Skip to main content
I’m stronger this time around. Well, my brain and mind went all Doritos on me. With my severe food allergies, when I find something I love to eat and I’m not allergic to, I have to contain myself or down goes, in this case, the whole bag of Doritos. Well, someone brought them into the house. I was fixated on Doritos. A few wouldn’t hurt, right? I ate the whole bag. Change plan destroyed. Did that moment stop my success, or do I do better the next time that telltale bag comes in the house unannounced and unhidden? I’m proud that my brain on change has left the Doritos untouched for someone else to enjoy, even while they are in plain sight. For me, the more times that I disregard the Doritos, the more likely I will disregard them the next time, as my brain retrains to a new way of doing things. But let’s say your brain doesn’t cooperate with you and down goes the whole bag. Then anything is possible. Your brain will train to whatever motivates and inspires you. 
In Your Corner
Also under acceptance falls what we absolutely can’t change. I’m sorry about this one, as I have wished so hard for everyone on everything I can think of since I was a little kid. I have more prayers and thoughts and energy for people, but no matter what, I just can’t seem to slow down time. Scientists are working on it somewhere, somehow, I’m sure. Time is one thing that is charging forward on a steady beat whether you like it or not. Once the moment is gone, it is history. You’ll hear people say to anchor in the present. Just today, as a matter of fact, I was visualizing future moments with my husband. A lot of adjusting and going around and around occurs in the steps of change, with time helping us in our shifts. Ambiguity, trial and error, lack of confidence, drawing up new plans, and more are all wrapped up in this gift we call patience. Patience really is a virtue, and many of us have to learn it and remind ourselves constantly to be patient and maybe even kind with it. Patience isn’t a phase or fad. What You're Doing
Think of yourself as a teacher with a classroom of twenty kindergarteners. Think about the level of patience and kindness required in that daylong occupation. What if you were being snappy, rude, and mean and made every single child cry? How would that go for the kids and you? I know that is exaggerated to make the point, but it is just one small example of where patience is mandatory. Just the other day a huge pickup truck passed me on the right and sped up to about ninety miles per hour. My husband and I both said, What a jerk. I thought for a second and said out loud to remind us, What if that is an emergency? In fact, what if that is a doctor going to the hospital to perform emergency surgery? The perspective of patience can be lost in a moment of anger or frustration. Patience goes with acceptance. You need one to get the other. Patience and acceptance are twins that function together. There’s no doubt that waiting for something could be one of the most frustrating things ever. It’s waiting in traffic, waiting for someone to get ready for a night out, waiting for someone to pay you, waiting in line, waiting for the weight to finally come off, and so on. Waiting can try your patience. Little By Little
If you take a glimpse at all these scenarios I’ve just listed, even if a person in front of you is taking forever or a person is delayed in sending you money, it’s really about you and your ability or inability to sit peacefully with time and your patience levels. Here are eight ways to help make patience your very best virtue. Understand patience. Patience is the ability to wait. Patience is having the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset or impatient. Patience is the level of endurance one can have before disrespect. Understand impatience. Impatience comes when someone is angry, provoked, or restlessly eager. Sometimes desperation can lead us to do things we may regret or would have perhaps not even thought about had the situation been different. Desperation could lead to impulsive behavior. If you are feeling desperate, it could be best to step away from the situation completely, if possible, and choose another course of action. Have you ever felt desperate? Do you feel like there are varying degrees of desperation? Have you ever felt like all options seem like a roadblock? You can choose an option that will have the least amount of impact. There might still be fallout or issues, but again, with desperation, it could be very helpful to get another person’s thoughts or ideas, seek help, and recognize how damaging impatient, impulsive, or desperate behavior can be in both the short and long terms. Why do you feel desperate? Do you need assistance? Recognize that patience is for some people a learned skill. Different experiences require different levels of patience. If you weren’t born with patience being your best virtue or if you lost it along the way, you may have to spend some time with yourself being aware of what triggers impatience or how you are behaving. If you are always in a rush or losing your patience even in the slightest ways, maybe you need to change your lifestyle in small ways that will have a meaningful impact. Realize that you can’t force or control the future. Unless you have a time machine that we all don’t know about, it would appear that the future unfolds and happens and a fair amount of it is out of our control. I think about wanting each of my four babies to be born. Become a little less busy.