Got Patience?

If you’re like most of us, you’re over COVID-19, the “new normal,” and the ever-changing rules you must follow, (until they’re not a thing anymore) and opposite rules take their place.

Raise your hand if this is on your last nerve and trying your patience like nothing ever has.
There are a LOT of hands up.

So here’s the scoop…the only constant is this continual change. When I suggested in March that this was likely not going to go away by May or June as many had hoped, I was met with groans, hands over ears, and loud shouting of lyrics to drown out my words.
It’s not the way I want it either. Trust me. I keep asking myself what I need in any given moment and the answer, “PATIENCE,” keeps popping up for me. Patience. With myself. With others. With situations I can’t control and for which I don’t yet understand the Higher Purpose.

Take a deep breath in and exhale all of the stagnant air at the bottom of your lungs. Repeat a few times. Then let yourself settle. Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese peace activist and the Father of Mindfulness, likens meditation to the process of watching apple juice settle at the bottom of a glass.

Now think about the word, “patience.” What does it conjure up for you? Parents or teachers, with an edge in their voices, telling you to, “Be patient!” Maybe you associate it with deprivation or denial of something desired.

Use your Enchanted Key to Altered Perceptions to experience patience like a nourishing pause. While you’re waiting for things to be the way you want them, this current moment can be filled with breath and peace. That pause automatically becomes patience. Just like that. Magic.

Consider this week with whom you need to be more patient. Yourself? A loved one? A stranger? A fellow driver on the highway? Someone at the grocery store? Sit with what triggers your impatience and invite that pause.
Stay enchanted.