I wrote today's thought back on December 3, 2008. It spoke to me again today, and I wanted to share it as I know there are many out there working on patience.
Patience
“One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.” – Chinese Proverb
Patience and its counterpart impatience are a daily part of all of our lives. That’s why I have seven pages in my Notes on Life devoted to the topic. On page 67, there are 14 bullets of differing definitions of patience. My favorite one is: Patience is the ability to display tolerance, compassion, understanding, and acceptance toward those who are slower than you in developing maturity, emotional freedom, and coping abilities. On the yang side or side of impatience, impatience can cause you to waste energy worrying about how slow things are changing instead of directing that energy toward the changes you desire. We all have our moments where someone or some event spins us up, and the patience state shifts to a state of impatience. That's where our less than favorite friends, sarcasm, frustration and anger come to visit.
25 years of martial arts taught me a great deal about patience and maintaining calm, but I would say one of my best sources of learning patience is my dear friend, Johnny. I’ve learned so much from him in the last two years by just listening and watching.
We were at brunch with Nora and David this past Sunday after church and started discussing lawn mowers. David was telling us about white smoke coming out of his mower. Johnny started laughing and proceeded to tell us a story about lawn mowers and about burning up the motor in one at his sister’s house in Salt Lake. It took him a little time to tell the story, but the punch line was well worth the wait.
Later in the day, Johnny and I went to the movie to take in the new James Bond flick. And film critic Johnny, gives it two thumbs up. J As we were heading back to the truck, we stopped for him to rest. After 30 seconds or so, we’re off to the races again and heading towards the truck. As he is getting in the truck, I hear him say: “come on legs, work.” So maybe you are wondering: “what does a brunch conversation about lawn mowers and going to a James Bond movie have to do with patience?”
Well my friend Johnny has a disability that makes it difficult for him to walk and sometimes finish his thoughts. He knows what he wants to say but just sometimes takes a little time to get there. He wears braces on both legs that slow him down some, but he still gets there. He also kicks my butt in bowling, plays basketball, rides the Harley with me, works at Laura’s building, works out in the mornings, and still doesn’t miss a beat.
When we were at brunch on Sunday, Johnny left the table for a few minutes. I looked at David and Nora with a smile and said: “now you see where I learn some of my patience.” Johnny is my Patience Coach. He inspires me!
It is so easy for us to get impatient with someone when they are not talking at the speed we think they should be talking. We sometimes respond with sarcasm and say something like “is there a point to this story?” We get impatient when someone is not moving as fast as we think they should be moving and say something like “come on slow poke…I don’t have all day.” You see the word in bold: we? We bring impatience on in ourselves by giving it our energy. We all get impatient, but it is 100% up to us on how we deal with it, or how long with stay in the state of impatience. Being impatient serves no positive purpose.
You can choose to get spun up waiting in that line at the grocery store, or you can smile and have a conversation with stranger behind you. You can choose to get spun up about being in traffic, or you can listen to something motivational on the radio. You can choose to be sarcastic and defensive when sometime takes a verbal shot at you, or you can smile and let it go.
Action Item – Patience is a choice. Choose to exercise some patience right now. Listen to the long story as you may learn something or get to laugh, enjoy the walk that’s taking longer than you think it should and think about the exercise you are getting, smile when someone frustrates you and watch them smile back. Remember, “change your thinking…change your life…”
“One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.” – Chinese Proverb
Patience and its counterpart impatience are a daily part of all of our lives. That’s why I have seven pages in my Notes on Life devoted to the topic. On page 67, there are 14 bullets of differing definitions of patience. My favorite one is: Patience is the ability to display tolerance, compassion, understanding, and acceptance toward those who are slower than you in developing maturity, emotional freedom, and coping abilities. On the yang side or side of impatience, impatience can cause you to waste energy worrying about how slow things are changing instead of directing that energy toward the changes you desire. We all have our moments where someone or some event spins us up, and the patience state shifts to a state of impatience. That's where our less than favorite friends, sarcasm, frustration and anger come to visit.
25 years of martial arts taught me a great deal about patience and maintaining calm, but I would say one of my best sources of learning patience is my dear friend, Johnny. I’ve learned so much from him in the last two years by just listening and watching.
We were at brunch with Nora and David this past Sunday after church and started discussing lawn mowers. David was telling us about white smoke coming out of his mower. Johnny started laughing and proceeded to tell us a story about lawn mowers and about burning up the motor in one at his sister’s house in Salt Lake. It took him a little time to tell the story, but the punch line was well worth the wait.
Later in the day, Johnny and I went to the movie to take in the new James Bond flick. And film critic Johnny, gives it two thumbs up. J As we were heading back to the truck, we stopped for him to rest. After 30 seconds or so, we’re off to the races again and heading towards the truck. As he is getting in the truck, I hear him say: “come on legs, work.” So maybe you are wondering: “what does a brunch conversation about lawn mowers and going to a James Bond movie have to do with patience?”
Well my friend Johnny has a disability that makes it difficult for him to walk and sometimes finish his thoughts. He knows what he wants to say but just sometimes takes a little time to get there. He wears braces on both legs that slow him down some, but he still gets there. He also kicks my butt in bowling, plays basketball, rides the Harley with me, works at Laura’s building, works out in the mornings, and still doesn’t miss a beat.
When we were at brunch on Sunday, Johnny left the table for a few minutes. I looked at David and Nora with a smile and said: “now you see where I learn some of my patience.” Johnny is my Patience Coach. He inspires me!
It is so easy for us to get impatient with someone when they are not talking at the speed we think they should be talking. We sometimes respond with sarcasm and say something like “is there a point to this story?” We get impatient when someone is not moving as fast as we think they should be moving and say something like “come on slow poke…I don’t have all day.” You see the word in bold: we? We bring impatience on in ourselves by giving it our energy. We all get impatient, but it is 100% up to us on how we deal with it, or how long with stay in the state of impatience. Being impatient serves no positive purpose.
You can choose to get spun up waiting in that line at the grocery store, or you can smile and have a conversation with stranger behind you. You can choose to get spun up about being in traffic, or you can listen to something motivational on the radio. You can choose to be sarcastic and defensive when sometime takes a verbal shot at you, or you can smile and let it go.
Action Item – Patience is a choice. Choose to exercise some patience right now. Listen to the long story as you may learn something or get to laugh, enjoy the walk that’s taking longer than you think it should and think about the exercise you are getting, smile when someone frustrates you and watch them smile back. Remember, “change your thinking…change your life…”
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