Patience...

So, for those of you that know me...know I can be on the go all the time. I have a tendency to do so many things per day...it makes most people head spin. And I think mine as well :) Because...I miss some important moments. Maybe I don't miss them, but I am lost in my head--either living in the past or the future.

So...wonderful souls in my life keep reminding me to live in The Present Moment.

Thank you!!! I am grateful for that message---

One person is my Reiki Teacher---who sent out this story in her newsletter. Her name is Caroline and she is really a bright light for us all...

Here is her lesson to remind us all of staying present...

“A Lesson in Patience”

About 20 years ago I experienced one of the biggest patience lessons of my life. I had stopped at the supermarket on my lunch hour, and was happy to find a checkout line with only one other person ahead of me. “I can be out of here in minutes!” I thought… but that is not the way it happened.

I guessed that the woman in front of me was about my age (as close as I could tell from behind) and shewas the slowest moving person ever! One at a time she moved items from her cart to the conveyor belt. She dropped a can, was confused by a question from the cashier, could not seem to find the correct change, etc. All the while my impatience was building as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. “Why do I ALWAYS pick the wrong line?” I thought, as I looked at my watch again and again. I was going to be late getting back to the office, and it was HER fault! I was really building up steam, looking around at the person behind me with a large sigh and a look on my face that said, “Do you BELIEVE this?”

And then the woman in front of me turned to look at me. One look at her face and I knew that she was very, very ill. “I’m sorry I’m so slow,” she said, “but I just came from my chemo appointment and my brain is a little foggy.” “Oh, that’s O.K.,” I replied, “I’m not in a hurry.”

It is difficult to find the words to explain how I felt at that moment. Twenty years later as I think of that day I can still feel that feeling in the pit of my stomach… shame…embarrassment…self-loathing. Did it really matter that I was going to be a few minutes late compared to what she was going through?

I remember checking out and walking to my car in a kind of daze. I got in and sat behind the steering wheel for a moment, and the tears began to slowly slide down my cheeks. I sent off a prayer and an apology to the woman, and realized that the tears were for me. My eyes had sent daggers of angry impatience into her back, and for what? For a few moments of my time? How sad…

I have thought of that woman so many times through the years when I see other people huffing and impatient about “waiting”, sometimes very vocal about their displeasure. I think of her when I am waiting in other lines, or standing at a red light, or driving behind the slow driver, or any time my patience begins to run thin. And I think to myself, “If this is the worst thing that happens to me this day, life is really, really good.” And I smile in gratitude for the lesson in patience I learned so long ago that helps me today to live calmly in the moment, appreciating, accepting.

The next time you are feeling impatient, take a couple of really deep breaths and relax. It may be a lesson in patience for you, and a reminder to BE in this moment. It really is all we have.

http://www.reikicare.com/newsletter.july09.htm