On Patience

[00:00:00] Well, hello. This is The Daily Five with Aurooba, that's me, where we reflect on creating our best lives a little bit every day. Here we go. There is a famous quote from the book Little Woman, a classic tale by American author Louisa May Alcott, or is it Alcott? I'm not sure. The quote goes, "Be worthy, love, and love will come."

[00:00:31] It's a line in a poem by the main character, Jo, a brash, talented, slightly reckless girl who grows up to be an equally talented, reckless, but slightly less brash woman. What remains steady about her is her big heart, her fierce love for the people in her life, and a keen self awareness that doesn't let her give in to the easy way even when it's presented on a platter.

[00:00:57] I am talking, of course, about the proposal from , . if you've read the books. In the book, she eventually does marry. And so the interpretation is she became worthy and then romantic love came her way. But what the quote is really about is patience with a good attitude. Because the trick isn't waiting itself. The trick is waiting with a positive attitude.

[00:01:23] Lately, I found myself not patient, and when I have been quote unquote patient, it has not been with what I would call a good attitude. I'm annoyed, upset, concerned, indifferent, and on all accounts probably far more brash than I normally am. It is amazing how different environments and people can affect you.

[00:01:49] But patience is a huge part of creating a better life. Very little is accomplished without patience. I, in fact, have sat here patiently for the last 45 minutes thinking of how to formulate into words the feelings I'm having. It seems simple now, but for the last 45 minutes, I have been trying to describe patience.

[00:02:11] And as I sat here, I had to have a good attitude. Instead of thinking, I'm tired, it's late, why can't I come up with any good ideas? I had to trust that I would find a way. Because I found a way every single day for the last 50 or so days. Patience is not just enduring something akin to suffering. It's persevering with a calm heart, a trusting heart.

[00:02:38] As the saying goes, all good things take time. Be worthy of the good thing. Wait with a good attitude.

[00:02:47] When I hear the phrase, be worthy, love, and love will come. I think of a person squaring their shoulders, lifting their chin, shaking off despair, and doing the right thing, even when there seems to be no point to it. Doing the right things for the sake of the right things themselves.

[00:03:06] Perhaps there are rewards to be discovered in being patient, rather than just what might come at the end of being patient. We do not know what we do not know, and we cannot know if we aren't patient. So, here I am, reminding myself, and you, to be patient. To not worry as you see others racing along on whatever it is they are doing. Maybe you believe in fate, and maybe you don't. It is true that what happens, happens. We can practice patience and do what we can with what we have and be worthy that way.

[00:03:54] I don't know exactly how to have a good attitude sometimes, maybe. Except to just, you know, have a good attitude.

[00:04:07] But I think it's not really patience if you don't have a good attitude. Then it's just waiting with a bad attitude. So let's be patient with ourselves and with the people around us because we don't know what they're going through, just like they don't know what we are going through. And let's give each other some grace and be worthy of each other and our company.

[00:04:43] Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow?