Patience is considered to be a virtue. Patience is, indeed, an attractive trait in anyone. But for anyone undergoing group therapy Portland Oregon, being patient takes on a whole new level of importance. Patience is needed with yourself just as much as it’s needed for others. If patience is something that you know you need more of, read on about how to practice patience.
How to Practice Patience by Waiting
Waiting with patience is one way that you can demonstrate this trait. When you’re receiving treatment for addiction, patience is a good trait to have because it promotes your ability to self reflect. By practice patience in your everyday life you are able to enjoy the moment and let your mind rest for a moment. When in situation where patience is required take the time to enjoy this period of self reflection.
Practice patience by training yourself to wait. Do this by arriving early to appointments, so your wait is longer. Let someone else go ahead of you in line even though it’s your turn. Offer to be the last person to speak in group therapy for one or two days. Learning to wait is practicing patience.
Center Yourself When You Feel Impatient
When you start to feel disrupted inside when something feels like it’s taking too long, center yourself. Close your eyes if necessary. Block out what’s going on around you and focus on your own breath. Feel the whole of yourself and relax into yourself. Let the noises of the outside fade away as you become more centered. Before you know it, you’ll find that it’s your turn. That’s one way to practice patience in everyday life.
Change Your Perspective
One of the biggest challenges of being patient is the feeling that something is just taking too long. This is actually just a perception that something is taking longer than you think it should reasonably take. For example, if you’re in a cafeteria standing in line to get lunch, you might think it could take up to 20 minutes if the cafeteria is busy. You certainly wouldn’t think it could take an hour standing in line just to get lunch! If the 20 minutes goes by, and you still don’t have your lunch, you might become impatient because the time limit you created by your perception has been exceeded. But if you change your perception to say, “I really have no idea how long this cafeteria line will take,” then there’s no moment when impatience has to kick in, and you can be patient for however long it takes. Do you see the difference?
Become an Observer
Finally, another way to learn how to practice patience is to become an observer rather than a participant. An observer experiences delays in a different way than a participant. An observer is unaffected by delays. When you take on the role of an observer, you get to watch the goings-on in your surroundings in a way that doesn’t try your patience. You can observe as others get their cafeteria lunch, watch human behavior, and make notes about who is getting impatient and who isn’t. In the meantime, being an observer distracts you from becoming impatient yourself. By the time you realize it, it could be your turn to get your cafeteria lunch.
These are just some ways to practice patience in your everyday life. By learning how to be patient with others, you can learn how to practice patience with yourself, too. If you’d like to learn more about how being patient can actually help your recovery process, or to talk to someone about treatment options, please contact Crestview Recovery Center at 866.262.0531.
Since 2016, Dr. Merle Williamson, a graduate of Oregon Health Sciences University, has been the Medical Director at Crestview Recovery, bringing a rich background in addiction medicine from his time at Hazelden Treatment Center. He oversees outpatient drug and alcohol treatments, providing medical care, setting policies, detox protocols, and quality assurance measures. Before specializing in addiction medicine, he spent 25 years in anesthesiology, serving as Chair of Hospital Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and Chief of Anesthesia at Kaiser Permanente. This experience gives him a unique perspective on treating prescription drug addiction.
