Sunday, March 20, 2011

Learning Patience


I was lucky enough to see last night's Supermoon as it should be seen. Shortly after dusk as it rose on the horizon. I had to keep checking it until it was above the treetops since the entire breadth of it was hidden, in places, by those trees. As I was viewing it through the trees I was reminded of many a Halloween image of a yellow/orange moon shining on a dark background, complete with bare tree branches and a witch on a broom stick obstructing the full view. There was, of course, no witch, just the branches. I declared it a beauty ascending and waited with bated breath...well...as bated as breath can be while running from window to window to see which had the best view, to view it in full magnificence. By the time it cleared the treetops it had lost it's orange luminescense and was just another full moon. The higher it rose, the smaller it became. Sadly disappointing except for the beginning. That beginning was truly awesome, even with the trees in the way.


Now that I think on it, the experience was no different from any other which contains a strong element of anticipation. "Anticipation, an-ti-ci-pay-ay-tion is making me wait!" Ahem! Sorry, it appears I was channeling Carly Simon for a bit. Where was I? Oh yes, the supermoon, bated breath and the fall into the rut that we create when we build something up too far in our imagination. I do that all the time, I think mostly because I believe I lack patience.

I have patience enough to drive behind a real slowpoke without getting nervous or angry. I can wait in long lines at stores. Even, sometimes, giving up my spot to someone with just a couple of items in their hands who might be waiting behind me. I have patience with Butterscotch when he's been his naughty little self. I have patience with my slow moving clients, even the wilfully disobedient ones. However, my patience doesn't extend to bullies, con artist, the wilfully stupid Fox News watchers or to myself. Yes! I have no patience with ME. Zilch, zero, nada, none.

I constantly over estimate what I can accomplish in a day and then leave half of it undone. Which, of course, makes me angry at myself. By the time I'm home from work, I'm tired, and have very little ability to do at home what I've just spent all day doing for others. I do the lick and a promise type of activity and plan on catching up over the weekends. Unfortunately I am in the process of establishing a new blog which means I need to pay attention to it, treat it kindly or whatever. I'm doing that instead of accomplishing what I had anticipated doing. And at the same time I'm anticipating how much time I need to dust, vacuum, mop floors, clean the fridge, etc.

My doctor said I need to learn to have patience with myself. I'm thinking she should have suggested some self discipline along with it. In the interest of actually getting things done today instead of sitting here in front of the computer getting upset with myself, I'm going to post this and actually go do housework. Today I will not fall into a rut by taking a computer break believing I actually will only stay for 15 minutes. I will turn up the music, and boogie on down with a broom and a mop. I will use my power of positive thinking to lift myself out of this chair and go do something, and I will not be back until it's done. Just one more thing...does anyone have a cup of motivation I can borrow?

14 comments:

  1. Patience is a virtue
    Possess it if you can
    Seldom found in woman
    Never found in man

    I know that my wife has more patience than I do. I occasionally tend to become frustrated and unable to act until my wife brings me back to reality.

    I recently received a lesson in patience from our neighbor's cat. We had a gopher in our back bank than was causing some damage. One morning I looked out a window and saw the cat patiently waiting beside the gopher hole for the appearance of the gopher. About four hours later, I looked out again and the cat was in the same position biding its time. Apparently its patience paid off, because the gopher disappeared.

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  2. You might want to go over to Bella's blog and see what Maxine says about patience. :)

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  3. Thanks to the little snow storm that weatherman Mike sent our way I missed the super moon completely. Patience? what's that?

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  4. Whit, I got lucky, Hubby decided I was making too much noise and he wanted to take a nap. So, he pitched in and between the 2 of us we got it all done. Too bad we can't do it this way all the time...Oh! Wait! If I get started every time he wants to nap...It could happen! lol

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  5. P.S. Whit, I saw the Maxine cartoon. There are many things about which I don't give a crap, unfortunately a clean home isn't one of those. *sigh*

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  6. Scratch, It wasn't Weatherman Mike that did it, it was the Skinny Guy. Go to his posts from a day ago and see what he said if you don't believe me.

    As far as the Supermoon goes, if you don't have a good spot where you had a view of the horizon, it wasn't all that big a deal. It was awesome as it rose, ordinary once it was up there.

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  7. a cup of motivation? yeah, send some my way, would ya?

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  8. I saw the moon in all its glory last night, Sherry. Unfortunately, I was busy driving, so I did not get a chance to gawk at it as I would have liked. Too, I did not have a camera with me, so I couldn't get a photo of it. By the time I got home, it was already high enough that it just looked normal.

    For the few seconds that I saw it, unimpeded by any obstacles, it was extraordinary, though.

    Being as I am likely the most impatient person on this or any other planet, I feel that I am quantifiably not certified to comment on the rest of this post.

    peace

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  9. Bella, I got it done without motivation and with Hubby's help. His motivation was a desire for a nap. lol.

    I think I get 3 weeks vacation this year, might take one week and spend it doing Spring Cleaning. That way I'm not trying to get it done after work and on weekends.

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  10. Paul, It was kinda disappointing once it was up there. I did notice it gave off more light than usual. Had to close the drapes in the bedroom to sleep. It was awesome as it rose.

    Patience I have in very short supply, now, if we were talking procrastination, I'm an expert on that.

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  11. Sherry,
    I saw many moons but they were of a different variety since I was at work. As for patience, I want some and I want it NOW! :)

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  12. Sorry Mr. O, I am fresh out of patience. Can I offer you some procrastination instead?

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  13. Patience is a virgin...

    I told my boys about the super moon and one of them commented, "You know about that but you didn't know Thursday was St. Patrick's Day. What planet are you from?"

    This morning I was grateful for the slow driver ahead of me. I'm all about keeping 3 car lengths behind, especially in snow and ice, and I'm never in a hurry. Why hurry? Having the cautious fellow ahead of me took the pressure off me to set the pace. Drivers make the mistake of trying to drive their cars in bad weather. Don't drive your car - drive the road.

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  14. John, There's my problem. I'm not a virgin.

    Today is my traveling outside of my immediate area day. What I'd like to drive is a big Mack Truck with a stupid driver catcher on the front of it.

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