My Impatient Experience
The queue at the cashier was long. The cashier was inexperienced and kept doing the wrong thing. It was getting tiring standing in the queue and waiting. I kept looking at my watch and finally I walked away feeling irritated. Yes, I should have waited patiently. Patience would have helped.
Pressured as we are for time, we are often not able to accept delay easily. In today’s world where technology has advanced so much we are used to receiving everything immediately. This makes it harder for us to practice patience when we are faced with a challenge. Waiting in line only takes away precious time which could be used to complete my other tasks. Besides I am one of those people who cannot sit still. The spouse, His Highness, is a very patient person and over time, I have come to recognize that Patience is essential in all that we do and that it is easy to cultivate.
To be patient one needs to be able to put up with waiting or delay without getting upset. When we are patient we can suppress our feelings and respond calmly to any challenges that come our way. With patience we can face any wrong with dignity. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language states that “Patience emphasizes calmness, self-control, and the willingness to or ability to tolerate delay.”
Why We Need To Be Patient
Health Benefits
With Patience we stay positive in life and we also avoid being angry. When we are impatient, we experience stress which raises our blood pressure. Stress is bad too for our organs and our immune system. When we are patient, we do not allow problems to make us feel depressed and we find that we can cope with difficult situations. We stay relaxed and the quality of our life is improved dramatically! Hence, we stay healthy and happy.
Good Decision Making
If you have patience, when you are faced with a challenge, you will review the scenario clearly and consider all the factors and features of the challenge thoroughly. In this way the conclusion and the decision that you make will be far more substantial. If something is done quickly, the chances of making mistakes are greater.
Often I have been impulsive and made a quick purchase of an item only to regret my purchase later. A good example of how patience can help you make good decisions and prevent you from making an error is to stop yourself from buying something immediately. Wait for a period of time and you will find that you do not need the item after all.
Better Relationships
It has been said that when we are patient, our relationships with others also improves. The reason for this is that patient people generally are compassionate, have empathy and are more understanding of others. Impatient people have difficulty maintaining good relations with others and can cause tension in a group situation.
Take Time
When we implement a plan, a project or an exercise, we need time to work on our goals, methods, strategies and the evaluation of our achievement. If impatience causes us to rush to complete our project, we may generate faults and errors. Patience will help us to work through our project with care and diligence.
Ways To Cultivate Patience
Here are some techniques to develop Patience:
• When you are in a tense situation, take a few deep breaths. Put your irritation aside and instead concentrate on the present. Learn to relax. Another way is to laugh away the irritation and the problem. Do not say the first thing that comes into your head. If you patiently review what you want to say, you will avoid upsetting others.
• From time to time, remind yourself of the benefits of being patient.
• Practice being patient in situations of less importance, like waiting at the doctor’s clinic. This will help you to be more patient in difficult situations.
• Tell yourself that there is no need to rush to complete things immediately.
• Sometimes we get impatient when we are trying to do too much in a short time. In a situation like this, all you need to do is delegate your responsibilities and give yourself more time to do all the tasks that you have to complete.
• Whenever you start to feel impatient, remind yourself that you need to be kind to others and forgive them when they make mistakes. It is important to respect other people. This will help to curtail your impatience.
• Consider how your impatience is affecting everyone. It will probably be making them very unhappy and agitated. Should you really be impatient? As you consider the feelings of others, you will be able to enhance your patience. Always put yourself in the shoes of other people and consider their needs.
• Develop a positive attitude to life as this will help you to be patient.
• To be patient with others, you need to be patient with yourself.
• Ask yourself when and why you get impatient. Make a note of the situations, the people and any other factors that cause you to respond impatiently. Add a list of the things which makes you anxious and tense. Once you aware of all this you can then address them and respond to each in a patient manner.
• When you are waiting to see someone, it helps to read a magazine or book or work on a Sudoku or crossword puzzle. Today with new media, responding to email messages, sending text messages on your hand phone or surveying the internet may help you to be patient.
• Learn to observe things and situations without making judgements. Do not allow yourself to be annoyed. If you keep doing this you will find yourself responding positively to difficult situations.
Conclusion
In this technologically advanced age, we expect things to move quickly and to respond to our every demand promptly. We forget that we need to be patient when our expectations are not met. To be patient we need to persist with whatever we are doing even though there are challenges. We also need to accept the present situation and to feel calm and peaceful as we face it.