Mastering Patience

If I had a nickel for every time someone told me to be patient in my life, I’d be rich.  I’ve never been patient.  I know what I want in this moment and I want it yesterday.  I am impulsive, emotional, and motivated when inspired.

While this is all fabulous when you need to do something like run a race or build a business, it’s not always great when you need to slow down and let things happen in their own time.  And as we all know, the Universe slows us down sometimes and there isn’t much we can do about it.  It’s a lesson, and sometimes a hard one.

Opportunities for Patience

Years ago when I was laid off, I was of course very motivated to find a job that I loved.  I had a great lead right away with a good company, and it was a job that I really wanted.  However, the interview process was incredibly slow!  I would do an interview and not hear anything for weeks. Then do another one and not hear again for a long period.  It was in part because it was summer and people were on vacation.  It was also a new group they were forming and other big decisions had to be made first.  There was a lot that I couldn’t see at the time.

I just had to be patient.  And let me tell you, not only am I not patient, but the world around us is even more impatient.  When other jobs were offered to me, friends and family pushed me to take them.  I insisted that I be patient (believe it or not) and wait for the job I wanted.  People laughed and said I was crazy.  But I wasn’t.

Time is a Gift

Sometimes patience is not only needed, but the time is given to you for a reason.  For me, I realized that it was a gift at the time.  Even though I had underlying anxiety about not being employed and getting a paycheck again soon, I still saw the gift.  It was time I needed to re-assess my life.  I needed to figure out what I wanted to do and get myself back on track.  It was also time I needed to spend on developing better self-care habits and really start taking good care of myself.  And lastly, it was actually my last few months with my two elderly dogs at the time, and I couldn’t have been more thankful to have that extra time with them.

Time and the patience to embrace it is often a gift.  As a human race we tend to rush through life like there is some ultimate finish line, when really, we should be enjoying every moment.  We need to spend time really being with the people and the creatures around us and not on our phones, TV, or computers.  We need to soak it up, soak it in, learn, grow, enjoy, embrace, and be in the moment.  Even just spending time with ourselves and not constantly ‘doing’.

Starting with the Brakes on

So as I myself enter a new chapter in my life right now that I am anxious to start, I take a step back.  I am visualizing what I want, getting excited about the future, and just following my intuition on it all instead of pushing forward hard and fast.  I even signed up to take Transcendental Meditation so I can really slow down and meditate more, and be more fully present rather than always impatiently pushing towards a goal.  Because really, I would rather spend time right now gearing up for it all, meditating, and watching for the signs/intuition on what to do next.  There is so much to do, but plenty of time to do it.

Tips for more Patience

Here’s a few tips around patience and some things that help me:

1. When you feel an impulse to do something, stop and think about how it will serve you.  So if you are inspired to run a marathon after seeing runners complete a race, think about why you want to achieve that.  Look into what you would need to do to achieve that and decide if it fits into your life.  Understand if it’s something you want for yourself, or something you are doing to impress others.  What is motivating you?  Only do things that you are doing for yourself.
2. Don’t get frustrated if you are working towards a goal, and something stops you. Everything happens for a reason.  The Universe delivers you what you need.  Does it mean you need to take a step back and reassess things?  Does it mean you are off track?  Is there something else you need to be spending time on?   Is it time you needed to take?  Don’t get too much in your head, but take some quiet time – meditate, take walks in the woods, whatever you need to do – but patiently wait for the answers or clarity to come.  It will.
3. Stop trying to control things. We want to find a boyfriend yesterday, afford that house that we want next year, go on that retreat that we really don’t have time for right now.  When we push and control things and don’t slow down and follow our instincts, we get off track.  Why do you think bad things start happening sometimes?  Because you didn’t listen to your intuition.  You forced things to happen that weren’t meant for you.  Stop, breathe, and go with your gut.  And it may be that you’ll have to wait – sometimes for a long time.  But trust that it’s for a reason.
4. Trust the Universe. Really, there is a lot happening ‘behind the scenes’ that you aren’t aware of. You need to have a good grasp of what you want in life, ask for it, visualize it, pray for it, and then let it go.  On some level, whatever you believe, you have to have faith that things will happen for you.  Not that you can sit on your hands though.  You will most certainly be guided when needed, but you have to be open to that guidance, that may sometimes be subtle.
5. Distract yourself in a positive way. I was recently told in a reading that huge things were going to happen for me, but NOT YET.   You know how my impatient self loves that!  I was told that this is a time to learn, grow, and focus on myself to align myself with what’s to come.  I find this to be hugely helpful when you want to push to action but can’t yet.  Take the time to learn and grow.  Grab some related books, take a class (online or in person), and prepare yourself for all that awesomeness that is coming your way!

Divine Timing

Whether you are waiting for inspiration on your purpose or direction, or maybe on that great relationship you are hoping to find – you need to be patient sometimes.  As I’ve had it explained to me, there are steps we all need to take to get to that point, and well, things need to align at the right time.  I can’t even imagine how it’s all orchestrated, especially when we push things off path when we get too controlling or impatient.

If you can find in yourself the patience to not dive head first into something that is wrong for you because you want it so badly, but instead take some time to learn, grow, and wait for further guidance or divine timing – everything will be as you hoped it to be, or even better.  There will be times to act and move quickly, but there will also be times to be patient. For that, patience is an amazing thing to master.

You may also enjoy – The Lessons in Everything we do and Anxiety Sucks.  5 Things that Might Help you.

A book you may find helpful – Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living by Allan Lokos

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