Practise patience!

There are so many opportunities to practise patience in life: in a queue, while a web page loads, while we wait for our colleague to finish speaking. Most of us treat these moments as a hassle, a bother, a time to live through while we wait for something more interesting. We regret that queues exist, we wish computers were faster. We have this anxious, highly strung attitude, believing we are always in a rush. Our quality of life suffers as a result. We do not enjoy life to its fullest.

A good example is when walking. I find that I have two speeds at which I walk. The first is a purposeful stride, designed to get me to my destination as quickly as possible. The second is more of a casual saunter. At this second speed, I thoroughly enjoy my journey, almost oblivious to my destination. Although it is slower, I cherish every minute, and thus consider this speed to be more efficient. We must have this attitude with all of life. The fastest and most impatient way is not always the most efficient. It is worth relaxing and slowing down if our whole life gets more enjoyable as a result.

Of course, it is also possible to be in a rush and still feel relaxed, but this takes practice. Furthermore, it is only possible to do if there is a genuine reason for our rush, rather than just a general sense of being highly-strung. The paradox of the modern age is that everything is so much more efficient, and yet we are more stressed and rushed than ever before. The problem lies in our attitudes. We are so focused on getting things done that we have forgotten how to enjoy what we are doing. We must learn to practise patience again, to forget the rush, and to let things happen at their own pace.

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3 Comments »

  1. Anmol Mehta | Mastery of Meditation said,

    February 21, 2008 @ 11:56 am

    Hey CJ,

    Nice article and a more important point than most realize. My very first rule for living an “enlightened life” is to try to stay relaxed, and as you have pointed out, continue to try to do so even when the situation is stressful.

    Have featured this article in the upcoming carnival as well.

    Cheers,
    Anmol

  2. Best Yoga, Meditation & Personal Development Blogs & Articles said,

    February 21, 2008 @ 12:25 pm

    [...] presents Spiritual Inquiry . com » Practise patience! posted at SpiritualInquiry.com, saying, "In our world where everyone is rushed, this article [...]

  3. mausam khan said,

    February 4, 2012 @ 11:36 pm

    hi sir,
    as well we know that practise patience is vital part of our life it provide a great role in human creature and its suordinate also becoz patience is result of your workship and it bring confidence and makes skilfull of a man.
    so may regret that wait and patience both are consequence and adequate dependent on each other.

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