Developing patience is a special challenge for all especially for those who are self-driven individuals on reaching their goals. Patience with the process is essential to peace of mind. Most of life is spent in the middle season, between the excitement of starting something and the fulfillment of finishing it. Your projects, careers, and relationships all have long summer seasons. But your enthusiasm for new projects often wanes: The glamorous career becomes daily routine, courtship settles down into the everydayness of living with the one you love. When you focus too much on future goals, you can miss the rich opportunities before your eyes.
When you find our minds racing ahead of you in the middle season, you can cultivate patience by consciously slowing down, taking a deep breath, and bringing ourselves back to the present moment. Just like in aikido, a martial art that is also a spiritual exercise, the teacher reminds the students to stop rushing and take a deep breath to regain their center. When aikido students lack confidence, they often push through a technique, trying to get it over with quickly. Yet the point is not o get the technique over with, but rather to open our hearts, embrace the process, and learn from it.
So it is with all of life. Slowing down makes you concentrate on the energies within and around you, and it helps you become more aware of nuances, more open to insights. In every step and in every process of your life, greater wisdom comes from embracing the middle season.
How to Stop Rushing
Here is a brief exercise that can help you cultivate more patience. Ask yourself these questions:
Do you find yourself in a middle season with a project, a relationship, or some personal goal? Do you sometimes respond with impatience – rushing, complaining, and trying to force things?
If so, it is time to reframe the process. Do not concentrate so much on getting it over with, but rather on experiencing what it has to offer.
• Whenever you catch yourself frantically rushing to get something done, take a few minutes – wherever you are at that moment – to visualize yourself slowing down, enjoying the dance, opening yourself to the wisdom you find.
• Pause for a moment; take a deep breath and release it. Feel yourself fully present, fully here, right now. This is something you can do wherever you are at any time. Stop your mind from fast-forwarding into the future, so you stay involved with the ongoing process.
• Smile as you take another deep breath and embrace this new way of seeing things.
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10 Easy Steps in Helping You Achieve Your Goals
In the movie, “What About Bob?” it tells a story of a dysfunctional, phobia-laden, immature, pea-brained leech named Bob who never, ever goes away. He attaches himself to Dr. Marvin, a renowned psychiatrist, who wants nothing more than to get rod of Bob and finally gives him a book he wrote called Baby Steps. He tells Bob that the best way to solve his problems is not to bite off too much at one but to just take “baby steps” to reach his goals. Bob is delighted! He no longer has to worry about how to get all the way home from Dr. Marvin’s office, a big task for Bob. Instead, Bob only has to “baby step” his way out of the office, and then “baby step” his way onto the elevator, and so on.
Here are 10 small, easy steps that you can apply in your life. Though small, these steps can become powerful tools in helping you achieve your larger goals. So, come along with Bob (he really becomes very likable after you accept the fact that you cannot shake him) and take some baby steps.
1. The next time you look in the mirror say something positive about yourself.
2. Show appreciation for someone’s point of view today. Say something like “Hey, that is a cool idea.”
3. Think of a limiting paradigm you might have of yourself, such as “I’m not outgoing.” Now, do something today that totally contradicts that paradigm.
4. Think of a loved one or close friend who has been acting out of character lady. Consider what might be causing them to act that way.
5. When you have nothing to do, what is it that occupies your thoughts? Remember, whatever is most important to you will become your paradigm or life-center. Get a pen and answer this question: What occupies my time and energy?
6. The Golden Rule rules! Begin today to treat others as you would want them to treat you. Do not be impatient, complain about leftovers, or bad-mouth someone, unless you want the same treatment.
7. Sometime soon, find a quiet place where you can be alone. Think about what matters most to you.
8. Listen carefully to the lyrics of the music you listen to most frequently. Evaluate if they are in harmony with the principles you believe in.
9. When you do your chores at home or work tonight, try out the principle of hard work. Go the extra mile and do more than is expected.
10. The next time you are in a tough situation and do not know what to do, ask yourself, “What principle should apply (i.e., honesty, love, loyalty, hard work, patience)? Now, follow the principle and do not look.
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Here are 10 small, easy steps that you can apply in your life. Though small, these steps can become powerful tools in helping you achieve your larger goals. So, come along with Bob (he really becomes very likable after you accept the fact that you cannot shake him) and take some baby steps.
1. The next time you look in the mirror say something positive about yourself.
2. Show appreciation for someone’s point of view today. Say something like “Hey, that is a cool idea.”
3. Think of a limiting paradigm you might have of yourself, such as “I’m not outgoing.” Now, do something today that totally contradicts that paradigm.
4. Think of a loved one or close friend who has been acting out of character lady. Consider what might be causing them to act that way.
5. When you have nothing to do, what is it that occupies your thoughts? Remember, whatever is most important to you will become your paradigm or life-center. Get a pen and answer this question: What occupies my time and energy?
6. The Golden Rule rules! Begin today to treat others as you would want them to treat you. Do not be impatient, complain about leftovers, or bad-mouth someone, unless you want the same treatment.
7. Sometime soon, find a quiet place where you can be alone. Think about what matters most to you.
8. Listen carefully to the lyrics of the music you listen to most frequently. Evaluate if they are in harmony with the principles you believe in.
9. When you do your chores at home or work tonight, try out the principle of hard work. Go the extra mile and do more than is expected.
10. The next time you are in a tough situation and do not know what to do, ask yourself, “What principle should apply (i.e., honesty, love, loyalty, hard work, patience)? Now, follow the principle and do not look.
Read more...
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