Impatience seems to be a natural talent a lot of people have in today’s world, but it’s not helpful. Find out the benefits of being patient and learn how to be- even if you’re not.
Patience seems like a dirty word. Nobody wants to have to be patient, so a lot of us don’t bother to learn how to be. That’s a major mistake though. Join SpiritualBlossom to learn the benefits of being patient in life. Find out exactly what being patient means and what the opposite- impatience causes. Find out the benefits of being a patient person and simple ways to learn to be patient even if you never have before. Patience really is a virtue and it can make your life- and attitude better. Read on to learn more.
The Meaning of Patience
“Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”- Joyce Meyer
Patience is the ability to persevere long-term despite difficulties or opposition. Some people say that it's the ability to stay calm and not be upset when things become difficult. Other people say it's the ability to tolerate difficulties without becoming angry and without complaining. It's the ability to tolerate trouble, suffering, or delays without losing your mind. It doesn't necessarily mean that you will be happy about those delays or difficulties. It just means that you can put up with them and doing so doesn't destroy you.
You can tell the difference between patient people and people who are impatient. A patient person waits in line quietly without throwing a fit. Someone who doesn't have patience will wait in that same line for exactly the same amount of time the patient person does, but they will throw a fit and become extremely upset. They may complain, call for management, or get angry and leave. The ability to tolerate waiting for things to finish or begin is patience. Some of the most patient people can be highly diplomatic. Learn more about being diplomatic here: Mastering the Fine Art of Being Diplomatic
What Impatience Causes
“To lose patience is to lose the battle.”- Mahatma Gandhi
Impatience is the opposite of patience. It means we quickly become upset when things don't go the way we want them to and we push for quick results. We might be angry that we have to wait or have zero tolerance for delays. It causes a lot of problems. It sets us up for unrealistic expectations and makes it difficult, if not impossible for us to stick around. It strains our relationships and communications with other people, and it just makes us unhappy. Worst of all, impatience means that we lose opportunities that are waiting for us.
Unrealistic Expectations
Being impatient makes us have unrealistic expectations about how quickly things will happen. When we have a mindset of instant gratification, we think that we shouldn't have to wait for anything. Everything takes time though. Demanding that a custom paint job be done a week sooner than the artist said it will can make them refuse the commission. You won't get a painting then. They might rush their work and it could compromise the quality. You might decide to buy a ready made poster and forego the ability to have custom art.
No Staying Power
Sticking around and trusting the process is very important. Patience gives you the ability to do that. If you're impatient, you won't stick around for how long things take. You might drop out of school because you're sick of studying and you just want to be finished already. You might break up with your significant other of six months because you feel like they're not proposing marriage quickly enough. You might stop your diet because you feel like you're not losing weight fast enough. Anything worth doing is worth doing long term, so be patient and stick it out. One Zodiac sign with great staying power is Taurus and you can read about them here: Taurus Zodiac Traits and Love Compatibility
Strained Relationships
Being impatient will upset other people with you. They will feel that you're being unfair, unreasonable, and maybe even just unbearable. People won't want to hear you complain or listen to you criticize how long things are taking. They won't appreciate you rushing them, and they won't like the sense of entitlement you have that you should get everything faster than everybody else gets it. A surefire way to make people sick of being around you is to be impatient with them. So be patient and it will improve your relationships.
Unhappiness
Impatience will make you unhappy. You'll be upset with how long things take, have zero tolerance for other people's mistakes, and just make yourself miserable. You will make other people unhappy with you. You will make situations strained and nobody will want to be in the room with you when you're behaving in impatient ways. No matter how dark times can be, happiness is still possible. Find out why here: Being Happy, Even in Dark Times
Lost Opportunities
You will miss out on so many opportunities if you are impatient. It would be wonderful to be a piano maestro, but that takes many years and you have to be a new student first. If you don't have the patience to do the fundamental studies before you get to the level of Maestro, you'll never get there. You also won't get the experience of spending a lifetime studying music and performing it. Dumping someone after six months because they haven't already married you can take away what could be a long-term relationship. Any time you don't have the patience to see things through, you're limiting yourself.
The Benefits of Being Patient
“ Our patience will achieve more than our force.”- Edmund Burke
There are countless benefits to being patient, but a few stand out. If you're patient, you have a clearer mind and a much better attitude. This translates to much better mental health and a better ability to develop yourself. There are no drawbacks to learning to be patient.
A Clearer Mind
If you don't believe that you have to have quick or instant results, your mind will be open to possibilities. You will pay attention to what is actually happening instead of trying to force results that aren't going to happen. You will be aware of what's going on and you'll get to enjoy everything. Emotional intelligence helps with mental clarity too. Find out more here: How High is Your Emotional Intellect?
A Better Attitude
Patient people have much better attitudes than impatient people. When you're patient, your attitude is that things are going to take as long as they need to and that's a good thing. When you're impatient, you're demanding things happen NOW. When you are patient, you will be fair, understanding, and easy to deal with. Impatient people or short tempered, unfair and unbearable.
