Patience, An Enduring Luminous Power

Here comes a ‘Two-Second Rule”….it’s not about judging any quality work, it’s a parameter prescribed to find out the jeopardy of today’s generation. A recent study shows that millions of internet users are abandoning videos that don’t start playing within two seconds. About one fourth and half of the users are gone if the video did not start till five and ten seconds respectively.

This is the height of impatient attitude that we are witnessing, frankly speaking, today’s advancement and changed life style has hugely influenced the way we think, work and look at the things. Doing things in a hurried manner, urgency, completion of task with lightning speed like things have, unarguably, affected the human psychology, wherein one can feel the dearth of a noble qualities. One such is ‘patience’ that needs our attention.

It is widely believed that with certain qualities anything can be achieved and the absence of which can turn out to be worst. Patience is one among them, in fact, it occupies the top position. One of the most common advices that we hear is about this state of endurance, from ‘be patience’ flashing advices to millions of quotes invite our attention to assess its position in our daily affairs.

The patience is defined in many ways – it’s a state of endurance during hardship without reacting to the situation in a negative way. It’s restraining the self from nervousness when confronted with unfavorable happenings. It means restraining the self from complaints about sufferings.

It means forbearance in regard to physical sufferings. It means a state of endurance when separated from the beloved ones. Thus patience has a lot beyond a silent or calm gesture. We can say that it has to be a meaningful gesture, not just a practice of restrain as a last option, but even more. Patience has got three beautiful stages, that is restrain:

• The inner being from anguish
• The tongue from complaint
• The bodily members from unpleasant movements

The life symbolizes ups and downs, there are very fortunate few who are born with a golden spoon in their mouth, rest, the majority feels the heat every day and many a situations demand an attitude of self-restrain. Some factors pertain to obedience to God, following His instructions in certain areas demand an act of self restrain, be it prayers in Church or Mosque or Pooja in a temple or adherence of values in the collective lives, for every aspect the demand is clear.

Again, some pertain to the weaknesses, it means we often find ourselves at the receiving end because of the faults of our own, sometimes criticism, sometimes loss, sometimes failures….every situation provides ample opportunities to lie, slander or opt for greediness and they even pave the way for ugly traits like egoism, envy and hypocrisy, but at the same time the inner self demands an endurance of self restrain. Lastly, there come the unfortunate things over which we have absolutely no command, like disease, the natural calamities, trials, scarcity, here one has to exercise a tremendous amount of self-restrain to overcome the ill fate.

The life as a whole test with its varied shades, the ups and downs, the success and failure and happiness and miseries….are always there to engulf our lives with the same accuracy as the appearance of the day and night. Then what? Bear the situation with patience, there are some specific zones wherein on has to adhere to an enduring state of forbearance:

Home, Most of the time we delve into our home, surrounded by our loved ones, enjoying the weekend and holidays with an equal fervor. But there appear some disruptions that are for happy living as unpleasant as appearing of a small stone in the morsel. It’s a part and parcel of the family life. Sometimes children insist for a particular dish, a delay in food preparation make them angry, sometimes their spats, a broken toy become a reason for a huge noise of crying, disobedience of children, poor performance in the exams…all this demands that the head of the family should keep their head cool and bear the situation with forbearance that in turn help them set right the things in a direction that pleases them and train their children as well.

We have our grown up parents with us, they have attained the age of their lives, crawling for their needs, invariably that does not appear from their physical appearance but yes of course it’s their inner voice that conveys so. At this juncture a kind behavior of the children means a lot, after all they did what all possible for them, now it’s their turn to look after them. The behavior of parents of this age, sometimes irritates as their capabilities of understanding and dealing with things deteriorate considerably. Here one has to be cautious enough of his attitudes and in no way they should be void of forbearance.

The demands of wife and her displeasure sometimes upset us. We tend to rectify things but they get worsens. On her part, the late coming of husband and not spending enough time with children irritates. In all such situations, the act of self restrain plays a crucial role as it helps understand and minimize the situation remarkably.

Office, most of us earn because of a daily visit to our offices, but the affairs here sometimes appear quite worrisome. Work load demands things to be sorted out on a priority basis, we feel either tired or off-mood. The work load demands our capabilities to multiply but we fall short of the expectations. There is a huge competition among the colleagues and it becomes quite difficult to cope up with the situations. Sometimes the internal competition invite ill feelings of some of our colleagues, sometimes allegations of small or big measure labeled against us.

