Standing By In Patience

“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.” ― Paulo Coelho

This is one of those trying weeks with quite a few things going on at work and home. Do not get me wrong, I am pretty happy with my life and things are pretty darn good.

Like everyone though ... some days can be a challenge.

Each of us get to struggle with getting to be where we want and being happy with what we have along the way. The patience to for all that we want in life but also the patience in dealing with what we get once there.

The week will pass ... the challenges will be overcome.

The program will continue, the next show will be broadcast and life will ultimately be a great adventure.

Stay inspired my friends!

Pressing the Launch Button

"Patience is the ability to count down before you blast off." - Author Unknown

I have always wondered what it would be like having control of the "LAUNCH" button. There it would be, right in front of me as I sat in a spaceship, ready to head out into space. I know that all of this is computer controlled, but wouldn't it be cool to have the big green button to push.

Could I wait long enough?

Ten, nine, eight....hit the button!

Would patience on my part prevail on such an important occasion?

It is in patience that wise decisions and successful accomplishment are rewarded. It seems the excitement in getting on with life breeds most of our impatience. When we start our journey towards a goal or new place in life, it starts with a first step and then many more.

The number of steps we need to take fuels that impatience. We want to jump past steps two through nine hundred ninety-nine and go directly to step one thousand.

But if we skip those steps, we skip the most enthralling piece; the journey. For you see it is in the journey we learn, grow and live. It is in the journey we find our greatness.

So patience with the "LAUNCH" button; lift off will occur soon enough. Have patience with the ride because the journey is going to be great.

Stay inspired my friends!

Life in 30 Seconds

"For fast-acting relief try slowing down." -Lily Tomlin

The life we live is full of quick-fix marketing flashes of advertising, instant meals and short-term resolutions to everything. The idea is to handle it fast, immediate and move on to the next great thing. Never mind that many of life's troubles or achievements take longer then the '30-second commercial.'

Think of what it is like to look for a job. The reality is that you get basically 30 seconds to make a first impression. It could be your resume, your introduction or someone speaking about you. Thirty seconds to impress an employer just like the thirty seconds a commercial uses to hook you on a product.

All of this rush to quickness draws us into a need for everything to be that quick.

• Fall in love in thirty seconds;
• Raise a child in thirty seconds;
• Get promoted at work in thirty seconds;
• Make a million dollars in thirty seconds;
• Quit smoking in thirty seconds;
• Resolve an addiction in thirty seconds.

Living life in thirty second increments causes us to become very disjointed because life does not happen in thirty second increments. Life happens in a persistent and long term flow.

With patience and perseverance, much can be accomplished. Discouragement in waiting will try to pull you down and try to knock you off course. Stay with your direction, stick to the path and make adjustments as you move along. You may find that you need to change paths, but stay with the long term vision.

Accomplish little things along the way, but ensure that those little things are pieces of your long term goal. Even reading this short encouragement took you longer then 30-seconds. Read more, learn more, take more time to live your life.

And while you are at it....stay inspired my friends.

Patience Moves

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The start to a new week was going well. Everything was in order for my overseas business trip. It was an uneventful ride to the train station where I kissed my lovely wife goodbye. It was an uneventful train rider to the airport. It was even an uneventful stroll to the security checkpoint.

I than had to use most of what I write each day to exude patience upon the TSA security checkpoint. The queue up to have my ticket checked was fine and a very uncrowded line up to fill the bins awaited me. And than the TSA agent...

The line was moving very easily, there were no hold ups, no back ups. But all of a sudden she wanted everyone to shuffle along faster. She pushed our items onto the conveyor belt before we were ready. She hustled us for some unknown reason. I was very close to losing my patience but decided patience was the better course this day. Maybe this just wasn't a good day for her.

Patience paid off because I kept my cool, didn't create a scene and got through security with additional hassle. All I had to do was wait out the situation.

In business and every day life, we each are faced with times where that patience is tested. And having that patience is important because we all eventually come to terms with the fact that many things won't happen as soon as we would like them to.

One could imagine themselves as someone who prefers winter when it is currently July. At this moment in time you are unhappy. But you have to reach the point in understanding that the unhappiness is a choice. Will getting upset change summer into winter? Will getting upset really accomplish anything accept making you more miserable?

