Since I moved down south, I had no choice but to drive everywhere. It was a major adjustment on my end especially that I was so used of taking a public transportation. I rarely see people walk here unless you are on the tourist route.
Anyhow, I notice something about myself whenever I'm behind the wheel. A perfect example was today. It's Saturday morning and I had to go to work. On regular days, it will only take 20 minutes for me to get there. I am very familiar with which side roads to take, the traffic volume and even the co-drivers alongside. Today was different though because it's the weekend. I expected it to be less traffic and less chaotic. But guess what? It took 40 minutes to get to my destination because there was a heavy congestion along the highway. I wasn't having it and it made me very furious that I started screaming inside my car. I wanted to honk at everybody. What I finally figured out at the end wasn't the traffic, it was me, I became very impatient when there's no need to.
Long lines at the grocery, Netflix not loading, waiting for the train to arrive, taking turns in entering intersection are few things that drives us bananas. Although they are all situations where we can absolutely use a little extra patience. I understand that with time at premium, we are so used to having what we need immediately. We also resort in looking for shortcuts. (Hence, same-day delivery is now an option. Lol!) I think that most of us get so easily annoyed by the inconveniences of life. We just want to achieve our goals and see immediate results. With life full of dings and pings, how can we practice the virtue of patience?
Meditate (Pray)
As my road rage incident today, I took a step back, breathe and prayed. I offered that feeling of anger to God that He may be able to channel it differently. I think it is very important that we pause in moments of desolation and gather ourselves back again. Any form of meditation can help us calm our minds and bodies. Try to set a daily time to decompress.
Practice Gratitude
Take some time to notice and reflect upon the things you're thankful for. Appreciate every good thing in life and recognizing even the smallest blessing you've received. When we become grateful, we experience positive emotions and we can express compassion and kindness to the people around us and to the situation we are in.
Stop Resisting
When we encounter unplanned inconveniences, let's take it calmly. Sure enough we can't control our reaction but we can choose how to respond to the situation. Most often than not, it is our reaction to things that causes greater dose of stress in life. So let it all flow.
Embrace the Uncomfortable
When we experience something out of our comfort zone, there's a huge tendency that we become impatient. We always want to be in control of the situation but that's not always the case. We need to become comfortable with the uncomfortable in order to cultivate more patience.
As Saadi Shirazi said, "Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy." Therefore, let's thrive to become better individuals because the more we exercise patience, the greater it becomes.
