July 8

PATIENCE MONTH: DAY 8: “Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.”  — Carl Jung

The entire Universe is made of dark and light, small and large, contrasting pieces that serve a purpose most of us do not readily understand. It is good to just accept that there is a balance for everything in this Universe, not just our small and individual lives. So we get to balance everything when we can sit quietly and reflect on how that is the case. The trouble for most of us is that we are not present to those things in our lives that are seemingly ordinary and routine. How many of us have had an injury or illness that removed something from our lives we were not even aware of before? Most of us do this all the time. We can learn, by practicing being present to the moment, to be grateful for the abilities, talents, skills, partners, friends, and possessions that fill our lives right now. All of it can be removed in a moment, and we are left bereft when they are gone. This speaks of jobs, relationships, physical and mental abilities, etc. The practice of daily patience through being mindful is an important one. I watched a short video this morning of an elderly man walking his pet tortoise, who was very large. They were walking down a city street, and the man did not drag or push the tortoise, but walked about two steps in front of him for many blocks, never rushing or hurrying himself or the tortoise, but stepping mindfully and patiently at the pace the tortoise walked. What a great thing that is! We will often rush and hurry and not stop to be patient with those who cannot walk at our pace. (I personally walk like a race horse; really, really fast!) I watch mothers dragging their children by an arm and we all have the opportunity to walk with someone who is injured or physically challenged and maintain the pace at which they are walking, being mindful to allow their pace to rule the walk. This is a great lesson in practicing mindfulness and patience. This is not a cultural lesson we get around here. We are known all over the world for our impatience and our rudeness. We do not let life unfold as it does, we push on everything to get bigger, better and more out of each moment, often multi-tasking to the degree that there is nothing we can take away from any day in our lives. Then one day we feel sadness, grief and regret for those things that we missed out on, because they are gone. The ebb and flow of life means that everything, absolutely everything, is leaving as soon as it arrives. We have little to say about that…our best job is to be with whatever that is while it is here, in this moment. The next moment will unfold of its own volition and things will change, we have no power over that. But how sad is the regret we feel for not having been awake and present to what is, while it is? There is no greater grief than that. So we are charged to live fully with all of it, right here, right now. Then we can sit with what is, in five minutes, in 10 minutes, etc. Patience is the ability to be alive through every moment we receive in this lifetime…they are numbered, as are our breaths. Also numbered are every single experience and ability and skill and every single thing in the Universe. What we must learn is the patience and gratitude to recognize and use them all as much as we can before they leave. Everything in this Universe is moving and changing and coming and going, we must practice sitting with what is and embracing it before it is gone…this is the key to a happy and fulfilling life…patience and equanimity…that is all!