July 17

PATIENCE MONTH: DAY 17: “Why is patience so important?” “Because it makes us pay attention.” ― Paulo Coelho

Patience and presence are so much the same. They bring me into NOW. What creates impatience is the thought that is on the next thing, and the next thing.

When we do that to ourselves, we begin to breathe (pant) rapidly, into and out of our chest. We cannot focus our intention or our thoughts, because we are racing to the next thing and the next. We are not in the moment; and, so, it is completely lost to us. Someone may say something, or something may happen, but we seldom are present for that.

Our biggest regrets at the end of life is that we missed out on so many moments. It is important that we recognize that WE are responsible for slowing our thoughts down and breathing into each moment, so that we can say, at the end of our lives, we actually and honestly LIVED. Most of us don’t. We are too busy racing from one thing to the next and not being present to any of those things.

We miss our children, our jobs, our work at home or in the community, the drives we take from one place to another. And we wonder how we got to the point where we are, because we are partially alive and partially awake.

When I sit with what IS right here, right now, I am so much happier, because this experience is designed for me to grow and shape and live and love. When I deprive myself of this life, one moment at a time, with my busy-ness, I have lost out. I feel deprived and try to blame you and you and you and life itself.

Then I am angry and resentful and even more stressed; trying to find satisfaction in things and people and experiences that I STILL don’t pay attention to.

This is addiction at its deepest level. All ego, no substance. All ego, no happiness. All ego, no enjoyment. Most of us have been around long enough to recognize that the things that make life worthwhile and livable are the simple moments when we were deeply engaged in the world around us…Nature, a friend or beloved, a child, a butterfly, a beautiful sunset. All these are moments when we are living fully in THAT moment, and it is good.

Sometimes we are given the gift of present moment awareness by the illness of a friend or loved one or even our own illnesses. They force us to stop racing around and focus on the moment. This moment, being present, rather than racing to something or from something…over and over. We are forced to be mindful of how blessed we are with whatever state of health we currently have when it is taken from us. We may not regain that level of comfort again, and must learn to sit with pain or disability or illness in any form.

That is the point of life. To appreciate and enjoy life, AS IT TAKES PLACE! When we don’t do this, we are filled with regret and resentment at what WAS, not what IS. And when we do that for an entire lifetime, we are depressed, angry, sad, and filled with regret and remorse.

That is not the point of life. Life is here to be LIVED. Each moment, as it happens. We are given these tools because we can and do learn to embrace life, if we do so.