Patience is not my strong suit. I can be persistent. But patience with the process of persistence can be a real challenge for me.
I didn’t used to be that way. When I was growing up, I was always being told to hurry up! And I hated to be rushed! I really wanted to be quiet, focus on what I liked to do, and go at my own pace. But that pace was thought to be too slow.
Still I persisted in having time and space in my life to just enjoy reading, painting and drawing, and the process of learning to do things by trying a variety of things out. Unfortunately, time to do these things has fallen by the wayside in recent years because of work. And that means my patience with the length of time things sometimes seem to take has grown short.
What I’ve seen is that my faith falters over time as well. I’m a strong believer in walking forward in the direction of the life you really want. And that’s why I can be incredibly persistent—I have had the experience of succeeding at my goals and I think it’s worth it! But when weeks and months turn into years . . . well, that’s when patience becomes a real challenge.
So that gives some background to what I decided to include in my “Increasing Patience” flower essence blend:
- Corn: for groundedness, safety and patience with the requirements (and sometimes slow pace) of life
- Impatiens: for the same thing combined with acceptance of Divine Timing, less irritation, and more gentleness.
- Larch: for a more positive belief about the future despite the time it’s taking to reach your goals.
But what about patience in times of duress?
Tonight I feel like I want to add another blend I make, “
Support for Troubled Times,” to this. SO many people I know are struggling right now! So much bad news, so many disasters, so much political strife, so many people going through challenges not of their own making. For many people it feels like the world is getting in the way of their deepest heart’s desires! And that is not a small thing. (And what so many of us here in the United States are worried about is nothing compared to what people under actual physical attack like in Ukraine are going through! I need to talk about gratitude and noticing the gifts you have in the present moment, but I’ll get to that in a bit.)
“Support for Troubled Times” is not what I typically think of for patience. It was designed for those times when the need for comfort is so deep it feels like it would have to come from the Great Mother herself. I think of it as being for trauma or grief but it’s perfect for any time you’re going through stressful times.
Still, the combination of Splendid Mariposa Lily, Green-Cross Gentian, Star of Bethlehem, and Self-Heal does address the need for patience under conditions of duress. Green-Cross Gentian, in particular, provides the ability to persist when improvements are moving so slowly you don’t know whether you really can manage it. Self-Heal supports a deep feeling of wholeness that can help you through any long-time healing process. And Splendid Mariposa Lily and Star of Bethlehem provide deep deep comfort in times of emotional shock or upset.
And what about gratitude? How does that fit in?
Well, it is easy to lose track of how far you have come already and successes you have had in the past when a current goal seems hard to reach. Some of us got the message that if something was meant to happen, it would happen with ease and right away! Certainly, I have experienced almost instant manifestation in my life and not just with small things. But there are also oodles of spiritual teachings about the importance of focusing on the value of the journey and not just the destination.
The journey teaches you lessons you need to know. If you rise to the occasion, or at least get up again when you fall, you change! You grow. You might even become the hero of your life story. Or you might learn lessons about community and the importance of coming together to solve problems that are greater than yourself.
One thing I believe makes a difference is when you are not just in a mode of waiting for your “best” life to begin once you reach that magical pinnacle of success you are working towards. I remember seeing photos of people sharing food, hugging pets, celebrating marriages and other aspects of a good life even in times of war, horror, and devastation. I have memories of that in my own life of how people came together to support each other and rebuild after the 1989 earthquake in Santa Cruz. People are in the process of doing the same in Montpelior, VT and other places coping with disasters right now. It takes a long time to recover after experiences like that, so it’s important to find ways to celebrate the steps taken and the community that supports you along the way. I hesitate to say this, but it is especially important if that community is comprised of different people than the ones you expected. Sometimes part of the lessons learned is the importance of letting new people in.
Some flower essence possibilities to assist:
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Cassiope (for appreciating the joy of being alive)
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Joyous Heart (combo formula for hope, inspiration, and appreciation of life)
One more word of advice: if you have been experiencing grief, loss or trauma, don’t skip over the
Troubled Times suggestion to go straight to the gratitude ones first. You can use these together if the time is right. But take care of your grieving heart and release the pain that gets in the way of feeling appreciative of life. Gratitude will come!
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