The Patience to Wait

I’m fascinated by what I learned about the Chinese symbol for “patience”. The Chinese symbol for “heart” represents the organ that pumps blood and gives life. It also represents feelings and emotions and will. When the symbol for heart is placed in the middle of the symbols for person and embrace, it becomes love. But when the symbol for heart is combined with the symbol of a sword, you get the Chinese word for Patience. It means “to bear something painful in the heart”.


The picture for me is this: if I am backed into a corner, and there is a knife pressed against my chest, to make an unplanned, sudden move is sure death. I must remain still, gather my thoughts and composure, and don’t make a move without absolute intention.

It makes perfect sense to me that Patience is often characterized by something that is painful. And pain is something I want to avoid. But, in my attempts to get out of troubles as quickly as possible, I just might make my troubles worse.

I learned that The Tao teaches that right actions will present themselves to us if we are patient. A glass of muddy water will not clear if you are constantly stirring it. Only when you have the patience to be still and wait will the water become clear.

"Do you have the patience to wait

till your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving

till the right action arises by itself?

The Master doesn't seek fulfillment,

but not seeking, not expecting,

is present, and can welcome all things."

Tao Teh Ching, Lao Tzu

This just gets better!   Take the Chinese symbol for “heart” and combine it with the symbol for “presence”, and you get “Intention”. Intention drives us towards our highest calling, but it begins with Presence, or stillness. First, Be Still – Be Present, exactly where you are Just Now. Then you can begin to set your Intentions on what is right in your heart.

It is through stillness and patience and deliberate intent that we are able to endure.

“There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives.” Romans 5:3-5, The Bible (The Message)

Be still, gather your thoughts, and move toward your calling with absolute intention. Then just TRY to contain what The Universe sends to you.

Patience. Presence. Intention. And it all started with Heart!

Here’s something else I like. The symbol for Heart looks like a child’s drawing of a house. When we are following our hearts, we aren’t strangers in our own skin. It feels like Home!