Patience

 

BOOM!  ARGH!  AUGH!  GRRR! 

Words like these are quite familiar to us, they hover over our mind when we feel angry, annoyed or impatient. These are very strong emotions in nature and are not easy to control. On the other hand, a simple word like Patience caters for them all.

Patience is defined as "the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset". It is the ability to stay calm while we are waiting for an outcome that we need or want. A simple word that many of us are trying to put into practice in our daily life. We may think that we possess the ability to be in control in all situations but we ditch the idea of patience once we find ourselves not in a position to deal with the circumstances and we tend to go directly to action, irrespective of whether we are ready for the repercussions or considering the options in front of us carefully.

In today`s computer world where we get instant results, It made us all the more impatient towards things. Smartphones, PlayStation games has let to instant gratification becoming the norm. We post things on social media and get an immediate response. Everything is fast pace. With the growth in technology, we are losing our virtue of patience. We get annoyed or frustrated with simple things nowadays like when we have to wait for traffic lights to go off or when the TV remote is not working properly. 

Patience is a necessity. It`s a much-needed quality to imbibe. A study published in the Journal of the American Association (JAMA) showed that "stress hormones stimulate platelets, making them more likely to clot in arteries, a process that can result in a heart attack". Being Impatient also affects our attitude, thinking, and behaviour. We become less productive and lose focus and clarity. It not only makes the situation more worse but also makes it more difficult for the people around us. It creates an energetic space of resistance which makes it difficult to achieve our goal. Over time it makes you arrogant, insensitive and impulsive.

Patience is an ingrained skill and can be worked on to increase our ability to become a more patient person. We have also seen our side of patience in this pandemic, how we waited for the discovery of vaccines despite all the urgency. Patience can improve our social life, it helps us become a better decision-maker. It gives you the confidence to take bold steps while keeping your mind calm and composed. Achieving things takes time, be in acquiring knowledge, mastering skill, raising children or building a structure, whereas instant results are hardly around for a long time. 

We won`t always be able to maintain our impulsive nature but we can learn to manage our reactions to them.