Season Two
Episode 53
Sunday Sip: Patience
Hello friends and welcome to Sunday Sip on Afternoon Ti. Each Sunday for the remainder of the year I plan to share a single idea, thought, or meaningful take-away in hopes that you'll be encouraged and inspired as you prepare to enter the next week of teaching.
I'm not sure what your week looked like, but mine was disjointed. Dallas was hit by tornadoes last Sunday night. Our home was right at the top of the line of the storms as the tornado went by. The sirens were going off - power went out - we spent time in the closet listening to strong winds. We were mildly inconvenienced with no side effects to deal with except a few large branches. If you drive a quarter to a half of a mile south in our neighborhood there is massive destruction - trees pulled from the roots laying on top of homes, entire roofs ripped off houses, shopping centers completely gutted. It's really shocking to see the devastation. Several of my students were impacted as their homes are either total losses, uninhabitable for a while until power is restored, or partial damage done. And in talking to families they all said how grateful they were that they were all physically okay. All of our families are safe and alive. A total blessing.
School was cancelled Monday. The girls and I stayed home for most of the day and went north to pick up some soccer gear for tryouts that were coming up. Jeremy drove south to work in the morning using a different route and with all the road closures - particularly one road where the line of the tornado had gone - it was a struggle to find a way home at the end of the day. He left work at 5pm and didn't get home until almost 7:30pm. Typically his drive is about 12 minutes so this was a crazy long drive. As we've tried to get the girls to their usual things around town this week, we've found our anxiety and frustration higher than normal. Everyone is driving skittish and impatient so the driving - swerving out of lanes, honking of horns, long lines with people putting cars into park, cutting off other drivers to get over - it's been at a higher level than normal. Lots of posts have gone up in our community page as to how to get around the city because you'll be driving on what appears to be an open road only to find it stops and you have to turn around despite Waze or other apps showing you that it's drivable. I wrote one and the answers helped me give Jeremy information about how others had made it home. When Jeremy was taking hours to get home on Monday night and he was at a peak of frustration, it was easy for me to tell him to remember how fortunate we are and how it could be so much worse. We still have a home to live in, a roof intact, and to just turn on a long podcast series or listen to music and sing. It was easy for me to give him advice while I was at home in comfy clothes and not dealing with traffic that was dead stopped everywhere. But being out in traffic myself was a much harder thing to deal with. I came so close to being hit multiple times or hitting someone because of how often people were merging quickly or signs weren't posted well so lanes were ending. It's harder to be in the midst of things and maintain patience than it is to be on the outside telling someone to have patience.
Patience is described as the ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay or quiet steady perseverance. Also maintaining even tempered care and diligence. Leo Tolstoy, one of my all-time favorite writers, said the two most powerful warriors are patience and time. And one of my favorite bible verses is Galations 6:9: "Let us not become weary in doing good - for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Is there something that is asking for your patience today?
Is there something that you want to happen soon, but you're having to give it more time to come about?
Are you tired and wanting to give in and need encouragement to know that you can do this - one day, one minute at a time - and that the result will be amazing if you just keep going?
An article in the NY Times in 2018 is titled How to be a More Patient Person. Many of us want to be a more patient person. Building our patience often means being in situations where we have a choice to be patient or not and working through that situation or with that person while working to be patient. It's something we have to practice.
A 2012 study in the Journal of Positive Psychology showed that there are three expressions of patience:
1 - Interpersonal: remaining calm while dealing with an upset, angry, or bothersome person
2 - Hard things in life: finding the good within a difficult situation or setback
3 - Daily annoyances: keeping patient while dealing with delays or irritations...things that might make you want to post on social media in a snarky way
What we struggle to find patience in and for depends on what triggers us. I'm preaching to the choir today because I'm in need of giving things time and working to be patient with those around me - my students, my family, myself. My patience with others can be high and my patience with myself low. I can be patient in seeing musical growth in students over a trimester in the classroom, but not patient in seeing larger desires or changes in the music program come over the school year. There's so much I want to teach and learn and do with students and I can grow impatient waiting for these things to come about.
Daily annoyances in the classroom are great times to practice patience. That student who blurted out again? The student who asks what the directions were (after you just gave them)? The announcement that comes over the loudspeaker in the middle of a test? Your morning duty, afternoon duty, lunch duty, carpool duty that is the most frustrating 15-30 minutes of your day? Air too cold or too hot in the classroom? Being asked to cover other teachers' classes or duties because there aren't enough people to go around? Missing out on your planning time because an extra meeting was schedule? Not having enough supplies, instruments, or materials to teach to the best that you're able? Not feeling respected for what you do as a fine arts teacher? How can patience be practiced for these things to be handled differently or better? What outlook or choice can you make that will help make them more positive?
Episode 53
Sunday Sip: Patience
Hello friends and welcome to Sunday Sip on Afternoon Ti. Each Sunday for the remainder of the year I plan to share a single idea, thought, or meaningful take-away in hopes that you'll be encouraged and inspired as you prepare to enter the next week of teaching.
