Patience…

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Patience is the ability to stay calm while you’re waiting for an outcome that you need or want. 

Most of us are impatient and we want quick results and faster TAT’s. Does that work always in our favor? More than often it only works against us. So what exactly is Patience? In other words it’s the pause that helps us get our thoughts back in order and our feelings under control. It gives us the persistence to carry out things that will lead us to a long term goal and helps us realize that success will come to those who keep trying and never give up. Its builds your persistent nature and so the reputation.

Here are some reasons on why we should cultivate Patience:

Patient people enjoy better mental health – People with a calm mind which is the way Patient people are tend to experience less depression and negative emotions. This may be because they can cope better with upsetting or stressful situations. They are more mindful of things around them, have more gratitude for what they have and also have a great connection with their surroundings. They have a sense of abundance and feel accomplished. Patience over daily routine or hassles like traffic jams, long lines at the grocery store, a complaining sub-ordinate, keeps you in a better mental health as you do not panic or get hyped up and let the brain function normally. It is said that People who have mastered Patience are more satisfied with life, less sad and less depressed.

Patient people are better friends – In our day to day relationships with people around us, patience becomes a form of kindness. Think of the best friend who comforts you night after night over the heartache that just won’t go away, or the daughter who smiles through the story she has heard her mother tell countless times. Research has suggested that patient people tend to be more cooperative, more empathic, more equitable, and more forgiving. They tend to listen more and have more logical reasoning. In Schnitker’s 2012 study, Patience traits were associated with higher “agreeableness,” a personality trait characterized by warmth, kindness, and cooperation. Patience also may enable individuals to tolerate flaws in others, therefore displaying more generosity, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.

Patience helps us achieve our goals – The road to achievement is a long one, and those without patience; who want to see results immediately, may not be willing to walk it. If you want quick results and push that, more than often the results would not even close to the goal you had in mind. Quick results are based mostly on impulsive decisions and taken due to lack of patience. A patient person takes his time to analyze the situation, the surrounding around him, focus on delivering the correct solution with the ultimate goal in mind. A well thought of plan with a calm mind works far better to help achieve your goals. Also empathy skills and co-operation from your peers at workplace helps a lot in getting there faster. 

Patience is linked to good health – Like a said before, a calm mind helps remove so many issues that we face in today’s world of depression, headaches, etc. When you have mastered the art of patience, you will always have a stable mental health. When you are stable mentally, physical self automatically transforms and follows the mind. It’s found in studied and research’s that patient people were less likely to report health problems like headaches, depression, etc. Other research has found that people who exhibit impatience and irritability, tend to have more health complaints and worse sleep. Patience helps reduce our daily stress levels and if patience can help reduce our daily stress, it’s reasonable to speculate that it could also protect us against stress’s damaging health effects.

Patience doesn’t come easy and it’s not a natural born talent. Its developed or cultivated by people in time. There are be numerous ways which can help different people develop patience.

The below 3 aspects worked for me to cultivate Patience:

Reframe the situation. Feeling impatient is not just an automatic emotional response; it involves conscious thoughts and beliefs, too. If a colleague is late to a meeting, you can fume about their lack of respect, or see those extra 15 minutes as an opportunity to get some reading or something more productive done; the choice is entirely your’s. So what I mean to say is that when you are in a situation that you can get impatient in, think of ways in which you can reframe this entire situation and which will help you think logically, release the stress and help calm your mind. 

Patience is linked to and is all about self-control, and consciously trying day in and day out to regulate our emotions can help us train our self-control muscles. There is no limit to the training you can give your mind. Its limitless. The more you practice control and train your mind, the more stronger you would become in controlling your emotions.

Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future. In one study, people who did a mindfulness program became less impulsive and more willing to wait for results. Taking a deep breath and noticing your feelings of anger or overwhelm (for example, when your colleague starts yet another argument right before a meeting) can help you respond with more patience.

Practice gratitude. If we’re thankful for what we have today, we’re not desperate for more stuff or better circumstances immediately. Being grateful for what we have now is most common miss that most of us do. We always want more and compare with what others have rather than being grateful for what we have. Being thankful and show appreciation for what we have helps us be patient. Study proves that adults who were feeling grateful were also better at patiently delaying gratification. 

Some of the other benefits of being Patient are:

1. It helps you focus on long term goals – When things are clear and mind is calm, it will help you focus on the long term objectives rather than short term gains. 

2. It helps you make more rational choices – The choices you would make will be more assessed, weighed and outcome oriented rather than irrational decisions which might be very short lived.

3. It builds your reputation for persistence – No one likes some who takes up the tasks and tries to execute faster for a quick result and ultimately fails. No one likes to fail or work with failures. When you are patient and focussed, your will succeed far far better and will build a reputation for persistence. People will come to you for more as everyone likes persistent people who never give up and always keep trying till they succeed.

4. It helps to develop a skill set – The current situation wherein we all were caught unaware in this Covid-19 scenario and were house arrested in the lockdown; many just took it as an opportunity to relax and do nothing while some used the time diligently to learn new skills whether online or offline. The people who have patience will come out of this time as a winner in their own eyes with the new skills they have acquired.

5. It makes you a people magnet – People like to be around someone who can listen to them and can give a logical opinion. People love someone who has the patience to help solve their issues. The best leaders in the world have this trait.

6. It can bring you peace – Patience helps you become calm and composed. When you are in that state, Peace is attained. Inner peace is so important to have as it helps both mentally and psychologically.

Patience is something than cannot be bought but can definitely be cultivated amongst each one of us but research proves that Not many are able to get there as it requires working hard on yourself emotionally and mentally which many can’t give. If you can, you would have given yourself a gift that you will cherish throughout your life.

Be Patient! Be Happy!! Conquer the World!!