Patience is the Foundation 

I watched a talk by Tenzin Osel Hito, a former monk, and he mentioned that patience is the foundation for kindness and compassion.

It struck a chord in me. I thought and felt this very strongly. I guess I never really contemplated this before. When there is impatience there is a kind of abruptness, anger, or frustration. Even abuse in varying levels. I know I can put my hand up. I’ve been impatient in many situations and it certainly doesn’t lead to me feeling kind, and this impatience disturbs any inner peacefulness I may have.

I think it’s fair to say that it is impossible to be in an energy flow of compassion where there is no patience. 

After realizing this, I set my sankalpa, a sanskrit word, and a yogic practice for making an intention or vow to oneself. My vow, sankalpa, is to be patient, Patience as a consistent, aware practice towards becoming more kind and compassionate.

MOVING into  ARIES energy

At the time of writing this we are just moving into the sun sign Aries (western astrology) It is the warrior god. Fire element. Tempers can flare. Impatience arise.

Anger erupts.

But we always have control of where we place conscious attention. I learned this many years ago in my first practice of Yoga Nidra, where you place conscious attention on each part of the body to induce relaxation. 

This is a brilliant practice and I still use it. 

It can also be practiced anywhere combined with some deep breaths to come into the present moment in the body and give pause to that eruptive flow of impatience. It passes.

The practice of placing our attention where we want it is a gift. We can consciously move attention anywhere we want. 

Instead of focusing on outer situations and letting information bombard us into feelings of frustration, anger, etc. we can focus our attention on other things that bring us into the realm of inner peace and the patience necessary for kindness and compassion to grow.

It’s not about spiritual bypassing feelings of anger or frustration. There are events in the world that we can absolutely acknowledge as horrible and allow ourselves to feel that depth of outrage and yet also NOT let it disturb the inner peace that we cultivate through kindness and compassion with patience as the foundation for that to arise in us continually.

GIFTS for you

If you want a guided audio to help you practice Yoga Nidra and strengthen your ability to consciously move your attention through the body to relax you, I have a free meditation on Insight Timer, perfect before sleep. 

EMPTY YOUR MIND & DRIFT INTO SLEEP

If you want to watch the talk by Tenzin Osel Hito on patience you can view that on Youtube. Tenzin Ösel Hita is a radical free-thinker, former monk, filmmaker, and musician who is highly gifted at sharing the essence of the Dharma and how it can be infused in modern daily life.  

VIEW

with gratitude,