Possibility is patient. 

Other things that are patient: Death. Sometimes. Other times, not so much.

Sometimes, it comes and grabs you in your cut-offs and yellow I Survived The Bermuda Triangle t-shirt at 11:01 on a Tuesday in July. It grabs you as you take your watch off to put it on the nightstand next to your cigarettes. Like it can’t wait a moment longer. Other times, it lingers patiently, knowing it will find you when needed, wherever you may be, and that there’s no hurry. For it to take you now, in a flash, would be rash and unfair. Sometimes it is a patient thing waiting in a corner until the time is right. Like most things, it can’t always be just one way.

The Patience of your Voice

Sometimes, it takes years to find, until one day you do, and on that day, you walk into a room knowing fully who you are in the world. The voice that has so patiently waited for you fills you with your personality, your you-ness. You may not feel it rejoice, but it does. It has waited silently in a corner for you that long without making a peep. It throws a little party in your soul, and although you may think it is just excitement or too much coffee, it is your voice, moving in finally. For good.

Heartbreak

Heartbreak is patient. It doesn’t care where you have to go or who you have to be. It doesn’t care. It is patient. It takes its time and does what it needs to do quietly, methodically, slowly. It crawls. It stops time and waits for the people to cross the street and the cars to go. It’s that patient.

Pain

Oh, the patience of anguish. It waits for you at night and is there for you in the morning, no matter how slowly you may be moving that day and how long it takes for the coffee to kick in. Your pain waits in your body. It waits in your heart. Like a loyal friend you’ve had since childhood and no matter how neglected that friendship is, it still stands. Your pain calls every once in a while and patiently waits for you to answer.

Wisdom

Sometimes it takes forever to arrive. Sometimes, and hopefully this isn’t true for you, it never arrives.

Dogs

They love. Endlessly. Without asking for much, they will jump on you when you finally arrive home, no matter how long you’ve left them.

I have also discovered the patience of miracles and how, when you wait for them, they will show up, often in disguise but there nonetheless. 

Other patient things: Yoga and how it meets you time and time again. Love, even when you have sworn off it for the last time. A breathtaking set of words and how they sit patiently and marinate in your mind until they are entirely a part of you. Healing, which can wait until you are blue in the face before it sits down and makes itself at home. A good glass of wine and how it lingers and develops a nose, a body, a personality.

When you think of all the things that are patient, it is truly remarkable to think that it is usually us that are the impatient ones. It is me that wants it now. It is me that wants my book written and published.

And for what? Isn’t the journey part of the joy? Mustn’t it be?

I remember realizing while I was trying to be an actor how unhappy I was, and knowing that if I booked a lead on a TV show, I would still be unhappy. I knew that. So, in essence, I was admitting that the journey stank. That I hated it.

I love my journey now. So, I must have patience. There is so much possibility within these pages. Possibility is endless in its patience by definition.

Poetry is patient. Love is patient (although I think that is from the Bible, and if so, then love is also kind).

My life is patient. It has waited for me this long.

Then, it can wait a little longer. It can hold its horses and take a seat next to love and poetry, sunsets and the cycles of the moon, and my husband, who is so very patient.

My life can patiently unfold as I write my book and live beat to beat.

Possibility will unfold, shyly or like a thunderbolt, unexpected and without rain.

Anything good is worth waiting for.

Share with us—what you are willing to be patient for?

Jennifer Pastiloff was recently featured on Good Morning America. She is a yoga teacher, writer, and advocate for children with special needs based in L.A. She is also the creator of Manifestation Yoga® and leads retreats and workshops all over the world. Jennifer is currently writing a book and has a popular daily blog called Manifestation Station. Find her on Facebook and Twitter and take one of her yoga classes online at Yogis Anonymous.

Jen will be leading a Manifestation Yoga® weekend retreat at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in the Berkshires, Massachusetts Feb 1-3, 2013.

*Photo by Lst1984.