Turns out patience is a tricky thing. Proving to be one of the hottest topics yet, we Salon ladies dove into vivid conversation about patience; what it means, how we work with it in our lives, and who else might live in it’s neighborhood.
Beginning with defining the word, it was a little trickier than one might think. What IS patience anyway? Does it mean to wait? To slow down? To be in the now? See…? Not so easy, eh?
Breaking it Down
So, we broke it down. How would we explain patience to a 4-year old? You know, when you were little and your parents told you, “Just be patient!” Back then, we didn’t really know what the word itself meant but this is what we got: “Be quiet. You can’t have what you want. No.” Aha! No wonder this word turned out to be a hot topic! Likely a little bit of energy behind it our original understanding of it.
A Deeper Cut
Deeper into the conversation we looked at how patience isn’t always about waiting quietly, passively but sometimes it’s about taking action.
Stuck in traffic? Is there another route to take?
Waiting patiently for someone to get back to you? What actions might you take in the meantime?
Maybe there is something you are being patient about and it’s time to be done being patient about it (i.e. a loved one’s drinking problem, your neighbor’s bad behavior, something political you care about).
Deeper still, we saw that patience is about being with a pace that isn’t your own. Giving up control. Ooh, me likee.
The Neighborhood
Turns out patience has a few neighbors in it’s cul de sac, too.
Compassion
Acceptance
Endurance
Surrender
Making friends with these neighbors may help us sort out our relationship to patience in a more grown-up, less 4-year old kind of way.
In the end…
In the end, we saw that patience for patience sake, doesn’t serve anyone. Ever. It’s not really a virtue standing on it’s own. But when we take patience to a deeper level and reflect upon the power of how we use it (or don’t) in our life, the realizations alone can be life altering.
Thank you + April Salon + Invite your Friends
Once again, a special thank you to the ladies of the March Salon who made this topic so rich, interesting and insightful. I, for one, learned much about myself, my life and our culture.
Join me in April when Tara Mohr will share with us her take on white space: creating more of it in your life.
As always, please invite your friends, get them on the invite list here and they’ll get the next invitation (with rsvp link) when it comes out, just in time for the next Salon.
With love and of course, patience,
regina
xo