How to Practice Patience

Four simple ways to practice patience.

Life requires patience.  Patience leads to success.  But how can you develop patience?

Here are four strategies for developing patience.

• Practice emotional survival

It is easy to become addicted to expressing anger and frustration in situations that require self-control.   Practice emotional survival by reminding yourself  that anger and frustration are destructive.  They also lead to more stress and more stress headaches.

Practicing emotional survival develops patience.

• Slow down

It is natural to rush around and try to do things faster.  STOP DOING THIS. Take several deep breaths before do anything.

For example, if you’re in a long line in Walmart, decide to  slow down and not get worked up. Think about three things you are grateful for.  Sing a song to yourself. Being  impatient won’t make the line move faster, so why get worked up for nothing?

Slowing down develops patience.

• Practice delaying gratification

When you want to eat a candy bar or buy something extra, stop and think about it first. Maybe you don’t need or want that after all.  Save yourself some money or added calories.

Delaying gratification develops patience.

• Practice thinking before speaking

It is easy to simply blurt out the first response that pops into your head. But if you have self-control, you do not do this.  Instead, you  take a deep breath, pause, and then think about what you want to say.

Practicing thinking before  speaking develops patience.

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If you do not already practice these strategies, incorporate them one by one into your daily life.

Help your loved ones develop this attribute that is vital to success.  Role model it.  Tell them what you are doing and why.  Remember that your children copy what you do, not what you say.

Most importantly, remember that patience leads to success.

Let the encouraging words in these near a river posts help you

soar like an eagle above life’s storms.

Having a hard day?

Trying to parent a child?

Please do your part to end violence.

You can survive anything that comes your way!

If you enjoyed this post, remember that BJ writes children’s books.

Her encouraging children’s eagle

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Buy BJ’s near a river encouraging eagle reading book

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