Everyone gets impatient sometimes, like when your kid is having a meltdown in the middle of the grocery store or you’re stuck in traffic on the way to a really important meeting. It’s tough to stay calm in the face of those frustrations, which is why we curse, grit our teeth and sometimes snap at innocent bystanders. And while impatience isn’t always a bad thing, Sarah Schnitker, patience researcher and associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University, explains that people who are chronically impatient can experience more stress, which raises their risk of health problems, like cardiovascular issues.
Some people are naturally more patient than others, but she says “we’re not doomed to whatever kind of natural patience we have.” We can cultivate our patience and make it easier for ourselves to wait, but it doesn’t happen overnight. These are Schnitker’s recommendations for developing more patience:
- Change your perspective - Cognitive reappraisal is the technical term for thinking about the situation from a new perspective.
- Look for the positives - Asking yourself what good things can come from the negative situation can help you wait in the moment.
- Practice patience with minor things - Work on your habit of being patient with minor things, like when the elevator is slow, so you’ve got skills built up when a more high-stakes situation comes up.
- Meditate - Practicing meditation or just being more mindful is associated with higher patience.
- Increase emotional fluency - This is the ability to recognize and name your emotions and it makes it easier to evaluate situations both in the moment and afterward. “If you change the way you think, that changes how you feel,” Schnitker explains, “But first, you need to know what you feel.”
- Be patient when developing patience - There’s no quick fix, but it won’t take forever. And being patient has a lot of upsides, including those who have higher patience tend to have more empathy. People who are more patient also have higher well-being, more life satisfaction, hope and self-esteem, as well as fewer health issues, like headaches and ulcers.
Source: CNN
Photo: Getty Images