The Buddha said that patience is the highest quality one can develop in life. Let’s dissect this phrase a little bit because this is not a small statement.The highest ? Is there none above ?

 

The Buddha was not a regular bloke so those words coming out of his mouth are not to be taken lightly. What is patience ? We all have a pretty good definition of the word ? Or do we ?

 

 

In the West I would dare say that patience always include an element of bearing with something. It includes a weight that we have to carry. It includes some sort of suffering while we wait for it to pass.

 

 

What I think the Buddha meant, in my opinion, but I think I got it right. Years of meditation and learning made me pretty confident in what I am about to say. The Buddha when he mentioned patience as the highest quality, did not mean for us to suffer more or struggle for a period of time, because we have no other alternative.

 

What he most likely meant, was that we are in this life, no matter what, but we can choose to accept it or fight. Patience is not apathy, patience is kindness and acceptance not complacency.Too often in life we want to make s**** happen. We want to go get things instead of letting things come to us.

 

There is obviously a time for action, a time for strategy and a time for thinking but we tend to push it to the max and sometimes to the point of no return. In a society of instant gratification, it is a hard to be patient,!when things like fast food chains, instant noodles, Uber, instant text messaging make it seem like everything can be "shortcutted".

 

 

No matter how technology progresses, some things take time.A seed needs time to grow, a foetus need time to be nurtured and grow until it is time for its birth. A dream takes time to take shape. Some of us are lost. We seem to think life is meaningless and without a purpose.

 

 

You need patience with yourself to see things unfold in your heart and mind. What I mean by that, is you need to offer yourself the time and kindness to have the space to see things more clearly in life. When you meditate, patience is essential you can’t force things to happen right now. You don’t need to breathe faster to reach enlightenment.

 

 

No you need to take it easy, you give yourself the time, the patience and the acceptance to experience the movements of your mind without judgement and slowly but surely, get to that beautiful breath.

 

 

I heard a monk once say that everything you want in life will come to you, when you understand how to be present and care for that moment right now. So be patient, if you want to reach enlightenment, you know that you have many lives to get there.

 

If you don’t, you still can be patient and see your beautiful life unfold before you. The peace, the wisdom, the love, the compassion can slowly grow in your heart and mind, if you just take the time. Soon you will understand that patience will bring you to the timeless realm of the present moment and that my friends is where all the joy awaits you.

 

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