Patience, my missing virtue

A virtue, according to the dictionary is, a good or admirable quality or property or conformity of one’s life and conduct to moral and ethical principles. So “patience is a virtue” would mean that I’m conforming to patience being a part of my daily life. Or maybe I could be admired for having such a grand quality as patience.

Don’t worry, I am not patient, you don’t have to admire me today and I’ve never been one to conform to much of anything for very long. “Conforming” reminds me of the plastic vacuum mold making I did in 7th grade techarts class. Patience, however, is one of my never-ending battles. Some days I can hold my composure and be calm and understanding, yet my family will laugh and remind the world that more times than not I fly off the handle at the smallest irritants. I know I’m capable of patiently seeing the whole picture, but sometimes an innocent comment just hits me the wrong way. I don’t mean to be so short fused. This is one attribute I’d love to say I have more of – I’m even willing to conform. Patience, for me really is a missing virtue.

So what is it about patience that is so difficult for so many?

I think “patience” can be applied to some facets of our lives while not to others. I am more than capable of sitting for hours creating something, patiently waiting for “paint to dry”. I’m so patient with time frames for things that I tend to be late 75% of the time. Yet, when it comes to communication or waiting for others to do their part in a group effort… I’m not so patient.

What do you think is the magic that allows some to endure and be calm? What does it really mean to learn patience… I mean really, how does it all work?

I challenge you to a bigger patience goal:
I will try and remember to stop and breath a minute more before I react. Let’s see how our list of virtues look in a month or so…