Impatience: The enemy of a calm mindset
It might seem like your mood is inescapable when you’re impatient, but you can improve your mindset with these tips.
Connect with logic – Impatience threatens to disconnect you from logical thought. When people are angry, they detach from logic. The part of their brains that manage reason dampens in favour of fight-or-flight, a stress response.
Logic dims because your system recognizes the need to give extra energy to survival. Of course, when you’re impatient because you’re stuck in a traffic jam or with someone who annoys you, your life isn’t in danger. Your brain notes your frustration, though, and begins to shift away from reason to help you escape, or get rid of, whatever causes your angst.
At such a time, you need to engage your reasoning ability. You can achieve your aim by taking take deep breaths. The breath is associated with fight-or-flight and calm. If your breathing is shallow and fast, you prepare to battle or flee. When your breaths are low and slow, your parasympathetic system turns on and makes you calm. So, take deep, long breaths when impatience arises.
Shift your emotions toward your heart – You can’t think from your heart, but you can arouse emotions from the area. Your heart contains neurons that communicate with the rest of your body and brain. Place your hand over your heart to help you focus in the right area and breathe deep. Think about someone or something that makes you happy and grateful. Picture the person, pet, place, or activity that brings you joy, and continue to breathe slowly. Your impatience will decrease, and you’ll feel better.
Tune into other people’s needs – If a person rather than a situation makes you impatient, step into their shoes for a while. Imagine the slow driver in front of you is lost and looking for a place to turn. Recognize your friend who doesn’t listen to what you say is preoccupied.
Forgiveness will come easy if you recognize why people behave in ways you dislike. Often, they are busy trying to accomplish their goals too.
Retain a sense of humour – Pause to note circumstances might be funny when you are impatient. Maybe you can laugh at yourself after getting mad at your computer. After all, it’s only a piece of equipment. It’s a helpful gadget, yes. But it doesn’t have emotions, and there’s no point in getting frustrated with it.