Improved Communications
The way that you talk to people changes when you are patient. You give uplifting, positive feedback and you thank people for what they do. You can have a pleasant conversation about something while you're waiting for results, instead of sitting there and complaining that things haven't already happened. People will appreciate your understanding and patience and they will be more comfortable with you. This will help with building relationships. Communicating well makes you a better leader. Learn more leadership skills here: Essential Skills for Today’s Leaders
Better Mental Health
You will be less upset if you're patient than if you are impatient. You will stop stressing yourself by trying to force things. You won't feel like you're being treated unfairly because you have to wait and life won't get you down if you're patient about things. Since your relationships will be going better if you're fair and patient, you'll be happier with more friends and lovers. Everybody's mental health is better when you are patient with them.
Better Self-Development
When you're patient, you won't have a problem with taking your time to learn things properly. You won't have an issue with long term processes and you won't be upset with yourself or feel embarrassed while you're learning things. You will take pride in small achievements, no matter how long they take, and over time you will accomplish so much more than someone who is impatient. One great method of self-development is working on being your best self. Find out how here: How to Be Your Best Self
How To Be Patient
“I will be patient till even patience tires of my patience.”- Ali ibn Abi Talib
Some people are born patient, but other people have to work hard to learn how to be. Luckily, there are some simple things you can do to improve your levels of patience. Simple things like listening, accepting discomfort, and having faith that things will work out for the best are easy ways to learn to be more patient. Read on for some great tips to learn how to be patient.
Listen
Stop talking and pay attention, listening to what people are saying to you, and pay attention to what's happening around you. Shifting your attention from what you want to have happen to what is actually happening will help you be immediately more patient. Learn how to be a great listener here: How to Become Great at Listening
Still Your Voice
Instead of trying to impose your wishes and intentions on things, silence all of that. Don't try to impose your will on anything and just go with the flow of what's actually happening. It might be frustrating at first, but the longer you do it, the easier it will become. As you focus on what's really happening instead of what you want to have happen, your patience will automatically grow.
Disengage Emotionally
Your emotions can get out of sorts when you're trying to impose results. Just emotionally detach from the entire situation. When your emotions are hinged on to results, you can be completely controlled by a situation, so just emotionally detach. Learn ten techniques to control emotions here: The Ten Best Ways to Control Emotions
Focus on the Finish Line
Instead of focusing on the small details of things that are happening, focus on the end result that you're working toward. Don't focus on frustrations over time or what could be holding things up. Keep your eye on the prize and your main goal. That's what's really important, not details. This will make it easier for you to be patient with any holdups or frustrations.
Accept Discomfort
If you accept the fact that you're going to be uncomfortable waiting for things to happen instead of fighting it, you will feel a lot better. Impatience comes in when you try to push away what's actually happening. Just go with the flow and allow yourself to be a little uncomfortable. One thing that can make you highly uncomfortable is radical independence. Find out why here: The Problem with Being Radically Independent
Have Faith
Having a little bit of faith that things are going to work out is a big help if you want to learn to be more patient. If you tell yourself that things are going terribly and nothing is going to be alright, you will immediately become impatient and lust after results. If you have faith that things are going the way that they're supposed to go, and things are taking exactly how long they're supposed to take, you will feel a lot better and feel more patient. Find out how powerful faith and belief is: What Happens When You Believe? Why it Matters
Be Fair
Sometimes, we are asked to be more patient than we need to be by people who abuse our patience. In a situation like that, you have to be fair to yourself. Balancing expectations with the way that things really are is very helpful. If your patience is displaced and you've put your faith in the wrong person, it's fair to step away. When someone tries your patience and uses it to their advantage, they really don't deserve it. Shift the virtue of your patience elsewhere, and let people who do not appreciate other people's patience deal with their own problems.
Relinquish Control
Patience is easier to learn when we accept that we cannot control everything. It would be nice if we could, wouldn’t it? We can’t, though. We can’t make a traffic jam go away. We can’t get through to people who won’t listen. We can’t turn back time to make the past come back. We can’t make people love us who don’t. It’s heartbreaking sometimes, but there will always be things we can’t control, and accepting that will help us to be more patient. We can’t control everything but we can control how peaceful we choose to be within. Learn about inner peace here: Inner Calm in the Midst of Chaos
Accept Waiting
Some people say the best things in life come to those who wait. Maybe some of the best things come when we step up and ask for results- but refusing to wait for things to happen in their own time just upsets us. Things happen when they happen. If we are constantly trying to force people and things to hurry up and finish already, we have zero patience, upset ourselves, and frustrate everyone else. Accept that you have to wait for results sometimes, and you will become more patient.
Patience really is a virtue, but it's one that you sometimes have to work to learn. Being impatient will strain your relationships with other people and set you up for disappointment. Being patient will give you a clearer mind, a better attitude, and it will help you with your personal development. Easy ways to become more patient include listening, paying attention to what's actually happening, and accepting that you will be uncomfortable for a while and you have to wait for results. Anything worth wanting or doing is worth waiting for, and things are going to happen in their own time. Learn patience, and it will all go better.
Want more tips for having patience with a frustrating situation? Get a reading about it today.
About the Author: Lady Saoirse has studied magic and lore for most of her life but started walking her own Magical Path after being spiritually reborn in the desert. Today she is a High Priestess for The Temple of the Goddess, she is a psychic advisor and spiritual counselor, she shares her gifts as a Psychic and Content Writer for Mysticsense and SpiritualBlossom, and she writes for PaganPages.Org emag and Green Egg Magazine.
