Patience
For any of you who read my mini-rant about winter/snow/the weather on my Facebook page this morning you have guessed by now patience is not my strong suit today. I’m impatient with the weather. I’m impatient with the cat who keeps walking across my computer, I’m impatient with myself as I have been trying to write this blog since 9AM. It’s now after 11AM. I have found every excuse possible to get up from my desk and do something else – empty my wastebasket ( it was overflowing) , make a cup of tea (its cold in this room), feed the cats (get them off the computer), make the bed ( I was going by the bedroom anyway), catch up on a couple of e-mails (might be something I could use in my blog), answer two texts (should have done it yesterday) throw out the rose that is dead in a vase on my desk (smells bad). So where is this coming from- this feeling of impatience, of being unsettled? It comes from realizing how many things I want to do/accomplish, the feeling that time is fleeting. There is a sense of urgency I didn’t feel five years ago or even five months ago. One day goes into another to quickly. My organization skills need some work, everything from organizing my thoughts to organizing my desk to organizing the medicine cabinet so I can find a band-aid when I need one. I know some of you must be able to relate to this.
Yesterday was a “lost” day. Tom had the day off. Don’t get me wrong. I love having him home. But the reality is I don’t get anything I start finished. He says the same thing about me – that he gets nothing done when I’m here on his day off. I started to write and he needed to find last year’s check registers. I’m supposed to know where they are so I stopped to look for them. Then he wanted to know if I was hungry yet. He thought it must be lunch time. He’d fix it if I’d tell him what I wanted and where to find the tomato soup. And on and on and on. My patience was sorely tried and I needed several attitude adjustments through out the day. Thinking back on it I realize it was as much my fault as his. I didn’t share with him what I needed to get done and time I needed uninterrupted. He’s not a mind reader. Instead of feeling impatient and finally giving up all hope of getting what I wanted to do* done I needed to step back and ask myself how to better handle it. My choices were to tell him what I was doing and how much time I needed to complete the project uninterrupted OR put it all aside until today and just enjoy having him home. I did neither and ended up impatient and disgruntled.
So, as I’m scrolling through my e-mail, trying to organize my thoughts and get over being upset that the snow continues to fall as I type, what should pop up but an e-mail newsletter I signed up for months ago. The topic PATIENCE. Before I go any further I’m going to recommend typing in your search engine “Just One Thing- Dr Rick Hanson” and reading his article for today on Patience which is much to long to reproduce here but says it all. ( Rick’s “newsletters” always seem to contain a very timely topic for me. They are free and I suggest you get on the e-mail list.)
HIs message today – “Be Patient” He says “Impatience is dissatisfaction- resistance to the way things are. Patience means handling delay, difficulty or discomfort without getting aggravated. ” He is so very right when he says “Circumstances are what they are but patience protects you from their impact like a shock absorber.”
My sense of urgency needs to be tempered with patience. Nothing worthwhile is created immediately. At 63 I should be aware and accepting that there will be delays, disappointments and setbacks. I need to put them in perspective and move on. Moving on may mean I work on getting better organized, go back to my practice of making lists which has served me well in the past, let go of some things, meditate more. I need to sit back and watch the chipmunks who have come out of hibernation in spite of the snow, running through it, under it, over it and stopping when the sun peaks out to sun themselves. I need to pet the cat. I need to look at the gardening catalogs that are filling my mailbox everyday and decide what to plant in the dead spot in the lower yard. Spring will come. It will stop snowing (just not today, obviously).
Several years ago my son, while living in Texas, shared a book with me by a local author in Austin, Ralph Marston Jr.. One of the Daily Motivator messages in the book addresses patience. He said ” the keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen then stop to savor the richness of your life.” A good thought to ponder on a day you are feeling impatient.
Some days I just have to be hit over the head to see what is right in front of me, to realize things are moving as they are supposed to. Its not a race to the finish but all the stops along the way that will make the difference in our lives. Is patience a problem for you? Sit back and look at what is causing you to feel this impatience. Look at where you have been and where you are going then wait – while you pet the cat, enjoy the warmth of the sweater you are wearing, get a cup of coffee, enjoy the interruptions and wait until the feeling passes. Patience feels so much better.
Think about it.
* This will be part of a topic in an upcoming blog – Keeping the partnership alive.
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