Become More Patient

[Dave1961]

I am reading "Don't sweat the small stuff...and it's ALL small stuff" by Richard Carlson at the moment. I am sure some of you have read it before.

Very easy read - only a couple pages per thought/chapter.

I thought this one was very relevant to those of us working towards our health goal and sometimes becoming impatient with our progress.

"The quality of patience goes a long way toward your goal of creating a more peaceful and loving self. The more patient you are, the more accepting you will be of what is, rather than insisting that life be exactly as you would like it to be. Without patience, life is extremely frustrating. You are easily annoyed, bothered, and irritated. Patience adds a dimension of ease and acceptance to your life. It's essential for inner peace.

Becoming more patient involves opening your heart to the present moment, even if you don't like it. If you are stuck in a traffic jam, late for an appointment, opening to the moment would mean catching yourself building a mental snowball before your thinking got out of hand and gently reminding yourself to relax. It might also be a good time to breathe as well as an opportunity to remind yourself that, in the bigger scheme of things, being late is "small stuff".

Patience also involves seeing the innocence in others. My wife, Kris, and I have two children ages four and seven. On many occasions while writing this book, our four-year-old daughter has walked into my office and interrupted my work, which can be disruptive to a writer. What I have learned to do (most of the time) is to see the innocence in her behavior rather than to focus on the potential implications of her interruptions ("I won't get my work done, I'll lose my train of thought, this was my only opportunity to write today," and so forth). I remind myself why she is coming to see me - because she loves me, not because she is conspiring to ruin my work. When I remember to see the innocence, I immediately bring forth a feeling of patience, and my attention is brought back to the moment. Any irritation that may have been building is eliminated and I'm reminded, once again, of how fortunate I am to have such beautiful children.

I have found that, if you look deeply enough, you can almost always see the innocence in other people as well as in potential frustrating situations. When you do, you will become a more patient and peaceful person and in some strange way, you begin to enjoy many of the moments that used to frustrate you."

Sometimes our journey is just as important as reaching our goal

If you want to read more of this book its up on the web as a blog and starts here

meditations-life.blogspot.c...

Have a great day you beautiful brits!

[alex7ra]

Thank you for this recommendation. I've bought it for my other half who definitely worries far too much about things that really don't matter!

[Hidden]

Thanks for this. I definitely feel like weight loss is a lesson in patience. At 1-2lbs a week it is taking me months even having started at a modest position of being 2 stone overweight. I'm applying extra patience this week having stayed the same. I'll try to take a lesson from this and relish the experience of all the small distractions and moments that your author describes, thanks for sharing

[Portlandprincess]

Hi Dave. I love self help books. I've just read '50 self help classics'....tom butler-brown. Great synopsis... plural synopsiiiiii.

[Dave1961 25kg in reply to Portlandprincess]

Oh rats - I thought it was only 3 i's at the end of synopsiiiiii.

People must think I have been SO uneducated in the past