Winter will eventually come, so maybe it is much better to relax and just wait. Your stress level will fall quite a bit when you learn to accept the things you can not change.

Also, patience is important because some things are better the longer you wait. Uncooked food, marinated for hours and slow cooked becomes better with time. You could simply microwave it, but the marinating and slow cooking will provide you with much more satisfaction.

Lastly, patience will help keep you from acting irrationally. The result of not slowing down can keep you from acting rashly. If you sit back and think before acting, you may realize that there is an alternative solution that would benefit you more. The longer you wait, the more you will be able to control your emotions so that you can think rationally

These principles of patience can serve you well in business and in your personal life. All you have to do is slow down and watch it happen. It won't occur instantly, for if it did it wouldn't be patience.

So keep working towards being a more patient person in life and see how it can truly create a better world for you.

And stay inspired my friends.

Your Patience Appreciated

So enjoy some older posts, like this one from November 16, 2010 titled "Waiting for a Tow Truck".

"We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery." ~Charlie Chaplin

The other day I was sitting in a restaurant eating dinner with my wife. We were dining on the patio area with big thick glass walls dividing us from the plaza which stretched some distance to the street. The time was rush hour near a particularly busy area of Los Angeles, which sounds odd because I feel every area in Los Angeles is quite busy with traffic.

As the cars filled the lanes to go straight or to turn left, each was trying to simply get home from a long day at work no doubt. Then as circumstance always seems to happen, a car broke down in the turn lane. A ruin to the driver's day and quickly becoming the same to drivers behind him.

With so much traffic on the street, cars quickly piled up behind him wanting to turn left. He was several car lengths from the light, so as those in front would clear, those behind him would vent frustration by honking their horn. Some would find a clear opportunity and move out into oncoming lanes to get around, others would try to squeeze back to the right to get around. But no matter what happened, no one was getting out to help this man.

You could hear the shouts of some, the horns of others and the driving habits of those getting around that the source of their problems for the day were this one man.  Yet twice we saw people stop to offer help. One young lady going so far as to put herself in a bit of a dangerous position with the amount and speed of oncoming traffic.

Yet from what we could tell at a distance is that the man waved off help as he had apparently called for a tow truck. Waiting and waiting was going to be his penance for having car trouble, at rush hour and inconviencing so many other people.  The horns, the gestures and the wait were his to endure.

The tow truck did arrive within the hour and pulled him to safety, freeing up traffic to go about its busy day. And what became of the man we will never know. But it likely ended as you might expect; a tow bill, a car repair bill, late getting home, tired and exhausted.

What of those other people that mocked and ridiculed him with the gestures and honks of displeasure? Did their day really improve by taking it out on this one lone driver? Was this broken down vehicle a planned event to be the reason for a bad day? Did these people acutally end up feeling better? It is unlikely that they did for the broken down vehicle was only a distraction.

What of the few people that did offer to stop and help? I'm betting that their day actually improved. I'm betting that it eased some of the burden in their day. Even those that didn't stop but were mindful and empathetic to the situation; they likely had an easing of their day.

The idea of helping others, in any shape or form is ingrained in our human nature. Some of us repress it as a horrible thing to have. Yet others embrace it and understand the power of helping others. Another person's misfortune is not our gain, but an opportunity to lift yourself while lifting another person. It makes you a better person, it reflects a better side of who you are and other people notice.

Would I be inclined to one day meet one of the irate people that flashed a demeaning gesture? Or would I rather meet the person that stopped to offer help to another person in need?

Think about how you would react in your busy day. Not only stuck in traffic, but in the grocery line, at the bank or even with your children brushing their teeth before bed. Patience, understanding and kindness will take us much further towards a successful life then the alternative.

Waiting for a Tow Truck

"We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery." ~Charlie Chaplin

The other day I was sitting in a restaurant eating dinner with my wife. We were dining on the patio area with big thick glass walls dividing us from the plaza which stretched some distance to the street. The time was rush hour near a particularly busy area of Los Angeles, which sounds odd because I feel every area in Los Angeles is quite busy with traffic.

As the cars filled the lanes to go straight or to turn left, each was trying to simply get home from a long day at work no doubt. Then as circumstance always seems to happen, a car broke down in the turn lane. A ruin to the driver's day and quickly becoming the same to drivers behind him.

