Patience Week 2

“Have patience with all things but first of all with yourself.”

— Francis de Sales

Learning to build awareness regarding our patience, is the first step to making a change, and becoming less impatient.  Last week we began in a general manner in our perceptions of our impatience, mostly to outside events, that we have no control over. Week 2, we zero in on you, when are you impatient with yourself?

You spilled your coffee on your shirt, you forget the one item you went into the grocery store for, you eat the extra cookies. We all do these things, or similar ones, and may lose patience with ourselves. But what was your day like before this happened, did you not sleep well, were you rushing around doing too many things, were you on autopilot? Most of these “mistakes” occur when we are not focused, or overtired. This is where our consistent practice of mindfulness, even informally, can guide us.

Think of a time when you are patient with yourself, maybe it’s when you are learning something new, or trying to repair something. If you cannot think of any time that you practice patience with yourself, this is a starting point. Imagine yourself teaching your best friend something you are good at, maybe it is yoga, or serving a tennis ball, or how to knit. You would be kind, thoughtful and considerate with them. This is how we can approach ourselves, as if it was our best friend who was making a mistake or learning something new.

When we treat ourselves with compassion it becomes more natural to extend and act this way towards others. Patience will spread.