Patience

Patience is a virtue.

Patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.

Impatience is an opposite of patience.

So when waiting for a pot of water to boil, it’s not a matter of how long or how much time it will take, it’s a matter of how long you can stand to watch it boil. Try it next time. Can you stand perfectly still and watch the water boil? Can you focus only on the boiling of the water, and nothing else? Not only is this a test of your patience, but it’s also a lesson in meditation. Meditation describes a state of concentrated attention on some object of thought or awareness. Try this experiment next time, it will be good for you. Concentrate only on the water. Watch the bubbles. Count the bubbles. Let your mind unwind and think of nothing but the action of the boiling. Through this activity you will learn what patience is about. You will also learn how to focus on one thing and not let your mind wander. The first few times you attempt this, your mind will wander. Draw the focus back. Take control of your self.

Their are more examples to try this with. Can you sit perfectly still while getting your hair cut? Getting your teeth checked? Waiting for your car to get an oil change? Waiting in line at the DMV? Are you patient enough to sit through commercials without changing the channels? Are you patient enough to not look out your windows while waiting for a friend thats due to arrive soon?

Can you focus only on one thing at a time? Can you allow yourself to only think about what you are patiently waiting for?

This is not only a test, but a lesson. Now go my children, and teach yourself patience. You will be happy for it.

I leave you now with a few quotes regarding patience.

The years teach what the days never know. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it. ~Soren Kierkegaard

Genius is eternal patience. ~Michelangelo

In the struggle between the stone and the water, in time, the water wins. ~Chinese Proverb

Patience will achieve more than force. ~Edmund Burke

Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast. ~William Shakespeare

The faster you go, the shorter you are. ~Albert Einstein

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time. ~Winston Churchill

How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young? ~Paul Sweeney

Patience is the ability to count down before you blast off. ~Author Unknown

Beware the fury of a patient man. ~John Dryden, Absolam and Achitophel, 1680

Patience is a most necessary qualification for business; many a man would rather you heard his story than granted his request. ~Lord Chesterfield

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. ~Franklin P. Jones

Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience. ~George-Louis de Buffon

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. ~John Quincy Adams

Patience is the companion of wisdom. ~St. Augustine

One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life. ~Chinese Proverb

Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health. ~Michel de Montaigne