These days,
We are living in an instant world,
Where we have fast food,
High speed internet,
Social media.
We are told time is money and productivity and efficiency have taken the place of well-being.
Without knowing it,
Our expectations have risen and we have all speeded our lives up.
But the convenience brought on by this instant world comes at a price.
We seem to have lost the art of patience.
If the web page doesn't load in 10 seconds,
We lose interest.
If we're not served our fast food straight away,
We become irritated.
If the person in front of us is talking to the cashier,
We get frustrated.
If our friends don't instantly like the photo we've posted on Facebook,
We start to think they no longer like us.
In fact,
If we get any interruption in our day,
We become impatient.
Because everything is so fast,
We're not getting the time to deliberate.
We're just going from knee-jerk reactions.
You can see this on Twitter,
When someone has to withdraw their tweet because they didn't give themselves time to really think the whole situation through before firing off a tweet.
Now seems a good time for us to start cultivating patience,
As the best time to nurture this part of ourselves is when things are not going well.
Here are some ways that you may find useful.
1.
Slow down.
Our minds are constantly jumping from thought to thought,
Task to task,
And from one worry to another.
We're told that multitasking is the only way we can get on in life.
All these things put our minds into a state of hurry.
The mind makes situations bigger than it actually is,
And we start to feel overwhelmed.
I suggest you stop occasionally,
And just breathe.
Find a quiet place,
Sit comfortably,
Lightly close your eyes,
And place your awareness on your breath.
This will bring you into the present moment,
And from there you can see things more clearly.
This will help you let go of your irritation and become more patient.
2.
Gratitude.
We all find it easy to celebrate the big moments in our lives,
But the largest part of life is taken up by small moments.
It is these small moments that we need to be grateful for,
Such as hearing birds sing,
Someone smiling at you,
Or the meal you're about to eat.
When we take time out of our day,
We start to appreciate that life is good and the world is not against us.
These moments of gratitude make us contented,
Happy,
And above all,
Calm.
And when we're calm,
It's easier for us to cultivate patience.
3.
We're not always right.
We become very impatient when things don't go our way,
Or someone doesn't do something the way we want them to.
This is because we want to control every situation to suit our needs.
But life doesn't work that way.
It's impossible for us to learn anything new with such a closed mind.
Yes,
You may have been doing your job for many years,
But that doesn't mean there isn't a better way of doing it.
Change is all around us,
And if we're not open to it,
We become frustrated and impatient.
When our minds are open,
We change.
We naturally become more patient.
So,
Before you get angry at someone for not doing things your way,
Stop for a moment and consider their point of view.
That is patience.
4.
Meditation.
When we meditate regularly,
We start to find an inner calm,
And after some time,
We can take that calmness out into our daily lives.
This allows us to see situations in the open-minded and non-agitated way.
It gives us a space to respond to the situation,
And not just blindly react to it.
When we are calm,
We are naturally patient.
We are not judging,
Controlling,
Or fighting the situation.
We're just seeing it for what it is,
And this takes the pressure off us.
During your meditation practice,
You can focus on times that you have not been patient.
This will allow you to observe patterns.
Once we are aware of the things that make us impatient,
We can start to work on antidotes,
Such as things that I've mentioned above.
There is no doubt that the world is getting faster,
And our brains are struggling to cope with that.
The world is not going to slow down,
So we have to.
If we can find ways to slow our thought processes down,
Become grateful for our lives,
Understand that we are not always right,
And we put aside some time every day to meditate,
We're going to be able to cultivate patience.
This will most certainly help us face this instant world.
