Patience
There is great power in Patience and we all wish to have the discipline of patience at certain points in our daily life. We can define Patience as the relaxation that cuts through habitual patterns such as anger, pride, ungratefulness, etc. When we are patient we see the world through the lens of loveliness and we become lovely as well. However pleasant the experience of patience may be, it can be really challenging at times to apply, but that doesn’t mean we give up or cheat our self of its possibilities. Therefore it might be practical to know patience in its three essential aspects: containment, forbearance, and the basic ground of acceptance.
Containment
We can easily understand the containment or restraint aspect of Patience when we’re able to hold back our self-centered approach to various situations. For example, if we’re on a road trip, we can choose to race to our destination or we can restrain our foot from the gas pedal, be present and enjoy a slow, scenic, steady ride. Fast or slow, we arrive at the same destination.
Our self-importance wants us to be better than others to prove that we are special, lovable, and significant. However, joining the collective speedsters who are chronically trying to get ahead of their neighbors, co-workers, or even their children is a lesson in futility. Constantly comparing and competing with others to achieve more and more material success is a never ceasing race to the grave. Instead of falling into the mainstream rivalry mentality, see what it’s like to slow down and be present. Contain the ego’s compulsion for more, listen within to the gentleness of your own soul’s ride, and accomplish greater peace of mind and heart -It’s up to you.
Peace of Mind and Open Heartedness are under valued qualities in these times of “getting ahead”. Without Peace of Mind and Openness of Heart you can become robotic and inflexible. We have to remember that the EGO-Self wants for itself, everything from material possessions to false self- images. The ego-self does not care about your higher quest or your highest aspirations to evolve. Your ego does not want you to experience greater awareness. Your ego-self is impatient, it tells you to give up; it’s the loud voice that tells you to take the easy, ordinary, and lazy way – it tells you to avoid and hide your truth. So we must have forbearance for the impatient ego-self and others.
Forbearance
The forbearance aspect of Patience is when we endure a difficult situation with dignity. Without forbearance, when someone intentionally or unintentionally harms you, there is an immediate return of harm. When you react with anger to anger it doesn’t solve anything, there is no benefit to anyone. The aspect of forbearance allows you to receive harm without taking it personally. Patience invites you to have sympathy for the senders of harm. Therefore, instead of two crazy people screaming and yelling at each other, there is at least one peaceful person. You do so much good when you refrain from making others the target of your anger: because others have no cause to get angry back. The negativity you don’t create is the good you do.
Another opportunity to practice forbearance is when your journey brings you to a fearful situation. Returning to the road trip analogy, you may find the highway wraps around a mountain’s edge. And you may want to turn your eyes away from the deep valley below. But what are you really turning away from? You look away from the possibility of a fall or the inevitability of death, and the nervousness that ensues. When you tolerate the fear, you discover you can face it. Soon enough you begin to see what your fear is all about. BUT YOU MUST see. See what’s what, not just once, but over and over again.
Acceptance
The acceptance aspect of Patience is ACCEPTING EVERYTHING EXACTLY AS IS. THIS IS THE KEY TO CHANGE! Instead of constantly trying to be what you are not, you can accept your self exactly as you are. Surrender is the starting point for favorable change in your self and World. Of course it is much easier to NOT BE who and what you are: you are programmed from an early age to manipulate either yourself or others to fit into categories. If you stop classifying everything, things can become really messy for the ego- patterns. To “accept everything as is” requires discipline; a governance over the ego self that wants to avoid the so-called negative and grasp for what is classified as positive. When you look within, you might touch the delicate shades of sadness or aloneness that resides in your heart’s depth. You may also recognize the same sadness in the hearts of others. You start to see the dissatisfaction of the achievers and speedsters. You see the pain behind the false images of happiness.
Peace of mind arises as you accept your self and others. From physical and emotional pain to the death of loved ones, from the ending of a relationship to the beginning of a new job, patience is the introduction to seeing all situations with your heart’s eye. Patience transforms an ordinary road trip into an enjoyable and meaningful adventure.
