Patience

Anecdotal Anatomy

This episode pauses in the middle of the limbs to assess them through the lens of patience. Taking time, not always hurrying onto the next thing, allows us to widen our view and see how everything relates.

Practice and results of practice can sometimes feel like the same thing. Practice patience, for example. We can practice patience by changing our breathing patterns or shifting our focus or moving the body. Maybe patience is the result of practicing these other modalities. Perhaps it is just about showing up with consistency.

When experiencing acute impatience, a deep breath may be the thing to draw you back. But before you can do that you must be aware that you need to take that breath. This takes practice and patience and is the beginning of you becoming your own best teacher.

While patience & impatience may share the same space, when we trust that all timing is divine, patience is the natural result. Theresa talks about exploring soft edges as a practice of patience, noticing the first hints of tightness or discomfort, moving slowly to discover these thresholds.

Being patient with ourselves allows us to open up to fresh possibilities – pausing at those soft portals gives us permission to focus on feeling and not having to know it all, or appear a certain way.

Inquiry practice is a call to still the mind so the heart’s intelligence can be heard.

Patience in action may look like showing up to practice with consistency and commitment. When it comes to study, patience for learning keeps it from becoming another item in a nearly full bucket – Fill Cup. Empty Cup. Repeat

"Patience protects us from being discouraged."

The Dalai Lama

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The sources listed here are from today’s episode, but some may be used as resources for other things we’ve discussed, like the Yamas & Niyamas:

• Patience
• Kshama
• More on Kshama

Clarification Situation: last episode I read from a piece on patience that said the thumb represented the ego. I was taught that the index finger represents ego, and the thumb aligns with Divine energy. There may be an absolute truth, or it may be open to interpretation. What have you learned?

Our Amazing Team:

Judith George - Editor (video & audio)

Keith Kenny - Music

Cindy Fatsis - Photography