Good Read: The Power of Patience by M.J. Ryan

Good Read: The Power of Patience by M.J. Ryan

I finished reading The Power of Patience by M.J. Ryan.  This book offers many different ways of looking at patience and practicing patience each day.  I really enjoyed this book.  I found this book easy to read and filled with helpful information and various perspectives concerning patience.  Doug, my husband, has the most patience of anyone I have ever met.

The portion of this book that resonated with me discussed patience in relation to receptivity.  Here is a quote from this book.  “However, the receptive energy of patience is real work!  It takes effort to not simply run off and do something for the sake of doing it, to live in the unknown for as long as it takes without becoming angry, bitter, or depressed.  It may look like nothing on the surface.  But underneath, within ourselves, we’re lifting some heavy timber.”

“Sometimes no amount of dynamic energy will get us what we want.  At those times, all we can do is stop and wait patiently for the future to unfold.  This capacity to wait expectantly, opening ourselves up to help from the universe is what receptivity is all about.  Not everything can be accomplished through willpower — sometimes what we need is a bit of wait power.”

I found this premise outlined above to be powerful — sometimes we need a bit of “wait power” versus taking action.  I find sometimes it is difficult to determine, depending on the circumstances, whether to “take action” or not.  Sometimes, no action is a form of action.

Below are a few more quotes from this book that really struck a chord with me.

“Waiting patiently asks us to allow life to move through and transform us as we bend like cattails in the wind, twisting and turning but somehow surviving.”

“Patience is created when we keep our eyes on the big picture and don’t get so caught up in the minutia of our daily lives.  It’s like having a wide-angle lens on a camera as well as a zoom.  Up close, even a molehill can seem overwhelming; from a distance, we can see that in fact it’s not a mountain.  The good news is that you’re holding the camera — and can switch lenses anytime you want.”

“Patience is the willingness to be in the now exactly as it is.  Even if we wish or hope or pray that someday it will change, patience allows us to live as happily and contentedly as possible right now.”

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to increase his/her awareness concerning patience.