Weekly Topic: Patience
- smcculley
- Jun 9
- 2 min read
Weekly Topic: Patience
From our friend, Lindsey V.
One of the foundational practices of the Fourth Way is the non-expression of negative emotions. All negative emotions, from powerful explosions of fury to small moments of irritation and impatience, are taught to be particularly detrimental to awakening. Two things are always present in negative emotions—identification and negative imagination and expressions of negative emotion result in a depletion of the finer energies needed for awakening. Like a wild fire, it is easiest to work with the non-expression of negative emotions when they are small and still relatively controllable, and this requires that we are able observe them as they arise.
Our machines are easily irritated because the moment we find ourselves in is not as we think this moment should be, which is imagination. This week we will focus on one type of negative emotion, impatience. Impatience is a lack of patience, an intolerance or irritability with anything that impedes or delays. It can also express itself as a restless desire for change and excitement.
Impatience is one of the negative emotions that often slips under the radar because it seems to be a justifiable response to what is occurring in the moment, particularly as doing things quickly in our culture is often seen as a virtue. Patience, the opposite of impatience, is in essence a nonidentification with the present moment.
Weekly Exercise: Impatience
Working with the ‘Imperfection’ of the Moment
Notice when you feel impatience (or irritation) arising, in whatever context. Use this as a signal to relax into the present moment. Bodily tension often accompanies identification. Living in New York City for many years, I have found this exercise to be consistently useful and always available. Whether it is the person walking too slowly in front of me, blocking my access to the arriving subway train, or the many loud noises in the subways and streets, by relaxing and adopting a slower pace or relaxing into the loud sound, this exercise consistently breaks identification with the negative emotion and allows a reconnection to presence. These are just two examples from my life, your life will undoubtably provide others. All exercises are experiments in observing our mechanics. Seeing ourselves and our habits clearly is the start of real change.
The present may not always be beautiful, but is it always beautiful to be present. ─ The Teacher
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