Power of Patience

Psychocology Today 

Despite the digital age's marvels, it has propagated an emotional zeitgeist with a low tolerance for frustration--not just when you accidentally delete a computer file, but in terms of how you approach relationships and yourself. Without patience, you turn into your own worst taskmaster. You treat spouses and friends as disposable instead of devoting the necessary time to nurture love. But with patience, you're able to step back and regroup instead of aggressively reacting or hastily giving up on someone who's frustrating you. You're able to invest meaningful time in a relationship without giving up or giving in. In fact, patience gives you the liberating breath you've always longed to take.

Frustration prevents emotional freedom. Expressing frustrations in an effort to resolve them is healthy, but it must be done from a non-irritable, non-hostile place. If not, you'll put others on the defensive. Wallowing in frustration leads to endless dissatisfaction, placing us at odds with life. This emotion makes us tense, kills our sense of humor. It also leads to procrastination; we put things off to avoid the annoyances involved. Conquering frustration will revive your emotional life by making it your choice how you handle daily hassles and stresses.

I'm defining patience as an active state, a choice to hold tight until intuition says, "make your move." It means waiting your turn, knowing your turn will come. Once you've gone all out toward a goal, it entails trusting the flow, knowing when to let the soup boil. With patience, you're able to delay gratification, but doing so will make sense and feel right. Why? Intuition intelligently informs patience. It'll convey when to have it and if something is worth working on or waiting for. As a psychiatrist, I'm besotted with patience because it's intimately intuitive, all about perfect timing, the key to making breakthroughs with patients. I can have the sharpest intuitions or psychological insights, but if I don't share them at the right moment, they can do damage or else go in one ear and out the other. With regard to this, I strive for enormous patience; anything less would impede healing.

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