Persistently Patient

Patience is a learned skill that takes persistence.

 Grasshopper Notes are the writings from America's Best Known Hypnotherapist John Morgan. His podcasts contain his most responded to essays and blog posts from the past two decades. 

Find the written versions of these podcasts on John's podcasting site: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1628038

"The Grasshopper" is the part of you that whispers pearls of wisdom that  seem to pop into your mind from out of the blue. John's essays and blog posts are his interpretations of these "Nips of Nectar." Others have labeled his writings as timeless wisdom. 

Most of the John's writings revolve around self improvement and self help. They address topics like:

• Mindfulness
• Peace of mind
• Creativity
• How to stay in the present moment
• Spirituality
• Behavior improvement

And stories that transform you to a wider sense of awareness that presents more options. And isn't that what we all want, more options? 

John uploads these podcasts on a regular basis. So check back often to hear these podcasts heard around the world. Who wants to be the next person to change? 

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Transcript

Persistently Patient

Here’s something I’ve been kicking around . . .

Don’t you kind of have to be persistent . . . to be patient?

I mean, the more I think about it, the more it feels like patience and persistence aren’t opposites at all - they’re just two sides of the same coin.

Now, full disclosure . . . I have not exactly been the poster child for patience. Anyone who knows me is probably smiling right now.

But my definition of patience has changed over time. These days, I think of it pretty simply:

It’s waiting . . . the time that it takes.

And here’s the catch – sometimes it takes a lot of persistence to wait that long.

Because patience isn’t passive. It’s not just sitting around doing nothing. There’s a mindset to it. It's that ability to, like athletes say, “let the game come to you.”

Now don’t get me wrong – I like to make things happen. I like momentum. I like progress. That takes persistence.

But even when you’ve done everything right . . . taken all the steps . . . made all the moves . . . There’s still a gap.

There’s still a stretch of time where the result hasn’t caught up yet.

That’s where patience lives.

And patience? It takes practice. And practice . . . takes persistence.

I’ve definitely been guilty of pulling the plug too early. Walking away before something had the chance to work.

That’s a lack of patience.

But on the flip side . . . refusing to let go of something that isn’t working? That’s a lack of awareness – and misplaced persistence.

Being totally honest . . . some things are just never gonna work.

And at a certain point, being “patient” with them isn’t noble – it’s just spinning your wheels.

So how do you know the difference? How do you know what’s worth sticking with?

I don’t have a clean, neat answer.

It’s a little like that old line from the Supreme Court justice who said he couldn’t define it—but “I know it when I see it.”

For me, it’s more of a feeling now – a sensation.

A kind of internal signal.

And the older I get, the more I trust it.

It tells me when to stay the course . . . and when it’s time to redirect that persistence somewhere else.

Because if we’re being honest, as a society, we’re not great at patience.

We want things fast. Immediate. Yesterday.

But maybe what we really need . . . is to be more persistent in developing patience.

Because patience, at its core, is trust.

Trust in the process. Trust in timing. And for me, trust that gut feeling that says either “stay with it” . . . or “move on.”

At the end of the day, it’s a bit like baking cakes.

Some things just take the time they take.

You can’t rush it. You can’t force it.

All you can do . . . is persist being patient long enough for it to be ready.

All the best,

John