The Freedom of Practicing Patience

Photo by Ian Burt
Patience is the first thing I practice when I wake up. My three kids will challenge me often enough.

And I love the challenge because how I interact and react towards my children tells me if I’m on the right track.

It tells me if I make the best use of the three most important recourses to practice patience:

– Surrender
– Creativity
– Compassion

Surrender
The only way you can practice patience is when you are willing to surrender to your circumstances. Let go of your ego, of the wants and desires in your mind. Let go of your emotions. Know that you can choose. Let go and you will be free.

Creativity
The way you act upon a situation (or sometimes even better if you don’t act) will require creativity, thinking outside of the box.

Try different things and look things from a different perspective. It’s not about how the circumstance is arranged, but how you arrange it in your mind. Benefit from your imagination and use it to make the most of the situation.

Compassion
It’s essential to be compassionate towards the people who are challenging your patience. Put yourself in their position and try to be understanding. Be the one who is calm and rises above the situation. Be the one who observes without judging and spreads loving kindness.

Nowadays I enjoy standing in line of the supermarket. When I notice people have few groceries I let them go first and give them a friendly smile.

When I observe the people and my surroundings I often find people who are agitated because things aren’t going as fast as they want them to be. I choose to be free of that. I choose to enjoy the moment for what it is.

I’ll have a chit chat with the person who is standing next to me in line and hey… I might learn a thing or two. I enjoy spreading kindness and see how it affects people. Just a smile or a friendly word and you’ll see immediate change. You will see how it works for you and how it will make you feel better.

If you’re able to surrender, use your creativity and be compassionate, the universe will lay out the path for you to experience the freedom of patience.