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Health & Fitness

Patience- how is yours?

I was in the post office today doing post office things.  And as I got on the line I couldn't help but feel the tension riding off from the person in front of me.  They were agitated, clearly annoyed and tapping their foot.  Then they kept checking their watch.  Now, the line wasn't even long, and the post office folk were going the fastest they could.  I couldn't help but wonder where this person was rushing off to.  Maybe they were late for an appointment, or had an emergency.  Or maybe they are really bad at waiting in line for things.  I find you can observe a lot about a person by how they are with waiting.  Again, I don't know what the background was.  But it made me think about patience.  I think that patience is something we all always have to work at.  It's tough.  There are some ways to start to work on being more patient.  One way is when you are feeling yourself start to lose your patience is to take a deep breath.  Do this a few times.  It helps to calm you down and get you back into the right frame of mind.  Another step is to look at things from the other person's perspective.  If it isn't a person you are working with, then look at the situation as a whole.  Ask yourself, will losing my patience make this any better?  Will it make things happen quicker?  Will it put me in a better mood?  Chances are you will say no to each of those.  There is no scientific research that shows losing one's patience leads to positive results.  I think that putting everything into perspective, stepping back and looking at the big picture, really helps.  There will always be something to test your patience.  The better you are at calming yourself down, and looking at things from a different angle, the better you will be at keeping yourself in check.

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