4 Reasons to Cultivate Patience

4 Reasons to Cultivate Patience
It's easy to get irritated after 10 minutes of pushing numbers trying to reach a human being, but what good does it do? And what would life be like if these common annoyances didn't bother you? TWStock/Shutterstock
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As virtues go, patience is a quiet one.

It’s often exhibited by the absence of a reaction, or behind closed doors rather than a public stage: A father telling a third bedtime story to his son, a dancer waiting for her injury to heal. In public, it’s the impatient ones who grab all our attention: drivers honking in traffic, grumbling customers in slow-moving lines. We have epic movies exalting the virtues of courage and compassion, but a movie about patience might be a bit of a snoozer.

Kira M. Newman
Kira M. Newman
Author
Kira M. Newman is the managing editor of Greater Good. Her work has been published in outlets including The Washington Post, Mindful magazine, Social Media Monthly, and Tech.co, and she is the co-editor of The Gratitude Project. This article was originally published on the Greater Good online magazine.
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