Patience is a virtue – so the saying goes. But have you thought that patience is good for your health? Being patient can lead to a well-balanced, successful life. It’s all a matter of maintaining this health-giving state of mind in the hurly-burly of everyday life.
Staying unflappable, being able to tolerate delays or problems without becoming annoyed, seems to be the challenge of modern living. The reason, says David Shenk, author of The End of Patience, is that “We’re packing more into our lives, and losing patience in the process. We’ve managed to compress time to such an extent that we’re now painfully aware of every second that we wait for anything.” It’s also about the technology that we love and can’t seem to live without.
Rather than enabling us to be time-rich, and thus cool under pressure, technology often encourages us to do things faster-and-faster. This speed, Shenk believes, can lead to the “vanishing of spirituality” – to times when we fail to mentally slow down, wait in a queue patiently, stay calm while driving in traffic, or “hang onto our goat” – our state of peacefulness, when stressed.
Rachel Harris, PhD, author of 20-minute Retreats, says that we should approach frustrating situations in daily life with patience, or we may suffer from anxiety and frustration. Mastering the art of patience, or embracing it more fully, can lead to emotional and spiritual maturity. It can produce a better balanced mental state and attitude to life, a capacity to move through stressful times with poise, and also a healthier body.
Be patient
For some people, staying calm and composed seems a breeze. For others, it’s a struggle. To keep an emotional balance you could walk-off the frustration, or better still, take a deep breath and change your thinking.
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– Incorporate patience into daily life. Be composed, unruffled. Think often about calmness of mind.
– Don’t rush around in your thinking, or stress over trying to get everything done by a certain time.
– Develop the quality of equanimity – evenness of mind. Be mentally balanced.
– Remember what is most needed: “… growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds.” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health p. 4)
Hang onto your goat!
When a situation or person annoys or upsets you, don’t react or lose your cool. Hang onto your goat.
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– “… go forth into life with the smallest expectations, but with the largest patience; … with an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor accidental disturbance shall agitate or ruffle it”, ( Miscellaneous Writings p. 224, Mary Baker Eddy)
– Mentally say “no” to reactive impulses. Stay calm-and-collected. Make measured responses.
– Remind yourself that you’ve been created a “cool”, calm person. You have an abundance of self-control, and patience.
I’m a professional Christian Science Practitioner and Teacher. Through my prayer-based practice, I help people find happiness, health and healing.
Love this reminder to stay calm in today’s busy world – and to let nothing ruffly one’s equanimity.
Thank you Heather for your comment. Glad you found the reminder helpful. It’s good to know that we can stay calm and unruffled no matter how much our patience is tried. Am sure you have boundless patience.
Goat sayings always make me laugh. Yonks ago, my grandmother gruffed, “it really gets my goat”, whilst squashing a locust that had almost devoured her plant — my siblings and I were in fits of laughter, and had no idea what she was on about. Next thing we noticed our Mum used it too — unrelated to locusts though! Soon, we put two and two together. We still laugh about it. In a way, it breaks the chain of negative feeling (whether impatient or frustrated). Patience is such a beautiful quality. Thanks for the reminder, Beverly 🙂
Thanks Carey for your comment. That is so fun about your grandmother and mother. A person once told me that our “goat” – our state of peacefulness, is the most precious thing we have and never to let go of it. I’ve been hanging on to mine ever since!
That was a lovely, calming piece. So important in the rushing around we usually do each day. Thank you for sharing it with us today.
Thank you Wendy for letting me know that you found the ideas I shared so calming for you. It can be testing to wait in line at the post office or bank when one has other things to do. Yet this can be a time to ‘hang on to our goat” – calm thought, and think about how much divine Love is caring for us …and everyone else.
Thank you, Beverly, I’ve just finished reading your post on patience and I was most grateful for it. I think I’ve progressed heaps in this regard, but I still feel I have some way to go. I noted something else in your piece that I need to improve on – the rushing around in my thinking, and also achieving better mental balance. I do however, think often on such spiritual qualities as calmness, serenity, etc. This helps me a lot to be patient.
Good to have your comment Carol. Thank you. Well done on making progress in being patient and thinking about the spiritual qualities of calmness and peace. I’m sure we all feel that we need to be more patient. The great thing is that we can do it! It’s possible to gain and maintain mental balance and poise. Keep up your good work.
Dear Beverly. Some lovely tips in this blog to think about when caught in endless lines of traffic, railway crossings with boom gates down for five trains to pass through! This “hang onto your goat” meaning to keep your cool is new to me. I used to use the expression “it gets on my goat” when I was irritated about something. Mrs Eddy mentions patience quite often in the text book one that comes to mind on page 454 Patience must “have her perfect work.” From now on I will endeavour to keep my thoughts calm and peaceful instead of impatient and stressful. Thanks for the reminder. Love Yvonne
Hello Yvonne. Thank you for your comment. Yes we have some busy railway crossings around Melbourne! While waiting there, I’ve found it a great opportunity to refresh my thinking – to make sure it’s calm and composed. I too like what Mary Baker Eddy wrote in her book Science and Health about patience. It’s a reminder that we can be mentally balanced – no highs or lows, ups or downs, and be stress free. Hang on to your goat always. I know you can do it.
Thank you Beverly for a calming but thought provoking article on balance, calm and patience. Thank you also Yvonne for sending me to one of my favourite paragraphs in Science and Health. I turn to these words often, but it is interesting that only today have I realised Mrs. Eddy stresses ‘have HER perfect work.’
That is so interesting to me. Why “her” I wonder. You have really set me thinking. Is it a feminine quality?
With much gratitude, WendyLJ.
Thank you Wendy for leaving your comment. The quote about patience in Science and Health is actually from the Bible. So it is the Bible that has used the word “her”. The ability to hang on to your goat and be patient, I’d like to think applies equally to men and women. It’s something we can all practice.