Monday, October 24, 2011

Patience and Priorities

Our western way is not one of patience; it is more like the restlessness of a teenager seeking instant salvation through saying a few magic words or instant gratification through demands that we be given whatever are our whims or risk the creation of chaos.

How easy it is to be swayed by those that cause us to feel fascinating by their wooing of our attentions, and how hard it is to find true friends who will help us to simply be the best we can be, no matter the cost to themselves. This seems to be the segment of relationships that we aren't taught, the patience part. Without patience, all relationships are doomed to failure, even our relationships with our better selves.

Setting priorities seems to be the most important part of relationships. This setting of priorities necessarily means the exclusion or delay of gratification in other things. Our worldly, scared selves can be convinced that this discipline is snobbery or cowardice, but it is actually the only way to become truly whole.