Patience.

 

What does it mean to have patience? Why does it matter so much to have patience? So what if I am passionate, I make decisions whole-heartedly, to live in the moment and to live it to the fullest. Why should I wait?

Does having patience equate to waiting?

Does having patience equate to allowing others to thrust victory over me?

Does it mean keeping silent when I have so much to say?

Does it mean that I give way to others at each and every turn?

 

 

But perhaps, just perhaps, someone who practices patience will possess and portray these qualities:

 

Self-control.

The ability to make decisions despite overwhelming feelings. There is a saying: do not make promises when you are in bliss, and do not make decisions when angry. It means that promises and decisions should be made with a clear head, because these are things that concern not only yourself. Imagine a world where all decisions were made on a whim. On a gut feeling. On that magical moment enchantment.

Oh, how about a world where everyone brooded over each and every single decision they made?

Remember, the idea is self-control. Knowing when to stop and think, and also when too much thinking is clouding your judgement. Can a doctor afford to spend 5 minutes pondering whether or not to administer CPR? Should he, on the other hand, immediately register anesthetics at the slightest sign of discomfort?

Self-control is not found in passivity. Think of our good doctor; would you say he is patient for waiting for the patient to turn blue before taking action? Self-control is not found in not doing anything. And it is therefore also not a by-product of ignorance. The very word “control” implies an engagement to the situation, and reacting based on reasonable calculated measures.

 

Tolerance.

                The ability to disagree with someone else and yet find it within yourself to maintain respect towards them. You might spend years at each other’s throat, bickering and pounding argument after argument trying to disprove each other’s stance. But perhaps, just perhaps, if we realized that each person’s perspective comes from the angle they are viewing, it would help us realize that just because we appear to think opposing thoughts, doesn’t mean either party is right or wrong. Think of the five blind men and the elephant. Each of them described the elephant so differently, only because their sensories are limited. How confident are we that what we “see” is all there is to be seen?

                So how does one be tolerant of another without discriminating? Does it suffice to say “Let’s agree to disagree” and walk away from one another? In other words, do we abandon the elephant not to be discovered just because we cannot agree on how it looks like? Perhaps we say, “well, he believes the elephant looks like that, but based on my experience feeling up the elephant for the past –insert lengthy amount of time-, I know for a fact that the elephant is not how he believes it is”

 

Persistence.

                I would say that people forget that persistence is the most overlooked portion of patience. To keep at something despite feeling that you have reached your breaking point. Not to walk away even when you know the path is opened wide for you elsewhere. Also, to fight for something even when it feels like a lost cause. Unless you think of patience as passivity, then you will understand that it takes patience to stand your ground, and also to keep walking. Perseverance.

                The musician plays her piece again and again. The notes do not change, but she plays them. Fingers run up and down the keys. Does she not have patience to have played the same chords again and again, and somehow hoping that the outcome will be different? That this time, she will play that version that will evoke emotion never yet discovered to man.

 

 

Of course, there are other elements of patience. The question is, how do you put it to practice? It is but a word until you put it to practice. Until you find your definition for it, understand it, and live by it. Do you have the persistence to continuously discover, learn, strengthen, and build? Do you have the self-control to make sure you are not stacking your hay too high? That what you are doing is in the name of being the best that you can be, instead of a public display of what you think people should perceive of you? Can you find it within yourself to see that others are struggling to find their definitions; that we are all at different stages of development, if we are developing at all. Can we tolerate those at infantile stage without looking down on them? Can we respect those further along the road without letting awe freeze us in our tracks? Can we appreciate that each person has their journey to go through and that our paths cross and it is in our power whether we have a stand-off, get trampled over, walk over, or tango our way when we encounter one another?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

……and now, I shall go and live up in the mountains and sit cross-legged in silent murmurs.

No, I am not a llama.