“You have to have a lot of patience to learn to be patient” Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
“Patience is the art of waiting” Ambroce Bierce
Has it happened to you to be in those days when it seems that everything is against you?
You go to work and the traffic is difficult, you arrive and it is difficult for you to park, if you are traveling maybe you missed the bus just arriving at the stop.
Some examples can be:
· They owe you answers about something you’re looking forward to and it doesn’t come.
· You asked someone out and they don’t respond, or you send a message and the person takes their time.
· You are pregnant, and you already want it to be born, or you are about to retire, and those last months seem like chewing gum.
· It is waiting for the response of the proposal you sent, and your future depends to a large extent on it.
There are hundreds of examples of what situations may require more calm and patience from you. Try to connect with what happens to you often!
There is a phrase that helped me a lot and it was: “Patience is what begins when you no longer have patience”
A few days ago, I was in the Negev desert, in Israel, doing a silent retreat. One of the dynamics we did was to walk 300 meters up a hill for 2 hours. Try to imagine that, it was like doing two steps and standing still for 5 minutes. With 5 degrees of temperature and icy wind.
I thought: what can you do to be, without despair? I said to myself: this is a test that served me for some other moment.
And it was like that, days later, I had a flight delay, so I had to wait at the airport. And my mind went to that moment in Israel.
There are some other ways to exercise patience, without having to go as far as I did, today I share them with you.
Some ways to exercise patience are:
1. Meditation: Meditation is a great way to calm down and train your patience. Learn to be in the present moment without being distracted by thoughts.
2. Exercise: Physical exercise can also help reduce stress and anxiety. Walking, running, swimming, or yoga may help.
3. Deep Breathing: You can start by slowly inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth several times. This helps reduce anxiety and stress.
4. Learn to say No: learn to say no when you don’t have time or desire to do something. Learning to set limits can reduce stress and increase patience.
5. You have to understand that you can’t control everything in life. Stress and anxiety can increase when we want to control something that is not controllable. Learning to accept things as they are patient can help you to be more.
I hope it works for you, and you have the patience to wait for what you want so much.
by Paula Cabalen
