The Gift of Patience Instant relief is always at your fingertips. Want a boost? Here's some food / drugs / porn / attention. There's an app for that. There's a million apps for that. How many industries would collapse if everyone understood that you can just be with the feeling? You can just be sad or scared or angry or lonely or uncertain. Step aside, phone. The world's ultimate entertainment is even more addictive. It's the mind, with its oh-so-neat and tidy explanations for everything. A causes B, don't you see? Everything is a monocausality. The mind can also spin a real yarn about how it's not going to work out or how they hate you or how there's no point in even trying. These stories thrive when taken Oh So Seriously, as though they were delivered by a solemn-faced man in a gray suit with a deep baritone voice. You wouldn't challenge a story someone tells at a funeral. When the mind demands a remedy for a feeling or to give its pessimistic explanation, the ultimate act of self-compassion is to be. Just be with those feelings. Give them your full attention, maybe close your eyes or look out a window and be with yourself. Give yourself the gift of patience, without needing whatever is happening in your mind to resolve itself. Be with the discomfort. Something will happen. I made a mapping of chains of concepts that are important to me. So many arrows point to "Relax." It can be difficult for me to relax. I have stories that I'm not doing enough or that I'm not going quickly enough or that I'm not smart enough. And I can be tempted to seek immediate relief. But when I let myself be with the stories, I can tap into a deeper, embodied confidence that I will figure it out. I've always figured it out. There's no reason to think that this time will be different.