Patience ---  Week 3

To practice patience is to taste the power of the mind. Life is full of uncomfortable experiences, from minor niggles and irritations to major confrontations and setbacks. When they happen, we have a choice about how to respond. We can either become agitated and upset, or we can stay calm and relaxed.

Patience is the ability to control our reactions and retain our peace of mind.

Patience gives us the flexibility and strength not to be a victim of circumstance.

It is like having a protective suit of armour.

It doesn't make us passive or resigned, or take away the ability to respond appropriately to difficulties and harm.

On the contrary, patience makes it far more likely we can respond in an appropriate way, because we retain the ability to think clearly.   ref: Compassion And Wisdom.org

Topics for discussion:  (From 16-G PDF)

1. We often experience impatience as anger. What is your experience of anger? When do you get angry?
How could the quality of patience change that experience?

2. Patience is knowing what to do with the mind when waiting. It also creates space in our mind to be be able to make wiser and more skillful choices. What s it like for you to observe your mind when you have to wait?

 .... or whatever is alive in you.  

Everything that we say and do arises from our thoughts.

Behind every emotion and action lies a thought.

The reality we experience is a consequence of the projecting nature of our minds.

Each thought shapes what we perceive.

Our thinking can limit us.

How much of what we perceive is really true?

Our tendency is to look externally rather than internally.

We blame others and/or circumstances.

Do we take responsibility for our thoughts and actions?

Our emotional reactions and physical actions are affected by a complex mixture of our experiences, attitudes, perceptions and beliefs.

Neuroscience says there is an intimate connection between our perceptions and attitudes on the one hand and our emotions and motivations on the other.

So if we change our perception and attitudes towards someone, we can change the way we feel about them. 

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