Racing through life

A man observed a woman in the grocery store with a three year old girl in her trolley. As they passed the cookie section, the child asked for cookies and her mother told her "no." The little girl immediately began to whine and fuss, and the mother said quietly, "Now Priya, we just have half of the aisles left to go through; don't be upset. It won't be long."

He passed the Mother again in the candy aisle. Of course, the little girl began to shout for candy. When she was told she couldn't have any, she began to cry. The mother said, "There, there, Priya. Only two more aisles to go, and then we'll be checking out."

The man again happened to be behind the pair at the check-out, where the little girl immediately began to clamor for gum and burst into a terrible tantrum upon discovering there would be no gum purchased today. The mother patiently said, "Priya, we'll be through this check out stand in five minutes, and then you can go home and have a nice nap."

The man followed them out to the parking lot and stopped the woman to compliment her. "I couldn't help noticing how patient you were with little Priya..."

The woman broke in, "Hello, my little girl's name is Tanya... I'm Priya."

They say patience is a virtue. But mustering patience with stubborn folks and certain testing situations like the one that woman Priya faced is something commendable. There is a good news and bad news here. Bad news is one can be taxed beyond reason in these cases. But good news is that exercising this virtue is not as complex as it sounds. It’s in fact easier than that.

If we analyze, we would understand that impatience arises out of the feeling that we want our wishes to be fulfilled immediately. We are in no mood to wait. We go to a doctor. The doctor sometimes turns up late and makes us wait. We lose our patience. We want the doctor to come "now". The snarling traffic in the morning while going to work. We lose our patience. We want to reach the office immediately. The same traffic in the evening while returning home. Story repeats. We want to reach home "now". Delayed departure of flights—we want the flight to take-off "now." 

It’s that “now” that creates the havoc in our minds. The secret is to erase that “now” from the mind and look the other way. The best way to cheat the mind is to start enjoying the situation. By reading that book which we otherwise don’t find time to read at home, while waiting for that doctor. I normally utilize this time for solving my Sudoku and crossword. It’s the best time that I enjoy. Listening to some good music and enjoying the jokes that the RJ cracks in that FM instead of sulking, while waiting for that traffic to move. These RJ’s have real knack to lighten up any situation. By lazily watching the myriad of people breezing around you while waiting for that flight to take off……. life is interesting! Enjoy. 

I came across a beautiful real life story by Gina Wehman that I would like to share with all of you.

Last fall I hung outside my window a bird feeder. Now not knowing the first thing about wild birds, I assumed that as soon as I hung this bird feeder outside, a multitude of beautiful birds would be swooping to my new addition. Days, weeks and months went by; NO BIRDS. 

I asked so many people what to do? What was I doing wrong? "Nothing" most of them replied. "Just wait." So I waited and waited and waited trying everything possible, to attract these birds. 

I cleaned off the deck, I changed the feed, I washed the feeders, I even made the cat go out the other door! But nothing seemed to work. So......I waited, "with patience and hope." 

Two (2) months later, on a Saturday afternoon, I FROZE! What to my eyes had appeared on the bird feeder but the most beautiful bird I have ever seen in my life! All of a sudden HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS OF BIRDS WERE APPEARING FROM EVERYWHERE! 

What a beautiful lesson I learned from this little creature. "Patience and hope" and "things" will attract the beautiful things in life. I never realized how much patience I really do have and how much I do rely upon "hope" to sort out the questions in my heart. 

So I keep hoping and waiting, waiting and hoping. I will try to use this "little lesson" with so many other things in my life. I guess "patience is a virtue" after all.

The lesson that life is trying to teach us here is that there are certain things in life which cannot be rushed. They would happen when the time is ripe. We have to wait patiently. When the ripe fruit falls in our hand at the right time, it tastes heavenly. Nothing else can match that feeling. The feeling of Bliss.

"Don't race through life too fast. Life is a journey to be savored each step of the way," said someone.