“Patience is a form of wisdom. It demonstrates that we understand and accept the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time.”
Jon Kabat-Ziin
Being patient doesn’t mean passive acceptance. It is the wisdom of seeing what you are supposed to learn during the time of unfolding…
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”
Saint Augustine
It takes wisdom to appreciate having patience, and it takes patience to build wisdom. But who has the patience to sit and wait for things to happen so that one might gain that knowledge?
In today’s world, everyone seems to want everything NOW. All information is at our fingertips, but access to information isn’t wisdom; knowing how to use the right information requires knowledge and experience, the foundational learning elements.
The only way to gain access to these things is with patience and understanding that growth takes time. So when you are growing impatient with something, try flipping your perspective and ask yourself, “what opportunity for growth in wisdom is being presented to me right now?” It might make all the difference.
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”
Leo Tolstoy
In many ways, life is like a puzzle with 10,000 pieces and no instructions and no picture to reference. The pieces fit together, but sometimes you don’t know exactly what they are building towards. The beauty is that we all have the opportunity to create the picture we want to show when our puzzle is completed. All we need is vision and the patience and time to see our vision through to fruition.
I fully admit patience is not one of my virtues. Life feels so short and compressed and I want to accomplish everything now. However, it is amazing how pieces of the puzzle you can’t see in a current moment can become so clear when viewed through the lens of time. Having the patience to accept that you might not know how everything is going to fit together but knowing with the passage of time it will call become clear is an expression of faith.
I might argue there are three powerful warriors. Patience, time, and faith. With those things, everything is possible….
“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”
John Quincy Adams
Patience is knowing this too shall pass, there are lessons to be learned, and we will be better for having learned them.
Perseverance is remembering all of the things outlined above and never, ever giving up.
When you see the world with a solid grounding in patience and perseverance, anything is possible. Everything will come together. Go make it happen…
“Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.”
Joyce Meyer
What is the difference between waiting patiently and how one might behave when waiting impatiently?
Maybe this is a better question. What is it that others exhibit when you believe they are waiting patiently? What do you like? What do you not like? Why is it that some seem to have more patience than others?
Patience seems to me to be a result of something bigger. Faith perhaps?
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”
Saint Augustine
As I reflect on this quote I am reminded of this verse, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
In today’s “I want it all now” world patience seems to be a diminishing virtue. Everything in life seems to be a single click or web search away and because of this we tend to expect wisdom to be immediate and instantaneous. I can’t think of anything that I have achieved with ease that I value nearly as much as those things I have had to work hard for and pursue with patience and diligence.
What are you pursuing diligently?
“Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.”
Saadi
Do you remember the first time you rode a bicycle? How about the first time you gave a presentation or spoke publicly? Both are hard and it likely took a lot of effort and energy to master these skills. But through dedication and repetition those difficult tasks become easier and even routine (well, maybe not for public speaking). To master the skill you have to weather the storms and deal with the inevitable setbacks and bruises. The key is to have a goal that is more important than any temporary pain or frustration. Only then you can achieve your dreams.
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Patience is not one of my virtues. Not. At All. Even when I find myself thinking that perhaps I have developed a new level of patience something will happen and I am reminded that developing patience is, and will be, a continual journey for me. Waiting is just not something I am good at. But waiting is sometimes exactly what I need.
I will fully admit that I have learned more in life when the journey has been long and I have had to sit back and understand what God is teaching me through patience. In hindsight the journey is always worth the cost and the reward is sweeter for having persevered.
What lessons have you learned through demonstrating patience that might otherwise have passed you by? Would you be the person you are today without having taken the bitter patience pill a few times?
I think I need to learn how to be impatiently patient. Never wanting to slow down and be content being patient but fully willing to embrace the lessons I can learn through patience.
“I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.”
Paulo Coelho
Forgive the long post but this topic is something that I am really passionate about… I am a huge fan of Dr. Stephen Covey’s classic “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” It has been one of the most impactful books that I have read and studied in my life and each of the Habits are incredibly powerful. It is certainly a must read ((In fact, thinking about it now I am due to reread it again soon…) and one that I highly recommend.
One of the things that resonated so much with me the first time I read the book was the concept of the “circle of concern” vs. “circle of control.” Proactive people tend to live a life focused on their “circle of control” while reactive people tend to live a life that is reacting to things outside of their control.
I bring this up in context with this quote because the weather is a great example of “circle of concern.” We can’t control the storms, the sunshine or how the weather changes our plans. But we can control how we react to the weather. We can make decisions to wear different clothes, make different plans, put an umbrella in our car.
This is such a great metaphor for life. If we choose spend our energy focused on reacting to things that are in our “circle of concern” instead of being focused on the things with in our “circle of control” we will always be reacting, always be unhappy, always be unsettled.
It is hard to do at times but I try to run everything impacting my life, and those around me, through this filter and ask myself the following questions.
Take a look at this picture below. I think it does a tremendous job outlining the difference in how people react to the Circle of Concern vs. the Circle of Control.
”Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”
Joyce Meyer
Ah, patience…definitely not one of my strongest virtues. Though I can’t think of one time in my life where patience hasn’t been rewarded in some way or another. Though in many cases not in the way that I expected.
I believe there are two ways one can handle being patient. First, one can have the “why isn’t this happening already?!” approach. This is where not having a good attitude can be very dangerous. It makes it hard to remain positive and learn anything beneficial.
The second, and much more powerful approach, is is to refocus and ask yourself this question, “What am I supposed to be learning during this season of waiting?” Doing this requires that one have a positive attitude and it enables your ability to grow and learn while waiting.
If you can reframe waiting to view the world through the lens of learning it can change how you feel about being patient. Don’t misunderstand, being patient is still extremely challenging, but maybe waiting is more about learning than it is achieving…