The Wisdom Of Patience

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” Saint Augustine

Patience.  I recall a student saying to me years ago in all earnestness “I know I need patience, I just need it right now!” Eventually we laughed, but in the moment, he truly couldn’t see the forest for the trees.Today as never before society and our lives move at a breakneck pace. Today I laugh when I realize I’m starting to feel annoyed when downloading something and it takes more than a minute. When the internet was new updates often took hours, sometimes over night to download, or irritated when ordering something online and they don’t offer same day shipping. Most reading this won’t remember the standard tag line when you ordered something pre-internet: “expected delivery time 4 to 6 weeks.”

I grew up in a world of newspapers and magazines and 30-minute daily broadcasts of Walter Cronkite (or Huntley and Brinkley) to report the day’s news. Phones were attached to walls. Portable music was a transistor radio and the playlist consisted of whatever the station chooses to broadcast. For research: hard bound Encyclopedias and trips to the library. Spell check was a dictionary. Coffee was black, though cream and sugar were available, and out in the world if you wanted to grab a quick cup the local donut shop was often the destination, usually poured by someone 40ish who clearly enjoyed doughnuts wearing a stained white all-purpose apron and a hairnet. 

Now don’t misunderstand, I love the technological advances of the last few decades and readily avail myself of them. I don’t want to go back. But we all need to remind ourselves daily to slow down, take a breath and enjoy the day. When we practice this habitually, there is much less chance of becoming impatient when someone has 17 items in the 15-itemmax checkout line, or who takes 5 minutes (at least it feels like it) to order a cup of “coffee.” We slow down by taking a break, a time out from the world. We turn off the phone, Laptop, Tablet, the TV and just enjoy a few quiet minutes of solitude, every day. By doing this we drop our stress levels and become more efficient (clinical studies show this to be true) and instead of being annoyed you will find yourself smiling the next time the person in front of you orders a half caff double pump mocha Frappuccino with a splash of vanilla extra whip with Hazelnut sprinkle’s in a double cup, with a sleeve of course, from that stylish 20 something Barista in the designer bib.

Miracles Of Recovery 

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

Miracles Of Recovery, Overdose Death, Alcoholism, Wayne Dyer, Drug Addiction, Zen, Emmet Fox, Opioids, Heroin,Einstein, AA, Healing Path Recovery, Drug Rehab, #Drug Addiction, #Drug Rehab,#Healing Path Recovery, #Heroin, #Opioids

Published by Vincent Lee Jones

Silk sheets or city streets, Park Avenue or park bench, addiction is an equal opportunity destroyer of lives. My name is Vincent Lee Jones and I have been in recovery since September 1985. My professional career began when I was nearly 20 years in recovery and was asked to work pro bono with at risk students at Huntington Beach High School. At the time I had developed a reputation within the at large recovery community as an effective communicator and was known to some of the faculty. After the death of two students from prescription drugs I was asked to start working with at risk students, which I did for nearly 5 years. Word of mouth lead to offers of compensated freelance Facilitator and Director positions with numerous local treatment facilities in the ensuing years. As a retired Building Contractor/Designer, working in conjunction with a treatment facility, I created a construction program utilizing a workforce comprised almost exclusively of people new or returning to recovery, helping them to not only learn a trade and start making a living but since many of them had relapsed numerous times, to begin truly building a foundation with real aftercare to live free of active addiction. This program changed many lives. In my 30+ years in recovery I have worked with thousands of individuals from all walks of life, teenagers to the retired, famous to infamous, prosperous to those living hand to mouth, adamant atheists to those embracing strong Religious beliefs; suffering from all manner of intoxicant and behavior-based addictions as well as those who love and care about them, both as a member in recovery Fellowships and as a treatment professional. I can be contacted at 714-366-1725. I write and publish daily a recovery based nondenominational spiritually based blog at https://livinginspirit.blogspot.com with accompanying videos that can be found as well on YouTube and LinkedIn at Vincent Lee Jones.

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