I Can Be Patient...(practicing the art of Sit/Stay)

I was on the bike trainer this morning when I had an epiphany - I Can Be Patient.  Now, for anyone who has ever had the joy of riding on a bike trainer, or a running on a treadmill or using any type of stationary cardio fitness equipment, patience seems to be a requirement just to complete a workout.  So what was this radical discovery all about?  As I have been making my way back towards my fitness levels pre-COVID I have needed to take down my intensity on the workouts.  I had done so today and as my mind started to wander during my session I found myself starting to think ahead and plan out how long it might be before I was back at 100% intensity for the workouts.  I caught myself in this thinking pattern and stopped and that is when I realized that I can be patient about this, and for the first time in my life I knew that I meant it. 

Patience and Kerri have not tended to go hand in hand through the years.  There are a number of places in my life where patience was just not something I could cultivate.  Relationships were a prime example of this.  Instead of taking time to get to know someone and THEN starting a relationship, it was more of a fire, ready, aim approach and I would find myself often as part of a couple only to realize that I really did not know this other person all that well and what I was getting to know was not really what I had been looking for.  Pushing myself towards physical goals has also been a long-standing patience issue for me.  Having a desire to achieve something and then silencing all of the warning signs my body may have been giving me around potential injury or overuse has sidelined me a few times over the years and caused me to miss out on participating in the very events that I was so impatiently training for in the first place.

Why have I been so chronically impatient over the years?  I think that a scarcity mindset has played a big part in this.  If I don't rush to do something or get somewhere I will miss out and there will be none left for me.  The thrill of the chase has also been a player in all of this.  It is exciting to start something new and to go full-tilt and all out.  Heck people will even praise you for this type of never say never attitude.  The issue being that if you are always stuck in the mode of the next steps you actually miss out on a whole lot of what is going on in the now.  And although some of that may not be entirely exciting (see riding the bike trainer), it is also a big part of the path that will lead you to your eventual goal and for that reason alone really needs to be seen as a small victory along the way.

When I think of the practice of cultivating patience I think about dogs learning how to sit and stay.  I have seen this play out over the years in various dog parks and even in the past when I co-owned a dog.  Watching a puppy or any dog being given the command to sit and stay is like witnessing the most intense patience exercise known to man.  You can often see it in the dog's eyes.  That inner turmoil of wanting to do what their master has requested intersecting with the dog's pure desire to be with their master.  The first few times (or few hundred times) that the command is given, the dog will often have no ability to stay for more than a second, excitedly rushing to their master almost immediately.  They are then returned to their starting point where the exercise is set up again.  Over time the dog starts to become calmer in the sit and can actually manage the stay and the excitement of the treat at the end of a successful attempt is amazing to watch.  What occurs to me is that although it is hard for a dog to manage their excitement at the prospect of receiving a treat, they eventually learn that their treat will come more quickly the sooner they become patient. 

I will be the first to admit that at first glance the idea of being patient, and practicing a sit/stay is not necessarily appealing, nor is it terribly flashy or exciting.  It also doesn't mean that by working on your  sit/stay you will become be stuck or motionless...it is the opposite really.  What this practice really encourages is the ability to sit where you are and stay with what you have to observe at in that place in time.  Ultimately it is about giving yourself permission to work through the present moment and allowing for the natural outcome to arrive all in due course.  And just like with our canine friends, the treat at the end will come once you allow patience to take charge. 



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