I'm not a patient person

[verte76]

I am severely deficient in the patience department, I have to admit. I hate to wait for anything, even if it's not important. I recently confessed my impatience in confession. My priest told me something funny. He had a spiritual advisor when he was in seminary. The guy was always telling him he needed to be more patient. The then-student asked how to do that. The advisor answered "wait". Does anyone else have this problem? If so, what do you do to work on it?

 

[nbcrusader]

Praying for patience is a dangerous thing.

 

[U2democrat]

haha my mom has a magnet that says "god grant me patience...and i want it now!" my family has a history of impatience.

 

[Liesje]

Does anyone else have this problem? If so, what do you do to work on it?

Prioritize and generalize. Say "ten days from now, will this REALLY matter?" or "ten years from now, will I even care?". If the answer is "no", breathe in, breathe out, pause, relax, repeat. Also, I like to think in terms of necessity. Like, I'll get frusterated sometimes b/c I don't have a car so everything I do is restricted to someone else's schedule or my own two feet. But then I think, if I don't NEED a car to survive, do I really NEED a car? Nope.

My top five ways to overcome frusteration (which I think can pretty much help with impatience as well):

pet my cat
buy my favorite snack and watch TV in bed
go for a long walk
clean my room (or anything you can do that's a physical activity where you accomplish some result)
get something done ahead of time so I can sleep in for a day

 

[U2democrat]

liv you are a very wise person. that is excellent advice that i will heed!

 

[Liesje]

Thanks! Though I'm not wise by choice, I'm sooooo sick of dealing w/ financial situations

 

[fah]

The Serenity Prayer (courtesy of my fridge magnet)

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can & the wisdom to know the difference.

 

[tiny dancer]

The Serenity Prayer (courtesy of my fridge magnet)

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can & the wisdom to know the difference.

I also had this on my fridge and try to use it when my patience runs short.

 

[verte76]

I also had this on my fridge and try to use it when my patience runs short.

That's cool. There are so many things I think I need that I really don't. I need to get into that more.

 

[xtal]

I have the best of both worlds, I can be very patient at times.
But sometimes, I am just soooo damn impatient that nothing can help me!