Those
things that I need to learn well, have a habit of giving me opportunity to
practice, and patience, this week especially, seems to be one.
I
had an appointment today for a specified time with a person to have a discussion
about business. This appointment was made yesterday late morning. I arrived
about 8 minutes early and expected to wait for a few minutes, and it turned into
an hour beyond the appointed time.
At
3 minutes past the appointed time, I could see that it was not going to happen
real soon, so I settled into a practice of patience. It was interesting in
several ways. One is how I felt. I felt fine. I didn't make it into a problem,
and just peacefully looked around, sat and meditated a bit, and so on. Another
way was how people around me were concerned about me standing there even though
I was not expressing any anxiety to speak of.
Finally,
the meeting came and the person apologized for the delay, but also, he didn't
seem to remember the appointment very well. As he apologized, I said, 'not a
problem. In fact, I thank you for the opportunity for me to practice my
patience, and I need the practice.' He looked at me strangely, not knowing
exactly how to respond to that. Each time he tried to apologize (there were
three, one at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end), I said,
'it's not a problem, I took the opportunity to practice my patience. Thank you
for that.'
I
was a little amazed that I was open about that to the person. I was genuinely
grateful for the practice time, and I really do need the practice. I'm not sure
what he thought, and frankly, that is none of my concern. I'm sure of one thing
though. . . I don't believe he's ever heard that response before! Nor have I
given it. And, it was fun.
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