Code of Patience

BZZZZING cellphone rings from your demanding boss... b-r-r-r bristling family member is shouting to grab your attention... bursting knocks on your door from the bill collector.

Whew! Backbreaking stressors can hit us from different directions.  Onrushing from Pampanga up to Peru, Angeles City to Los Angeles, California, they blow away our peaceful hearts.

Pinning our nerves with worry, punching our guts with anxiety and pushing our spirits to the edge of panic, you and I may feel disempowered.

Emerging in this 21st century, stressors are the modern day nimbus clouds raining down on our contemporary lifestyle.

What do you think?

How can we deconstruct this cycle?

Seeking a respite, I looked on my own experiences for answers. Moreover, friends shared their advices. Yes! You and I can follow the route of this anti-stressor road map. 

First, fly free with the winds of patience.

Find a way to see potentially frustrating situations as opportunities to develop endurance.      

Do you encounter a huge line at the grocery checkout counter? Before you start grumbling, say this to yourself, "This is an opportunity to become calmer. Let's see how patient I can be."

Every time you get into your car to drive somewhere, pause before you turn the key, tell yourself, "This will be an exercise in patience." If there is a lot of traffic, and you have to wait for long periods of time, try to enjoy the peace of a slower pace.

Make patience a priority. Frustration occurs when we aren't getting our way, or we feel something is going wrong. If you breathe in and out slowly and look deeper into the issue, you'll see that most of the time the root of the problem of impatience is selfishness. Change your focus and set your mind map free from worry. 

Second, be kind to yourself.

Forgive yourself for your weaknesses and frailties.  Life is full of frustrations.  Maybe you did not secure the bank promotion you desired. Or a family member is diabetic and needs your attention.

In these turbulent moments I look up to the blue sky and utter this calming prayer.

"Lord, I offer myself to you.  My strengths as well as my sorrows; my joys as well as my trials.  Every day and in every way, I am a person-in-progress. Walking on the hill of womanity, I struggle to be a kind, benevolent and altruistic person.  

Lord, I clasp my hands together to ask for forgiveness. May my shortcomings lead me to the pathway of understanding myself better. Amen."

Third, listen to music.

Select the harmonious tunes that comfort you. In my library of songs, I turn to the Eagles, K.D. Lang and Christmas melodies to ease my overloaded mind frame.

Fourth, grab a lifeline.

If anger is your daily companion daily or your red cheeks has been puffing up for the last six months or more, seek psychological support. Consult a professional counselor to unroll the rug of anger overturning you over for the past years. Maybe your hurt stems from your childhood trauma or past issues of abandonment. Let a counselor help you in your life’s journey.

You and I are one in our pursuit of peace and serenity.

By waving the banner of freedom, unleashing your kindness trait, tuning in to music and analyzing your childhood frustrations, you will unseal the code of patience. Thenceforth you can look at your stressor straight in the eyes and declare this.

I AM EMPOWERED!