Patience Can Be Easy

In one of our weekly Thumos calls we discussed the role of patience in our journey. Patience is not something that I would say I am good at from an egoic perspective.  What I am saying is that when I try to resist or push against whatever is causing a delay in my missional progress, I can easily become frustrated, angry, and consequently, impatient. I am realizing now that impatience is sourced in my mind. My mind takes the mission and either consciously or subconsciously applies a timeline to it. Any deviation from that timeline and my mind is quick to apply additional emotions such as frustration and anger. I’m not sure if it does this as a perceived way of protecting me, or if it is simply using the event as a means to reinforce a negative message of the past because it is a message that feels real to the body. Regardless, impatience is particularly devious because it brings with it negative thoughts. On the one hand, impatience can stir up incredible focus, albeit from a place of doership.  However, more times than not those negative thoughts of worry (what if I was never supposed to do this?), doubt (I’ll probably never be able to finish this), fear (what if I do this and fail?), and discouragement (I’m not good enough to do this) do not produce a positive result. I am realizing now that I have been trying to “do patience” rather than realizing that patience is part of my true nature.

From a place of doership, patience is possible for a time. It is not sustainable long-term, though, because it requires energy (force) to remain in place. Patience as an expression of my true self (be-ership if you will) does not require any effort. Just like breathing, it can be effortless. The secret is to train the mind to focus on the present moment. It is only when I look at the mission or goal from a future or past perspective that I open the door to impatience. If I see a challenge or “problem” only for what it is in the present moment, and not how it is on my egoically-generated timeline, it isn’t a distraction from my mission. In fact, it is only another necessary part of my process which is there to teach me something.