Where’s my patience?

This morning, just as I finished my post, my computer gave me the color wheel.  I knew what I had written was gone.  My post was about being thankful.  I’m not feeling very thankful right now so I am going to write about patience (of which I have almost none right now!).

Patience is the ability to tolerate waiting, delay, or frustration without becoming agitated or upset. It’s the ability to be able to control your emotions or impulses and proceed calmly when faced with difficulties.  Patience comes from the latin word pati, which means to suffer, to endure, to bear (my kids are in latin … don’t think I knew this on my own!)

When I was a teacher, patience was my first, middle and last name.  Then, I became a lawyer.  The word patience was wiped from my brain (all practical things are wiped from our brains in law school). What came next? Kids and a husband.  Talk about needing patience!

Developing more patience has been a recent goal of mine.  I’m sure my kids and close friends think I’ve done nothing in this area but I prefer to say that I’m progressing slowly.  Here are a few tricks I’ve used in this process (and until this morning, it was going quite well!):

1. I try (operative word) to establish a patience day once a month (it was once a week but I lost patience with that goal!).  This is a day where I am intentional about the patience I exhibit with others and myself.  It really is much like exercise, I don’t always like to start but I love it when I am finished!

2. Slowing down has been a goal of mine too (to my close friend from yesterday’s discussion — no laughing here!).  Moving fast can be a sign of impatience and while I admit that my efforts have been small and incremental, I do acknowledge the need to slow down.  Not everyone has to move at warp speed (including me!).

3. Listen and think before I talk.  This is a sign of patience that is often overlooked.  It’s the ability to pause and have the presence of mind to listen rather than blurt out an opinion, thought or solution.  I did a horrible job of it last night with one of my sons.  I was tired, not on a patience day and just lost my cool.  If we pause and think about what is likely to come out of our mouths, we can avoid hurting someone’s feelings – even if inadvertent.

So, my blog on thankfulness will have to wait.  Maybe that was the lesson for today anyway …

Have a calm and peaceful day!