How to develop and practice patience?

"A man who is a master of patience is master of everything else." George Savile

We all are in a hurry in today’s life. We drive crazily to reach office or we get frustrate to see the long queue at grocery store or we just don’t want to wait till other person finish his talk. It is like everyone is going on a war. This war is not with any outsider, but with your own self.

Our life has become very stressful because we want to finish something at every moment. We feel frustrated and irritated when things don’t go as per our plan. To get out of this mess we all need to develop one tranquil quality in our self, i.e. Patience. In the words of teenagers, keep it cool.

Patience makes us a better person. It also has lots of health benefits like lower blood pressure and less stress. Patience allows us to stay focused on our goals and also helps in better relationships. With this in mind below are some ways to practice patience.

Listen like you don’t have to win – Most of the time when we talk we act like as we have to win the conversation. We don’t even care what other person is saying and start thinking in our mind what I have to say next. Relax and forget everything else and just listen to the person. Do not react, not even in your mind. Just observe and absorb what other person is telling you. It is kind of meditation where you blank your mind and just focus.

Don’t try to control things which you can’t – Have you ever noticed your behavior when you are stuck in the traffic? We are frustrated and angry. We start blaming all the possible people including poor driver. If we are driving a car, then we will even try to find the smallest place possible to go ahead. It is not just about commuting, but in many areas we try to control things which are beyond our control. We lose our energy in such behavior. So just relax and go with the flow.

Study Impatience – This might sound strange to you, but this is a very important step. You need to observe when you are losing your patience. Find out what are the trigger points. Like sitting idle makes you lose it or is it when you are doing multi tasking. Be aware of the triggers and you will start noticing that the frequency is going down. Many times our mind doesn't know how to handle a problem because we never understand what the exact problem is. After knowing the problem, condition your mind to handle it, Exa: accept that it is OK to sit idle as it gives you time to relax.

Look at the positive side of life – Whenever I say this, I get the reactions like; it is not possible always or be practical. Believe me thinking positive will make you a calm person. It helps you develop an attitude to see the glass half full. Many times we lose patience because we don’t see any way ahead. Positive attitude gives you confidence that everything will be fine and you will reach your destination.

Patience teaches you to live in present moment and enjoy the life as it is right now. Patience does not mean to be lazy or to ignore problem, but to accept the problem and focus on solution. I would like to end this article with the great thoughts of Leonardo da vinci on patience.

“Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.”