Patience is learned day by day but it changes quickly throughout life.

Simply put: never before have we needed a physical and mental resource like this, one we can rediscover, without bothering the shrink on duty, if we decide to learn it day by day: patience. It's not easy, first of all because patience isn't part of our DNA, it's not inherited, it's not found under a tree, but it accumulates over time, with an exercise that evokes commitment and method, smiles and discipline. lightness and determination.

The etymology of the word itself warns us of the training that awaits us: the term patience derives from the Greek pathos, or a form of physical and spiritual pain. Yet it is precisely this effort, to which once we have become accustomed we will no longer be able to put up any resistance, that helps us build relationships, cultivate the duty of tolerance, and show the empathic face of our Self.

Do you have patience? And how much does it cost you? A "heroic virtue», as he defined it Giacomo Leopardi, or even "a drop that erodes the stone" according to the words of Gandhi, of which we have lost the vital aspect. We live submerged by its opposite, the impatience that expresses itself in the haste of lives always in a hurry, of presenteeism combined with the narcissism, of the uncontrollable desire for "everything and now," at any latitude of our existential journey. From work to affections, from free time to passions. Without patience, there is little to do, defeat is announced. They win the anger, intolerance, and fear. Look around you: do these three words, which patience could erase or at least weaken in one fell swoop, mean anything to you?

Patience, let's say it clearly to avoid any misunderstanding, is not resignation, it is not silent endurance, like a defeated or hypocritical person, but it is a light turned on byoptimism of the will, without which even the candle of hope goes out. Patience is an anti-waste measure, against the waste of rapid, evanescent, and inconclusive acceleration. Patience reminds us of the linear direction of time, its expansion, and the need to approach it with a method that also helps strengthen relationships, bonds, altruism.

We live glued to the existential tracks of high speed, of "everything and now," of "disposable": our clocks are always synchronized with upcoming deadlines, commitments to be met, plans to be completed. "And instead, patience requires an expansion of the present, its lengthening, a pause in the incessant becoming. We need to pause, to take a break, to be patient." writes Gabriella Caramore in a very effective little book entitled Patience (Il Mulino editions).

And yet it's just patience, his long stride, far from the anxiety of presentism, which allows us to wait for the right moment, the maturation of things, not their evaporation, before they've even come into focus. The courtship of a woman is patient, and can't be played out in the blink of an eye over a text message or a social media post. The wait for recognition of one's worth at work is patient: on the contrary, excessive haste, for hierarchical positions and salaries, leads to the vice of careerism. And it's patience, sometimes tiring and even frustrating, to seek what unites us rather than what divides us. "Patience is what in man most closely resembles the process that nature uses in its creations." writes Honoré de Balzac in his book Lost Illusions. Think of the api, to their patient yet essential community work: in a single day, a single hive visits 225 flowers, a journey equivalent to four times around the planet. And all the activity of bees, the marvelous chain of roles and functions, is expressed in the spirit of patience.

The eclipse of patience is also due to a misinterpretation of its function. It is often confused with inertia, with the lowest possible compromise. Or, worse, it is catalogued like a defeat, a passive surrender in the face of the inevitability of events. On the contrary, impatience, perhaps accompanied by anger, becomes a sign of strength, resolve, and determination of character. A true misunderstanding, and a paradigm shift. With deadly effects, for example, in relationships with our neighborsWe've become a nation of citizens who start a neighborhood brawl every half hour, driven and inspired by that very loss of patience that makes us feel strong, whereas instead we've all become more vulnerable.

In the sphere of public life, more specifically of politics, as in the private sphere, it is impossible to ignore the patienceand at our times and the necessary structure to make consensus coincide with choices that aren't always popular. Even modern politicians have learned this firsthand, eager to give, with results, substance to their messages declaimed in dizzying sequence. But sooner or later, when you're in too much of a hurry, you come up against the need to show balance and seek new syntheses, first and foremost with adversaries. In the First Republic, perhaps patience was excessive, but many crises—in governments, parties, and parliaments—were averted with the magic formula of a "pause for reflection." And during the Second World War, British public opinion was itching, with enormous discontent, to end a bloody conflict "at any cost." The British government responded with a sweeping, house-to-house campaign inspired precisely by the exercise of patience. The slogan was this: Keep calm and carry onKeep calm and carry on. History books tell us that it was precisely patience, demonstrated and heroically demonstrated by the English people, that provided the impetus needed by the world, and not England, to free itself from the criminal horrors of Nazism and its ally, Fascism.

Stay calm, be patient: but what do you do when the earth shakes beneath your feet and you feel, with fear, that time is passing? Here, more than pedagogical exercise, religion can help, the sense of the transcendent with which patience has always been well categorized. In the Buddhist religion, for example, patience is considered one of the six essential practices To be a good disciple and cultivated with care through meditation. In a book by the Dalai Lama, entitled "The Art of Being Patient" (Neri Pozza editions), the highest spiritual authority in Buddhism writes:: «Any positive action can be destroyed by a single outburst of anger, by a single gesture of impatience»In the Bible, however, where we discover the greatness of the patriarch Job, patience is classified as a gift of the Holy Spirit. And St. Paul, in a letter to the Romans, warns: "Patience leads to hope. But it must be accompanied by humility and reflection.". We need to think about it, therefore, to be patient, take the necessary time, take a breath before speaking, to listen and not just one-way communication.

But this effort towards the conquest of patience, once completed, when we finally manage to put "heroic virtue" in our toolbox, It pays off handsomely: it can truly change our lives. Definitely and only for the better..

Famous quotes about patience

• "A long journey of a thousand miles begins with the movement of one foot." Lao Tzu

Ancient Chinese wisdom captures the essence of patience and how to cultivate it. It's a long journey, with some ditches and several steep sections, where it's important to get off to a good start.

• "May I have the patience to accept the things that cannot change." Thomas More

Also the faith, like the Enlightenment extremism that relies on reason to solve every problem, must face reality. Some things cannot be changed, and having the patience to endure them is already a step forward.

• "There is nothing stronger than two fighters: time and patience." Lev Tolstoy

Time and patience go hand in hand. In the age of presenteeismWith all of us stuck in an eternal present, we've also lost the ability to be patient. And to know how to wait.

• "The trees that bear the most fruit are the slowest to grow." Molière

Even Nature, if you look at it with the right eye, teaches you to have patience.

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