Patience is My Virtue

“I know, I know, I’ve got to be more patient,” she said in a dull exasperated tone over the phone.  Jennifer was a client of mine from Colorado who had called me for a reading.  She had, what a lot of people had at the moment, just a general feeling of despair.  She felt her personal life was a mess, and the stories she was getting from the outside about the devastation of the economy weren’t helping anything.  She had recently made some major decisions about her life and was ready to move forward, but unfortunately what she was experiencing in her day-to-day reality was not yet reflecting that change.

“Remember, awkwardness is a natural part of most change,” I counseled her. “After you make your decision, it can take some time for the events in real time to catch up.”

She took a deep breath, “I guess you’re right, sometimes waiting is just so hard for me.”

I knew just how she felt.  For years I used to look at patience as a torturous duty – something forced on me by the rules of society.

“Patience is a virtue,” my mother would say to me as I was growing up.   I would inevitably reply tartly, “Well, it’s one I don’t have.” 

In all honesty, it was also one I never envisioned cultivating.  “I can do without that virtue,” I thought to myself.  To my mind patience was akin to weakness.  It signaled either a glaring failure resulting in settling, or a complete lack of imagination, both of which I hoped never to promote in myself.

It was a combination of things that changed my opinion about the quality.  I suppose the biggest change actually came from my relationship with my own psychic abilities.  After I began to follow my own intuitive knowing unquestionably, I noticed that most of the guidance I received was in the form of steps on the pathway to my goals. 

When I decided to become financially successful and healthy for instance, the first guidance I got was to move out of my big beautiful house and into something smaller.  It was a surprising notion for me, because I loved that house, but it was the experience that I had in doing so that formidably changed my experience of patience forever. 

I saw how steadily, this decrease in rent allowed me to pay off my debts and be more free and generous with my money.  I saw how, not overnight but steadily, I made huge progress on my goals.  I paid off my car, gave more gifts, and had money in savings.  I had the time and energy to learn more about investing and managing my money properly because I wasn’t spending all of my time worrying about my bills.

I began to recognize that patience wasn’t a lack of imagination, but rather the opposite.  Being patient actually involved holding steady to a goal that possibly existed only in my mind and taking the actions that would create it naturally and easefully, not forcing a hurried and rushed overnight manifestation.  It actually felt great!

“Remember patience is not a punishment for you to bear,” I said to Jennifer that day on the phone, “it’s a means to getting everything you’ve ever wanted.”  In waiting, you allow everything to line up perfectly, so that when you finally get the green light, there is nothing for you to do but go!

Head tilted back, hair flying in the wind, you experience the ultimate gift of patience: freedom.

Aimée Cartier is a Washington-based author and intuitive.  She is the founder of Spreading Blessings Media, a company dedicated to providing tools for inspired living.  Visit www.spreadingblessings.com. 

Published in the May/June edition of New Connexion.