Pushing Towards Patience

There’s a saying: "The door to opportunity is always labeled “Push.” Yet pushing against the natural pace and flow of things, not allowing others the gracious fact of their busy schedules and full lives, and letting unproductive thoughts sabotage my own life-force and that of my endeavors can block the flow of surprising opportunities.

Patience means “constancy in effort.” Constancy is a type of “pushing” that feeds and nourishes, a persistence and perseverance that propels me toward a goal, or dream, or solution. Allowing and nurturing patience in my daily life is, as with most things, a choice.

I wrote the following poem to remember — to physically, viscerally feel — the difference between a pushing that hinders, and a patience that nourishes me:

Push push push against the face of a mountain— / spread hands burn from the heat. / Push push push against time allotted for tasks— / feet swell with blisters. / Push push push against the vagaries of wind— / loud noise fills my head. / Push push push against shoulds and oughts of others— / shoulders ache and sweat. / Push push push against nothing— / quails hop branch to branch / the dove remains still.

* The word definitions were found on www.etymonline.com