Dealing the situation with patience pays rich dividends, bearing the situation with self-restrain means that the person has not succumbed to the outside pressures; the trait proves quite beneficial in all respects.

Society, of them all society demands a lot, here collective patience is far more preferable than the individual one. Though the collective form of patience is nothing but the whole sum of an individual’s healthy behavior, but the fact is that the collective behavior comes in the spotlight only when this particular trait would have excelled at the individual level.

In a society, human interactions and relationships have a huge canvas, the cultural exchange does happen, people of different religious denominations and sect delve with their own norms and traditions, various socio-economic activities take place, political activism defines the positives and negatives of the society…these are the possibilities by virtue of which situations of varied nature arises. Shortage of sustenance, communal tension, the threat of the vested interest people, violation of rights, spreading of vices, moral degradation, mislead youth, backbiting, allegations, oppressors…. When we emphasize the importance of restraining patience in such circumstances means an objective study of the situation, realistic plan for the betterment and an equal individual and collective seriousness in its implementation.

If any society succeeds in creating such individuals than the dream of a developed society, a society embellished with characteristics like peace, progress and prosperity, can be realized.

We have no measuring instrument to gauge the emotions or the inner traits, but there are certain reflections that speak of the values that a person has. Here in the case of self-restrain no matter where it’s being portrayed, it gets reflected through:

• Trust, on God, on the personal abilities and on a belief that in spite of the hardship a bright future is ahead.
• Perfection, in approach and in the fulfillment of the task, a flavor of perfection and excellence appear in everything that is performed.
• Obedience, whether the situation is favorable or not, the forbearance quality always results in sheer obedience.
• Dignified lifestyle, through a personal approach and initiatives it becomes quite apparent for others to judge that in spite of the trials the attitude is very dignified one.
• Constant struggle, no worries, no tiring attitude, absolutely no capitulation to the pressures, rather a constant struggle emerges from an individual’s behavior.
• Broad-mindedness, with an act of forgiveness and overlooking the faulty behaviors, broad-mindedness do appear.

Eagerness - An earnest effort to achieve more, a wish to go an extra mile, doing things with an ease with a never say die spirit, eagerness of this stature becomes a big booster. This will be a psychological advantage; it helps remain an upper hand over the ills and never allow even to think of losing the ground.

Concern - If one has a set target and an ambition to strive for, then a fear will also accompany him along with his lofty desires, then in spite of hardships that fear will never allow him to stall his constructive progress.

Devotion - If a person performs his task with an absolute devotion, then the hard times will never put him down, that devoutness will always remain on top and allow him to act as per what the situation demands. So nourishment of a sense of devoutness should always be a priority.

Prudence - Foreseeing things is always a blessing, if during hard times one realizes its consequences than certainly an attitude suitable to the situation will come in the frame of things. Therefore, one of the most effective ways of dealing with the worst situation with a strong hold on patience is just to foresee the prevailing situation. If things are going to be worst or fruitful, in any of the case, patience is going to be a common element in action.

The position of this attribute among the rest is what head to the body is. The bodily movements depends on the brain (head), similarly patience paves the way for the rest of the attributes or you can say some of the attributes develop in the presence of this quality. Like wisdom cannot be nourished without patience. Pleasure can’t be attained without it. Therefore, we can summarize its advantages as:

• Booster for other qualities
• Stepping stone of success
• Leadership Development
• Evenly balanced personality
• Strong commitment
• Determination
• Tireless efforts
• Discipline
• Purification of soul.

Untoward body movements at the time of suffering, apprehension, financial loss, disease, death, natural disasters, etc., are the signs of a weak personality. They deprive of stability and dignity, weaken the willpower, and debilitate the intellect. At such crucial juncture, patience is an apt attitude; it opens the door of happiness and relief. It strengthens the determination to overcome adverse circumstances and act wisely.

So bear patience in good grace. The soul of a patient person abandons its earlier unrestrained state and helps develop an enduring luminous personality.

© 2014 - Muhammad Abdullah Javed (m abdullah javed)