Wisdom Wednesday's: Patience

I am especially motivated to write a little diddy about patience today, because lately I have been extremely lacking in the patience department. I wouldn’t necessarily say I am characterized by being an impatient person. However I would say that okay YES- I am Type A, and SURE– I am a live-by-your-calendar kind of person (the style where the days are sorted by hour so each minute of your day is scheduled), naturally alluding to the fact that MAYBE a lack of plan could cause me to be a bit impatient. One of my favorite quotes about patience was by Margaret Thatcher:  “I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.” Oh Marge, you are so right.  How often are we patient, but only when it’s convenient to us? Yesterday was my due date which means that I am one day late delivering my precious baby boy. You may not think that one extra day matters, but people you are wrong!  The calendar cannot be trusted!

Okay, okay, I am being a bit dramatic here, but so often having patience can be a challenge because that means that things are not going our way, or that things aren't going our way on our time-table. Who likes that? Impatience occurs when we forget that there is more than one variable (us!) in outcomes.  The key to being patient is being flexible, and realizing that the world’s decisions don’t necessarily revolve around how we want the chips to fall. Once we come to that realization it makes adapting a whole lot easier, and trusting that at the end of the day we can only do the best we can do. When we commit to that, though things may not go exactly our way, things will fall into place...the right place. Oh, and go easy on the calendars folks, life just isn't meant to always follow a schedule...take it from me.

"Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success." - Brian Adams

Patience is a learned practice, I'm learning, and truly is...a virtue.

Patiently yours, Lauren

Stranger revelation

Today I had a thought that totally terrified me (other than the fact that my oh-so-precious son is NEVER leaving the womb). To explain it to folks that have never been preggers – people talk to you all the time. Everywhere. In the bathroom, leaving church, checking out at the grocery store – people are always overly friendly and have some piece of vital advice that you must know as a new mom. Mamas, you know what I mean. To some people I know this friendly chatter is a bother, but to me, it’s an opportunity to talk to a happy stranger! Today when I was paying for my groceries, the sixteen year old bagger smiled big, looked down at my belly and said, “Let me guess, a boy, right?” and proceeded to tell me how he knew that it was in fact a boy, and about his mom and his little brother.  I stopped and thought to myself - will strangers care about me when I’m not as big as a barn? No, they most likely won’t. However, that led to my next thought - if I am so positively impacted by the friendliness of strangers than why not be a friendly stranger to others? It is such a simple act of kindness and it very well may be how you, the reader, live your life every day. But I know I don't. I’m often in a hurry, focused on the task at hand and not concerned with any other person’s day but mine. What a self-centered way to get through the day! So today, I am making a life change and deciding to be a better stranger. To pay it forward, if you will.  Because I have learned through this pregnancy that you just don’t know whose day will be better for it, and honestly, going out of your way to just be a kind person to everyone (even strangers) makes being much easier. Thanks guy at the grocery store for today's little lesson, and you are right – it is a boy!

[caption id="attachment_43" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="For the record, this isn't THE guy at the grocery store per say, but you get the point."][/caption]