doubt, negativity, accusations, and counts of fault finding. Tally sheets never work in any marriage. Forgiveness is a necessity in my opinion. A daily dose of forgiveness, along with staying power, reinforces the marriage.
Show mercy for others
When parents are upset with their kids and are frustrated and tired, they need to find the forbearance to react mercifully by exhibiting self-control. Bosses authority figures of all kinds, and anyone with power may find themselves frequently calling on their forbearance. Patience is having forbearance, which is having the ability to show mercy for others, and self-control over our own actions. Forbearance instills us with lots of power and choices.
Fortitude is managing to bring forth guts and grit, to accomplish the impossible. Fortitude is patience in action. Most times it is within our power to achieve what we believe we can achieve. Once someone said to me, the only difference between two equally capable athletes, was how much faith they had in their ability to win. That was the person who would be successful. So many times, perhaps we don’t trust in our own worth.
Bring calmness and clarity
Gentle people are unfortunately considered weak. These compassionate individuals are quite often calm. In reality, placidity is another form of patience. It is the ability to deviate from the tension of a critical situation, and allow calmness to permeate. This brings a clear solution to any problem. Perhaps on any given ambulance, on any given day, you will observe placidity all around. irrespective require this ability to bring calmness and clarity to the forefront. At times a life and death situation is hanging on by the amount of calmness and clearness in the thinking of the individuals dealing with the situation.
How difficult it is to say no to our kids, at any age. As parents, we want to be loved by our kids, and we desire to please them as much as we can. Teaching can become a necessary detriment to bonding, but only in a temporary way. We must say no at times. We are perhaps at odds with our kids but we must discipline with love. Imperturbability is another form of patience. It is the power to do what is right, regardless of the psychological pain we endure within our self. Even when we deal with adults, it is hard to do what is right, regardless of the pressure to give in or go along. Standing strong takes guts and courage and strength. It takes imperturbability. Group pressure at any age is tough to overcome.
Plow forward
I have grouped stamina and lack of complaints together. Lack of complaining is accepting situations and enduring them with courage. Many people accept the end of the bag, so to speak, on many occasions. They go last, pick last, and put up with trying situations and people, without voicing opposition. This takes more stamina to endure than it takes courage to speak up and complain. Perhaps we should notice that the squeaky wheel does get the attention, but the wheel that keeps plodding along is by far the stronger. Parents are the people I think of when recalling stamina and lack of complaint. They plow forward for the sake of their kids, disregarding their own needs. They continue struggling beyond their strength without failing or giving up. They endure all kinds of hardships, problems burdens and stresses for the sake of their children. Stamina and lack of complaint fall under patience.
My last definition for patience is serenity. I love this one because it is finding peace at the end of the rainbow. We all search for peace every day. It is what we strive for in every encounter. It is patience in its enlightened form. We find serenity when we understand the meaning and purpose of life itself.
Patience takes many forms
Patience takes on many forms as we all do while living our lives. The next time we think we are endowed with no patience, recall the list of definitions of this awesome word. We share more patients with others than we ever thought. There is patience observed in us in our daily actions. I think we should honor it in us and send it forth every day. Serenity to all.
“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.” Hal Borland
“Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can – working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well! which only they have the starring role.” Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.” Margaret Atwood
“The best teachers have showed me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly–we only think it does. The motion of drawing back a bow and sending an arrow straight into a target takes only a split second, but it is a skill many years in the making. So it is with a life, anyone’s life. I may list things that might be described as my accomplishments in these few pages, but they are only shadows of the larger truth, fragments separated from the whole cycle of becoming. from animals and trees and stones.” Joseph Bruchac
