Cultivating Patience

Patience is a virtue. It is said of others that they have the patience of angels. Or the patience of Job.  Or perhaps the patience of a saint. All of it implies that to be patient means you have to overcome something in yourself in order to be patient - hence, a saint or an angel, or as Job, undergo a litany of woes, and not lose your patience.

Saint Augustine wrote: patience is the companion of wisdom. Tolstoy wrote: the two most powerful warriors are patience and time. Benjamin Franklin wrote he that can have patience, can have what he will.  Emerson wrote: patience and fortitude conquer all things.

Clearly being patient refers not only to people or annoying situations in our daily lives, but also to life itself, those things we wish to accomplish, and how we wish to move on in our life trajectory.

I am  - notoriously - perhaps one of the most impatient persons in my circle. Always have been. And yet, if you had met me 20 or 30 years ago, you would have found I was much worse. Clearly, I've improved. But not all that much. And so, this business of being patient (especially with people and situations in daily life), has become a challenge, an ideal towards which I attempt to move myself on a continual basis. And that means that lately, whenever I am confronted with a situation that causes my impatience to arise, I look at it as an opportunity to put this desire to cultivate more patience into practice. That means, of course, that on some level, I become grateful for having said opportunity crop up in the course of my day. And slowly, I notice, due to looking at it in that fashion, I am becoming somewhat more patient.



I began doing a similar thing some years ago with being critical and judgemental - two qualities I don't care for, and yet can not be said to have eradicated from my character. But here's what I have achieved: I've become extremely conscious of being critical or judgemental each time I am tempted or swayed in that direction, and it is this awareness of it in myself, that means that each and every time it happens, I chip away at it a bit more. As I am doing with my impatience. Cultivating qualities or virtues is a noble cause, and truly all it takes is a bit of conscious awareness and the intention to continue to be consciously aware. What are you being conscious about today?

For more information about being aware, about inner well-being, inner growth and joy, see my book Rewiring the Soul: Finding the Possible Self, available at Amazon as paperback or e-book for Kindle.

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"This book is a gift to humanity, a valuable tool in aiding seekers to accomplish mastery of their own lives. Gabriella Kortsch provides clear steps to help people find peace in a practical and powerful way. She does not ask you to give up anything other then what no longer serves you. Brilliantly written!" HILLARY RAIMO; Author & Radio Host

"In Rewiring the Soul, Gabriella Kortsch shows us in very practical ways how to lead a soul-guided, soul-infused life. With the wisdom of one who has traveled far and learned much, Dr. Kortsch blazes a path for all who have the courage to follow. The rewards for walking that path are great: an understanding of why we are here; an expanded awareness of who we really are; a new or heightened sense of purpose and meaning; and a deeper appreciation of life's many blessings. Highly recommended." ROBERT SCHWARTZ, author, Your Soul's Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born

Photo: Castle at Tulum, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico