Learning Patience

This article, “Why Your Brain Hates Slowpokes,” has some interesting points about our fast-paced society, and how it is causing us to be less patient and more impulsive.

http://nautil.us/issue/22/slow/why-your-brain-hates-slowpokes

Basically, the author’s thesis starts with the fact that our internal sense of time is relative.  If we are used to something happening quickly, and it takes longer than we’re used to, we become frustrated.  Think of how angry people are when the internet is “slow,” or when we’re stuck in a traffic jam. This anger can lead us to act impulsively.  It definitely means that people in our fast-paced society have a harder time being patient, because our internal timers are set to the idea that things should be happening at a certain (usually, very fast) speed.

In the DR, people’s internal clocks are set at a very different pace, at least in the countryside where I live.  I spend a great deal of time sitting around, waiting for this person to finish up so we can leave or for that person to get back to me with the information I need.  There are a lot of factors feeding into this, many of which I’m probably not even aware of: bureaucracy and a lack of transparency in governance, a culture that’s a lot better at making it up on the spot rather than planning ahead, a more laid back attitude in general, and even the heat. (I read about how, above 85 degrees, the human body can’t self-regulate its internal temperature nearly as well, so it’s much harder to do work.)  Needless to say, I will be spending a lot of time these next few years practicing patience.

I really liked one idea the article had about how to increase patience.  It said plain old-fashioned willpower is generally ineffective, as we use it up and then lose all our patience at the end.  However, practicing gratitude in the moment can be very effective.  I’ve been trying to pray more, whenever I’m stuck waiting somewhere, rather than pull out my phone to read or search the internet.  My prayers have generally been for other people around me (and myself, of course, too!), but I think thanking God for what he’s given me and what he’s doing should both be added to my topics I discuss with him.

Here’s a start:

I’m thankful for the wonderful church with amazing people and community that I go to down here.

I’m thankful for my shower, and running water, at the end of every (sticky) day.

I’m thankful for the generous, open hearts of Dominican, who make it so easy to make friends.

I’m thankful for my mosquito net, which has kept any more cockroaches out of my bed.

I’m thankful for the internet, which might be much slower down here than in the US (yet another chance to increase my patience!), but which also allows me to stay in touch with all the people I care about at home.

I’m thankful for the many lessons I know God still has for me, and I’m praying for a willing and open heart to learn them!