With so much traffic on the street, cars quickly piled up behind him wanting to turn left. He was several car lengths from the light, so as those in front would clear, those behind him would vent frustration by honking their horn. Some would find a clear opportunity and move out into oncoming lanes to get around, others would try to squeeze back to the right to get around. But no matter what happened, no one was getting out to help this man.

You could hear the shouts of some, the horns of others and the driving habits of those getting around that the source of their problems for the day were this one man.  Yet twice we saw people stop to offer help. One young lady going so far as to put herself in a bit of a dangerous position with the amount and speed of oncoming traffic.

Yet from what we could tell at a distance is that the man waved off help as he had apparently called for a tow truck. Waiting and waiting was going to be his penance for having car trouble, at rush hour and inconviencing so many other people.  The horns, the gestures and the wait were his to endure.

The tow truck did arrive within the hour and pulled him to safety, freeing up traffic to go about its busy day. And what became of the man we will never know. But it likely ended as you might expect; a tow bill, a car repair bill, late getting home, tired and exhausted.

What of those other people that mocked and ridiculed him with the gestures and honks of displeasure? Did their day really improve by taking it out on this one lone driver? Was this broken down vehicle a planned event to be the reason for a bad day? Did these people acutally end up feeling better? It is unlikely that they did for the broken down vehicle was only a distraction.

What of the few people that did offer to stop and help? I'm betting that their day actually improved. I'm betting that it eased some of the burden in their day. Even those that didn't stop but were mindful and empathetic to the situation; they likely had an easing of their day.

The idea of helping others, in any shape or form is ingrained in our human nature. Some of us repress it as a horrible thing to have. Yet others embrace it and understand the power of helping others. Another person's misfortune is not our gain, but an opportunity to lift yourself while lifting another person. It makes you a better person, it reflects a better side of who you are and other people notice.

Would I be inclined to one day meet one of the irate people that flashed a demeaning gesture? Or would I rather meet the person that stopped to offer help to another person in need?

Think about how you would react in your busy day. Not only stuck in traffic, but in the grocery line, at the bank or even with your children brushing their teeth before bed. Patience, understanding and kindness will take us much further towards a successful life then the alternative.

Oh Happy Day

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake." -Victor Hugo

My wife has such great patience with me as I struggle to come out of my 'man cave'. It is a term that relates to how men will retreat into a quiet area internally to work through things. I have been working through the death of a loved one and it is not as if I'm depressed.

What I have found is that I am struggling at getting back to an ability to 'multi-task' in my daily life. Each of us in our lives have many things going on in our worlds. You juggle each of them in some manner, handling them as best one can. The work of 'living' must go on and we must enjoy the act of 'living'.

So just keep telling yourself that these are happy days for all of us. The problems and issues that arise around us will pass.



We played this song along with images of her life during a tribute to my Mother during a memorial service. I smile every time I hear it and think of her. These are happy days.
_

Patience Has An Effect

The American 6th U.S. President, John Quincy Adams, said “patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” A phrase that was true in the early 1800s and is true early on in the 2000s.

Our lives are busy and little things can test even our best days. Someone said that you admire patience of the person behind you, but not necessarily of the person in front of you.

A short one day trip recently was a test for me. When I travel by plane, my belief is accept the inevitability of delays, crowds and other foibles or air travel. This recent trip had all of the earmarks of things to go wrong. The flight was delayed by three hours due to the usual reasons, traffic, weather or something.

So I settled in with patience and awaited our boarding time. A spark of encouragement came when the flight delay was decreased by half an hour. All boarded and nearing the take-off runway, we pull to the side. A mechanical problem with an engine and back to the gate. Further delays and now dealing with a flight crew that was nearing the end of a regulated shift.

There was a lot of gnashing teeth, people getting upset and general displeasure. Yet what would you do, leave the plane and try to start all over. We stuck it out and left finally, arriving at our destination at 1:30am. Certainly not a 'magical effect' but effective none the less.

Patience in life is not always easy, but it certainly can have a calming effect and a lasting effect. Life is full of irritation, but it is also full of great things. Be patient and let the "magical effect take place and allow your difficulties to disappear and the obstacles vanish."