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Every winner has scars
The Lost Art of Patience
Patience seems to be a lost art nowadays. We want eveything now and we want everything fast. We live in a constant state of instant gratification and bitch and complain if things are not done the way we want. We complain if there are two people ahead of us in line and the manager will not open another check-out. We complain that our fast food takes a couple of minutes to get to our tray and who has not stood in front of the microwave and wished it could cook faster. Where has our patience gone? Has it become the lost art?
I first noticed this social phenomenon while watching yet another car run a red-light. I now make it a point to pause when my light turns green since I know there will be some impatient person gunning for the yellow light...and failing. I started to look around my world and noticed that this was happening everywere. We talk faster, listen less and then wonder why nobody ever calls. Dropping an e-mail will never be as personal as a simple card that has a picture inside. Of course, we could scan the picture (editing out any wrinkles using photo software), add it as an attachment, post the email (send to more than one family member at a time to save typing!) and check later to see if they got it. Where did all the phone calls go? Since we can edit photos now, why bother leaving home in the first place? Vacation...we don't need any vacation!
Why are we so busy? Are we actually doing anything? Of value? Worth value? Usually not. With the advent of modern conviences we were supposed to enjoy our free-time, not squander it away doing pointless stuff. When was the last time you made home-made cookies? From scratch? With your kids? And let them lick the bowl? Or do you buy them from the freezer section? When talking to your family are you also thinking about what other work you should be doing...and therefore cannot follow the conversation?When the light turns green, do you honk before the other person can even get their foot off the brake? Whywhywhywhy???
We need to slow down. We are living longer lives, but no-one told us how to make them more full-filling. Busy work does not mean happy work and doing stuff for the sake of doing stuff will only come back to haunt you when you lament that you didn't take more time for your friends and family. We Witches are just as guilty as everyone else concerning this little failing. It should be taught to us along with our Sabbats and correspondances. Patience is a virtue...and we should start teaching it.
Of course, that begs the question...How do we teach it? Everything can be learned if someone would just bother to teach it. I guess the harder lesson would be how to deal with the patience. Making your heart slow down and calming yourself is not as easy as it looks...not by far. Practice by driving behind a slow car. All the way home. At rush hour. Now force yourself to relax. Think happy thoughts about daisys or where you want to go for vacation. Sit back in your seat and let your heart rhythem slow down. Trust me, this takes patience so why not practice it?
What benefits can we expect with this lost art? Why bother at all when everyone else is so hot and bothered to rush and run. Well, for one, we could help save our plant and we Witches know the value of that! When we cultivate the art of watching flowers bloom and clouds go by we show our children how to save our planet. When children learn to take their time when coloring and how to bake cookies (no matter how messy!) they learn how to live life. And when they learn that they can teach their own children this lost art...then they save us all.
To flip through the pages of my BOS faster...
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Brightest of Blessings