It's amazing the amount of time we spend waiting on a daily basis - waiting in line, waiting for food to cook, waiting for your computer to turn on, waiting for a colleague to finish a sentence. It's very easy to get impatient during these moments, especially if you have expectations about the duration of your wait or experience many periods of waiting consecutively. Developing a mindfulness practice and increasing your self awareness will help you increase your patience.
How Does Patience Help You?
Cultivating patience will help you respond to challenges with intentionality as you are more able to reflect and choose your next steps rather than reacting in the moment. Patience in your interactions with others improves leadership skills like active listening, community building, and reduced bias. Practicing patience with yourself increases your self compassion and resilience.
How To Practice Patience
Use STOP
Stop
Take a few deep breaths
Observe your body, surroundings, and mindset with open awareness
Proceed with a supportive activity
Reflect on situations that make you feel impatient and find ways to reframe or give yourself space.
Establish a gratitude practice.
My Favorite Practice
Increasing my self awareness through my mindfulness practice helped me develop more patience. I am more aware of how my body feels when I become impatient and I can take some deep breaths and reframe and reset. When I no longer feel impatient or frustrated, I reflect on the situation and how I can mitigate similar responses in the future.
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