Patience

There are moments and people in life that have a tendency to just drive us nuts. One moment we can be in a complete state of peace and the next yelling at the top of our lungs. We forget to breathe, be grateful and accept our emotions. We react instead of pausing for a few minutes to think about why we are feeling the way we are. Most of the experiences that drive these feelings are really nothing more than molehills that we make into mountains. Seemingly small situations are escalated just because of our perception of how things should be.

For me the situations that cause these feelings of anger, impatience and negative reaction range from the cat meowing consistently to a bike trainer not functioning properly. Both the cat and the trainers functionality are outside of my sphere of control. What I do have complete control over is the way in which I choose to react. I have found that if I react peacefully rather than with anger my feelings in impatience blow over much faster than otherwise.

Now I am no perfect angel, but I have found some tools that actually allow me to work through my impatient urges. These urges drive me to do irrational things like make important decisions in a hurry and yell at those I love. This is no way to express how much you care for others and yourself.

Identify your feelings of itchy impatient monsters creeping up your back, then pause for a moment to identify what you are feeling.

Accept your feelings. They are only a perception of the way things are and the way you want them to be. Knowing that your feelings of irritation and anger will pass helps you accepts they way you are.

Breathe for a moment. Take three deep breaths and think about nothing more than the quality of breathe you are taking. This allows you to slow your mind, nourish your body and become willing to do something rational.

Reflect on why these feelings arose in the first place. Did they come to fruition to warn you of something? Did someone really do something wrong or are you just allowing another persons life path to impact you emotionally?

Respond rationally! After identifying with why you are feeling this way you should be able to respond rationally with love and kindness. Perhaps someone did step on your toes and they need to change the way they treat you. If this is the case then politely share with them why you feelin the way you do. If they respond with anger remember they just failed to use these simple tools that you just employed.

If you feel like yelling back then pause for a moment to run through these steps again. The beautiful thing is that these really work. You can resolve difficulties with peace, love and kindness. There is no need to lose your patience.

Patience is not an easy thing to achieve, but it is a much more peaceful way to flow through life if you will only allow it.