Tuesday's Tip: What is Patience? How do you practice patience?

What is patience?
It is finding something else to do
while you are waiting
for the other shoe
to drop.

What are some of the synonyms for patience? Long-suffering, tolerance, forbearance, and sufferance are some of the synonyms you will find when you look patience up in a thesaurus.

What is patience? Patience is the ability of an individual to endure under tests and difficulties without complaining. Sometime I have problems practicing patience in time of difficulty without complaining. I think this is one reason I keep encountering tests and difficulties. The problems I complain about most are the ones I keep encountering over and over. It has gotten to the point that I am beginning to think that complaining attracts problems.

How do you practice patience? I have found that prayer helps. Keeping my mind busy and focused on something else helps. Taking some type of action also helps. Sometimes the only action I can take is to do dishes or sweep the floor. The problem with those actions is that they keep the body busy but not the mind. I have found three actions that keep my mind busy. Those actions are (1) prayer, (2) writing, and (3) reading. I cannot do any of these things and worry at the same time, which means that I am not complaining about the situation I find myself in.

How do you practice patience?
Sit down and say a prayer.
Sit down with your journal
and write.
Sit down on the couch
pick up a book
and read.