JAISI DRISHTI, WAISI SRISHTI
















“The key to everything is patience.
You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”

Arnold H. Glasow


Why do I lose my patience?

There may be many reasons. But, this morning, two of them became strikingly clear to me:
1. Because, I want things to work out the way I expect them to.
2. Because, I want people to behave the way I expect them to.

So, right in the epicenter of my irritation and anger, which was erupting through my waning patience, I could see the truth:
If I could let go my expectation a little more, I could let in patience a little more…
I could see, that when I was losing my patience, I was actually losing my strength. I was getting weak!

No matter how many enlightened souls have told me this, and no matter how many people think what an enlightened soul I am, this much is clear to me, and me alone: Time and again, I succumb to the temptation, that things should work out the way I expect them to… and people should behave the way I expect them to…

It is only when I go through the pain and frustration – of coming to terms with the reality there outside – yes, it is only when I strop arguing with the reality and love what ‘is’ – accept the reality – I become patient, peaceful… strong…

“Jaisi drishti, waisi srishti.”
The world outside will, always, be exactly how it is. The situations and people… Yes, some of them I can change, and some of them I cannot. The Serenity Prayer reminds me, that I need the wisdom to know the difference between the things which I can change and things which I cannot.

I have no regrets for losing my patience this morning. Because, it has only made me wiser:  “Hey buddy, relax. Let go a bit. Be strong inside.”

True, a little shift in my attitude – how I view the world outside – is enough to make me a little more patient, peaceful and stronger.


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Chetna Shetty


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