Practice Patience

We all wish we could be a little more patient. Since Millennials, and Generation Z, have been made to believe that we all want everything instantly, we should strive for qualities like this. But how does one go about acquiring patience? I am still on the journey myself, but i have discovered a few tricks along the way.

Patience is the power source for an outlet like peace. To be patient is to be free of worry, while maintaining awareness. I do not feel like this all the time, but in the moments that i do, life is even more blissful. Patience is about being calm, and for me, about recognizing the joy in that calm. Please, check out a few definitions of Patience. I encourage you to look at more than one source because of the variation.

So, how do you become better at being patient? This morning I went to the gas station for, of all things, cigarettes. Ran out yesterday. As I approached the counter i am struck by the reality that it is possible i could be waiting for a while. I visit this gas station fairly frequently, and the employees have a tendency to sit in the back and chat. I am not one to make a scene, so usually i will politely, and seemingly passively, jingle my keys, or something to that nature. This morning i decided not to do that. Instead i stood there, thinking. No one was in the store with me. The employees quietly talking in the back. I waited, and waited. Before i knew it five minutes had passed. I had been standing in front of the counter, waiting to buy a pack of cigarettes, for over five minutes on a Saturday morning, and i felt really good about it.

The joy i was feeling was rather unexplainable in the sense that it had so many possible sources. The fact that i decided to not let another opportunity like this slip through my fingers was one. Though, i do not want to wait like this all the time, these little moments where i force myself to, and keep a good attitude about it, are moments of growth. As you get older these moments become more rare, or rather, harder to recognize. Perhaps, it is easier to recognize progress when a lot of work still needs to be done. I am in no way a finished product. As long as i am alive i will work on the masterpiece that is my life. My legacy, my conscious existence. I do not always get it right, but recognizing this is half the battle.

Eventually, the gas station attendant mosied out of the back, playing with a clip in her hair. She notices me, has a look of slight shock, snaps back, and asks for my request. No mention of the time spent waiting, no harassment on my part for perceptually violating my time; just service. This was my moment to treasure and grow from, and letting any part of my emotions leak out would have invalidated the practice that i just put forth. I thank her, I leave. She had no idea of the lesson that she took part in.

The fact that i am sharing this with you now, is once again, not bragging. I hope you can appreciate that i am willing to share such a vulnerable story, and am willing to fight harder to appreciate the original memory because of sharing it with you, and creating a new memory about the situation. That is a wordy sentence, but i don’t want to try to rewrite it. The meaning of what i am trying to convey by sharing a personal moment of growth, is very complicated. But, like anything, if you choose to explore it, you will discover the truth. Live easy, work hard, love always.