An Essential Guide to Practicing Patience in a World of Instant Gratification
The changes and demands of daily life, especially in the last year, have made the virtue of patience seem unattainable. For some, patience comes more naturally; for others, practicing patience takes more dedication.
The ability to be patient during trying times has a direct impact on our daily lives. Everything from our communication with loved ones, mental health, and performance at work can be affected by our ability to be patient - or not.
The good news is that patience is like a muscle. With time, everyone can become more patient and live a healthier, more peaceful life.
Why Is Patience So Important?
Practicing patience impacts how we react to the world around us. Triggers like fellow drivers, a cranky child, or poor sleep can test patience. These triggers cause us to become impatient, keeping us from reaching goals, forcing us to become hyper-focused on negativity, and prolonging simple tasks.
When you practice patience, your attitude, thinking, and behavior are all positively impacted. You may even notice that your mind is clearer, and you have better communication with the people around you.
How Does Patience Affect Daily Life?
The energy that you attract and project is a big part of how patience affects your daily life. Think of a time you've felt impatient about something. You probably remember feeling a resistance that you were unable to explain. As if there was an unidentifiable force blocking you from achieving whatever goal you were trying to accomplish. That feeling was more than just a red light or a child in defiance of nap time. Impatience fosters bad energy that is hard to escape and causes an incredible amount of stress.
Conversely, when we practice patience we are opening up our mind, body, and soul to allowance. When you accomplish a goal or experience a win, you may have felt a gravitational pull between you and the thing you set up to accomplish. Patience allows us to achieve more in less time!
Why Are Humans SO Impatient?
In recent years, there has been an increase in the impatience we feel day to day. With the rise of the internet, smartphones, and same-day delivery, we have come to expect the things we want immediately!
While instant gratification certainly has benefits, in the long term it becomes a distraction. The longer we practice chronic impatience, the more agitated we become, the more we second guess ourselves and the more negative decisions we make.
Tools to Practice Patience in Daily Life
One of the benefits of practicing patience is that we learn more about ourselves. Accomplishing our goals motivates us to continue to improve.
Practicing patience is not time-consuming. Most find they are able to easily fit these techniques into their daily life.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness has become increasingly popular in recent years. Practicing mindfulness allows for the conscious recognition of thoughts, feelings, or reactions without judgment. It is about bringing a heightened awareness to the present moment, rather than worrying about the past or anxiously awaiting the future.
Tip: Here are a few simple things you can do every day to become more mindful: read, go for a walk, organize something, cook yourself a meal, observe what is happening around you, meditate, take a bath, or give a genuine compliment.
Deep Breathing
When feeling impatient, our breath is more likely to be shallow, which decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, stimulating the “fight or flight” response. By actively slowing your breath when you start to get agitated, you can release some of the built up tension.
Tip: When you breathe, focus on directing your breath into the belly, and try box breathing, or square breathing. Gently inhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, slowly exhale for a count of 4, then at the bottom of your breath, hold for another 4.
Acceptance
When something is out of our control, acceptance will calm us. Acceptance does not mean we have to be happy about what is happening. It just means, we are allowing ourselves to exit the negative headspace and let go.
Tip: In frustrating or difficult situations that may otherwise cause impatience, acknowledge what is upsetting you, develop a plan, change what you can, identify what you cannot change, and focus on what you can gain.
Patience And The New Normal
The last year has been undoubtedly trying. As the weather improves, summer travel plans become a possibility, and vaccines are more readily available, patience may seem like an impossible task.
If the call of normal life has become irresistible for you, try to focus on what you can control, both in the immediate and as we shift to yet another new normal. Sometimes all it takes to restore our patience is to hit the reset button.