I'm not sure what your week looked like, but mine was disjointed. Dallas was hit by tornadoes last Sunday night. Our home was right at the top of the line of the storms as the tornado went by. The sirens were going off - power went out - we spent time in the closet listening to strong winds. We were mildly inconvenienced with no side effects to deal with except a few large branches. If you drive a quarter to a half of a mile south in our neighborhood there is massive destruction - trees pulled from the roots laying on top of homes, entire roofs ripped off houses, shopping centers completely gutted. It's really shocking to see the devastation. Several of my students were impacted as their homes are either total losses, uninhabitable for a while until power is restored, or partial damage done. And in talking to families they all said how grateful they were that they were all physically okay. All of our families are safe and alive. A total blessing.
School was cancelled Monday. The girls and I stayed home for most of the day and went north to pick up some soccer gear for tryouts that were coming up. Jeremy drove south to work in the morning using a different route and with all the road closures - particularly one road where the line of the tornado had gone - it was a struggle to find a way home at the end of the day. He left work at 5pm and didn't get home until almost 7:30pm. Typically his drive is about 12 minutes so this was a crazy long drive. As we've tried to get the girls to their usual things around town this week, we've found our anxiety and frustration higher than normal. Everyone is driving skittish and impatient so the driving - swerving out of lanes, honking of horns, long lines with people putting cars into park, cutting off other drivers to get over - it's been at a higher level than normal. Lots of posts have gone up in our community page as to how to get around the city because you'll be driving on what appears to be an open road only to find it stops and you have to turn around despite Waze or other apps showing you that it's drivable. I wrote one and the answers helped me give Jeremy information about how others had made it home. When Jeremy was taking hours to get home on Monday night and he was at a peak of frustration, it was easy for me to tell him to remember how fortunate we are and how it could be so much worse. We still have a home to live in, a roof intact, and to just turn on a long podcast series or listen to music and sing. It was easy for me to give him advice while I was at home in comfy clothes and not dealing with traffic that was dead stopped everywhere. But being out in traffic myself was a much harder thing to deal with. I came so close to being hit multiple times or hitting someone because of how often people were merging quickly or signs weren't posted well so lanes were ending. It's harder to be in the midst of things and maintain patience than it is to be on the outside telling someone to have patience.Patience is described as the ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay or quiet steady perseverance. Also maintaining even tempered care and diligence. Leo Tolstoy, one of my all-time favorite writers, said the two most powerful warriors are patience and time. And one of my favorite bible verses is Galations 6:9: "Let us not become weary in doing good - for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Is there something that is asking for your patience today?
Is there something that you want to happen soon, but you're having to give it more time to come about?
Are you tired and wanting to give in and need encouragement to know that you can do this - one day, one minute at a time - and that the result will be amazing if you just keep going?
An article in the NY Times in 2018 is titled How to be a More Patient Person. Many of us want to be a more patient person. Building our patience often means being in situations where we have a choice to be patient or not and working through that situation or with that person while working to be patient. It's something we have to practice.
A 2012 study in the Journal of Positive Psychology showed that there are three expressions of patience:
1 - Interpersonal: remaining calm while dealing with an upset, angry, or bothersome person
2 - Hard things in life: finding the good within a difficult situation or setback
3 - Daily annoyances: keeping patient while dealing with delays or irritations...things that might make you want to post on social media in a snarky way
What we struggle to find patience in and for depends on what triggers us. I'm preaching to the choir today because I'm in need of giving things time and working to be patient with those around me - my students, my family, myself. My patience with others can be high and my patience with myself low. I can be patient in seeing musical growth in students over a trimester in the classroom, but not patient in seeing larger desires or changes in the music program come over the school year. There's so much I want to teach and learn and do with students and I can grow impatient waiting for these things to come about.
Daily annoyances in the classroom are great times to practice patience. That student who blurted out again? The student who asks what the directions were (after you just gave them)? The announcement that comes over the loudspeaker in the middle of a test? Your morning duty, afternoon duty, lunch duty, carpool duty that is the most frustrating 15-30 minutes of your day? Air too cold or too hot in the classroom? Being asked to cover other teachers' classes or duties because there aren't enough people to go around? Missing out on your planning time because an extra meeting was schedule? Not having enough supplies, instruments, or materials to teach to the best that you're able? Not feeling respected for what you do as a fine arts teacher? How can patience be practiced for these things to be handled differently or better? What outlook or choice can you make that will help make them more positive?
How we handle our outer circumstances can be affected by how we handle our inner selves - our thoughts and our reactions. Practicing giving and showing patience can help us develop more patience and produce more calm internally despite what things are happening around us.
Think about your week ahead.
1 - Interpersonally - Think about specific students who need an extra dose of patience, firm kindness and boundaries, but definitely extra patience. Think about the coworker who is driving you crazy for whatever reason - you never know what they’re going through and patience might be the thing they need. Think about your administration - are there things you’re not seeing that you want to be seeing get done or are they not doing something you believe should be happening. Give patience to them. Think about your family. Who needs more patience this week? And think about yourself. How can you be more patient with yourself this week?
2 - Hard things - have you been hit by a difficult situation? What area of this situation can you give patience in? For long term situations that are going to take a while to fix, where can you choose patience?
3 - Daily annoyances - what daily thing is the thing that irritates you every time? Are there things that you need to give up so that you can slow down and enjoy your day more and take some of the stress out of it? What can you choose ahead of time to do for things that you know are likely going to happen that will require practicing patience?
Continue to give your best and expect that good will come of what you’re pouring into your students, your family, and yourself. Give things time. Longer than you anticipate. Then practice patience.
Thanks for joining me for your Sunday sip!
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