I'm not. I try to be, but I'm just not.
I want everything in my life to happen at 4G. When I pull up to McDonalds and place an order, I don't want to wait at the next window when I get there. When I pull up to the drive through window at the bank, I start looking at the clock. When an important event is to take place in a few weeks, I struggle to not wish that it was tomorrow. When it's time to go to somewhere, it pains me to wait on W-spouse to finish getting ready. I want to go NOW.
My step-father (Papa Harold) is one of the most patient men I have ever met. He has nurtured me in the way of patience, but my blood seems to run thick with being a non patient person. He doesn't get riled up or in a hurry about anything, unless of course your trying to load the boat with supplies for a day of fishing on the lake.
When we place an order at one of our favorite eating establishments, I get frustrated at the waitress that doesn't hurry to fill my tea glass, but then I gripe when she brings our food before we are finished with our salads.
If for some reason I have to DVR a race or football game, I hit the fast forward and go to the end to see who wins, instead of savoring the moments in between.
I need to slow the heck down. If I am inquiring about something over the phone, I act like the person I am talking to should be named Google. I demand instant answers and quick responses. Aren't we all living like this in a way? Isn't our society being programmed for instant gratification? I think so.
I have the weekend off, the first in a while. Today I am going to try to slow down and enjoy the day with my wife and the weekend with my family.
PS: W-spouse just hollered at me from the kitchen and says "I have the mashed potatoes ready, hurry and get off the computer so we can deliver them. NOW".
4 comments:
AMEN!
When the government began the space program, they justified the huge costs involved by saying that all the technology that would come from the space program could be used to simplify our lives and shorten our work week. We did have a tremendous amount of technology that came out of the program.
Did we use that technology to shorten and to simplify? No, we used it to cram more stuff into our day. We are busier than ever. We now have even less tolerance of anything that is time consuming.
Patience is the only only resource that the more we use- the more we have.
ahh patience... a tough one... let me give you something from my buddhist teachings... i know, i know... but it really does apply to all of us...
One form of patience is acceptance of truth. It is the willingness to see deeply, without resistance, the truth of the moment and the truth of the deepest levels of reality. This includes living in accord with the insight that at our core there is no self to build up, hang onto, or defend. Seeing the luminous emptiness at the center of all things means that we can begin to let go of grasping to a self-con-scious and fixed idea of who we are. This requires a kind of patience, because deep spiritual insight is an affront to the ego. Most of us orient our lives around a limited view of ourselves; it can be quite frightening to let this view go. The patient acceptance of truth that allows us to let go is a personal strength developed together with the strengths of virtue, discernment, wisdom, resolve and loving-kindness.
The ultimate perfection of patience does not come from endurance or a re-evaluation of a situation. Rather it comes from the absence of our habitual, automatic triggers and reactive hooks to the challenges of life. Fully mature patience is effortless; it is not a doing at all.
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