Everyone is familiar with the urge of checking the mailbox numerous times while waiting for an important message or getting frustrated while stuck in traffic or notice saying “Come on, hurry up! Why is it taking too long?!”
Impatience is unwillingness to wait for something or someone. It also is a human survival emotion. Evolutionary speaking, people need it to move on and do things, to avoid stagnation.
Impatience and its Forms
with the body shows as:
- urge to lose weight quickly not honoring the process
- unwillingness to accept changing body/face
- urge to recover from injury or illness fast, no time to be “lazy” and just “lay there doing nothing”.
with relationships/people shows as:
- no patience to listen and understand
- urge to interrupt and share one’s own opinion
- desire to change/fix a person
- external niceness and friendliness but internal emotional turbulence aka “bottling up” unpleasant emotions
- dealing with temper tantrums or rebellious teens (being a parent)
with situations shows as:
- traffic
- missed deadlines
- long lines and waits
- work schedules/chores
- rules
Impatience is a big obstacle in the way of enjoying the present moment.
And, the truth is, there is no single, fast-acting pill to cure impatience.
It takes consistent practice and willingness to change.
Buddhists call impatience the root of human suffering.
But we don’t have to suffer, it is in our power to train the mind to slow down and reflect.
Yin Yoga is not just a body flexibility exercise.
It exercises the mind. It puts us in a situation where we see this urge, we feel the rawness of our emotions and we can’t escape it.
Instead, we breathe. Through it all. We face the urge, desires, emotions and accept them all. We learn compassion towards the self.
“Be patient with your impatience”
– Roy Masters