Mindfulness Attitudes: Patience
“Patience is a virtue” is the old saying. In our modern age of immediate access and speed, patience may not be something that many of us practice very much. But it is one of the key mindfulness attitudes and we must recognize that slowing down our busy minds takes practice. We’ve all probably experienced the challenge of breaking out of persistent behavior and we know that habits don’t change overnight, permanent change takes time.
How can we participate with patience? Our western culture is based on speed, we travel fast, we have machines that help us find the shortest route or the fastest route; we have fast food or take out food; we work on fast internet, high speed 3G to 4G to 5G; we have quick access to our bank accounts and use instant cashless transactions for ease and speed; We have fast housework, automation and machines for cleaning and washing our houses and clothes, all to save us time and effort. We are not encouraged to stop and take our time, so patience is not something we practice regularly.
One of the best ways to participate patiently is to observe the natural world. There are very few things in the natural world that happen instantly. Growing a plant from seed is an excellent example of patience, it can be an extremely rewarding experience. Many people find that interacting with plants is a relaxing activity, gardening or growing food teaches us to wait and watch. Interacting with nature simply by walking through it has also been shown to be beneficial. Physical activity in the form of a forty-minute walk in the woods is associated with an improved mood and feelings of health and robustness. Studies have been conducted showing that ‘bathing in the forest’ (being in the presence of trees and forests) lowered the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in test subjects after a walk in the forest, compared to a control group of subjects who participated in walks within a laboratory setting. Forest baths appear to significantly mitigate the root cause of a multitude of stress-related ailments. It stimulates rest, conserves energy and slows down the heart rate while increasing intestinal and gland activity. Lower cortisol concentrations are also a sign that the body’s stress response system is less activated. Take a slow walk through the woods, be aware of the timeline of the trees, measured in lives for us, perhaps the ultimate in our experience of patience.
A moment of taking ourselves out of our busy lives to make time to relate to nature is one way to include patience in our lives. The response we get and the benefits we receive may not be immediate, but the effects will show over time. Any opportunity we take to slow down and simply observe the moment, avoiding chasing the future (which may never happen) is an opportunity to practice patience. Mindfulness practices encourage us to stop and focus on being mindful of the present, not wishing for our free time.
Along with scientific research on “forest baths,” the research also supports the inclusion of patience as a health benefit of mindfulness. The virtue of patience is that it allows us to accept that time must pass before the benefits are realized.
There has been considerable research on the benefits of adopting mindfulness, which has shown that the effects are cumulative over time. Most training sessions span an eight-week period, based on regular weekly guided sessions and personal daily practice. The calming influence of mindfulness practice on our emotions takes time and patience to develop. A study of the 8-week MBSR course for nurses showed that their mindfulness practice facilitated empathic attitudes while decreasing their tendency to take on other people’s negative emotions. [Beddoe & Murphy, (2004)].
Patience is a form of wisdom. It shows that we understand and accept the fact that sometimes things have to develop in their own time. A child may try to help a butterfly emerge by breaking out of its chrysalis. Usually the butterfly does not benefit from this. Any adult knows that the butterfly can only emerge in its own time, that the process cannot be rushed.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Every time we practice mindfulness, we are committed to patience. Awareness of the passage of time, allowing us to experience time without straining or rushing to the next, often feels selfish, but it is not. Self-care is vitally important, taking time for our own well-being means that we can support others. Being aware and patient with our journey of consciousness will allow us to fully experience it.