A Peaceful Heart

“Why is patience so important? Because it makes us pay attention.” ― Paulo Coelho

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”― Aristotle

Time passes differently with a peaceful heart. We are so smart, so efficient. We can measure the very large, the very small. We can dice up time and spend it as if it were money. The dysfunction of our money system has infected our thinking about time as well: there seems to be never quite enough, and we consider the accruing and saving of it worth pursuing as an end unto itself.

 Time is money, we say, but we run around feeling short of both. How is that possible in this society awash in material things and 'time saving' devices? Could it be our attitude? Caused by an error in our thinking?

We don't know what to do with ourselves as we wait. It is as if being alive doesn't count when you are in line or slow traffic. Our skill at delaying planned gratification twists up in knots, punctuated by spasms of over consumption. Neither works to fill our need for tenderness connection and love. We continue to feel needy in a deep and primal way.

Impatience is one of my worst habits! So I am cultivating the practice of blessing and sending love to others in line or in traffic. That helps me feel I am fully present even in situations I had (foolishly) thought of as 'wasting time.' 

There are other kinds of time cultural time that humans have had in the past. From back when clock time was not very important. People harmonized their rhythms with more natural cycles of sun and moon, season and weather. Mostly in today's world we exalt in the mechanical achievement of an almost complete divorce, of what we do, from natural cycles of  Earth time.  

Some people can not or will not fit into modern time rules. We judge them to be disrespectful for being late or slow, for stopping to smell the flowers. But is it also being disrespectful when we are impatient with them?

People who are anxious about the scarcity of time have worse outcomes after a heart attack, compared to people with a mellow 'whatever' attitude, who recover better. Could it be there is a benefit from having a peaceful heart?

“And sure enough, even waiting will end...if you can just wait long enough.” 

― William Faulkner