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Patience 2004

Patience
Once again the holidays are over, the kids back at school. We can look forward to the credit card bills coming through the letterbox reminding us of those, now seemingly far off, days of carefree holidays, laying on the sand or by the pool. But alas reality soon returns. Back to work, dealing with the stresses and strains, the worries and concerns, the old routines.

It seems the cycle of routine has turned for another year. Soon we are looking at Christmas decorations and the sales. The same old routines. So why not think about breaking out of routine, not by doing anything too drastic of course but just thinking about making a few gentle changes.
If we make a few small changes occasionally then the old routines and cycles of thought can change, if we want them to.

Let us look at a few considerations. We all have people in our lives that could quite easily drive us to distraction if we let them.  These are the people who as soon as their names are mentioned we get thoughts and feelings which are less than, shall we say, charitable. The person who might bore us, or frustrate us, makes us angry, upset us or disappoint us. (However regular readers will know these feelings come from our own internal interpretation of external events). 

One of the things we can do when meeting these people is to ask ourselves. “What can I learn from this person”. If we ask ourselves this question, we begin to look at what we can learn from the individual, taking the emphasis away from the old thoughts, feelings and beliefs and looking for something new and different. We begin to see them in a different light, initially it may not be easy, but by practicing this you may soon begin to notice that, not only do you see the person differently, but also your own feelings and thoughts become more positive towards them. You might even learn from them. In essence you modify your behaviour, which leads to a change of routine, less negative thoughts, which reduces negative feelings.
Another thing to try is being patient. Just for five minutes. Whatever happens in that five minutes make the decision you will be patient. Whether it is your partner or child that interrupts you while you’re on the computer, or during a phone call or your favourite television program. Be patient with them. Perhaps remind yourself why you are being interrupted, the individual might want to be with you, the child loves you, you might have knowledge they need, so many different reasons. Usually being a nuisance to you isn’t one of them.  So consider practicing being patient, and looking for what you can learn from others. Not only does this improve our lives, but I suspect it also makes us better people.

Final word: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the month long campaign is organised by various cancer charities. There will be many events taking place to support the charities, raising much-needed funds and awareness of the disease. If you can, consider making a donation, however much you can afford, it all helps.