Patience

Patience is a virtue, yes, but why? Does anyone in modern day life even know the meaning of the word? Here we are - and everything is jet speed - gotta get it, gotta dump it, gotta get more, gotta get it now, now, now. In this age of offering the customer immediate satiation and immediate satisfaction, it is almost as if we have completely forgotten patience. But why?

Are we really any happier with that instant gratification? Is there no gratification in working hard and saving for something? Isn't the value of it deeper when it's done that way? Are we really any happier having just about anything the human mind can conceive of? Does it really take the place of human contact and real connection? Are we really any happier practicing "gotta have it-gotta have it now?"

Patience is definitely a virtue worthy of consideration. Patience reminds us that we are not the ones in control, that Life is. Patience reminds us that good things take time - like a great soup, a spicy curry or a good bottle of wine. Patience reminds us that we experience more gratitude when we have to wait for things, anticipate them, and then get to experience them (and that the plastic experience of today's society and immediate gratification only breeds contempt and boredom!). Patience reminds us that we can do incredible things when we take the time to do incredible things. Patience reminds us that no past mistake is irreparable. No matter how many times we have fallen on our face, we can still get up and do better.

No, no, I don't think that the way of the world today is better than good old-fashioned patience. I think it would do well for us to breed patience back into our lives, and thereby return to the power of the moment. Think about it.


Blessings.
- Darshan






© 2010 Darshan F Jessop