Patience You Must Have!

It seems that I need more patience!

I am told by many many people that it must take a lot of patience working as a teacher. I guess it does to some degree and I feel like I definitely have patience (the majority of the time!) with the little humans in my care! (We are only human and are allowed to have moments where patience is lacking!)

However....when it comes to myself? Well, that can be a different story!

I find it increasingly intriguing that the universe gives you a shove in the direction you need to go or teaches you a lesson you need to learn by sending the same message through a variety and a number of different sources.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had a number of people say to me - 

You have to be patient and be okay with not knowing the outcome or not knowing everything yet.

I have even commented to others numerous times over the last few months about needing to be more patient - not only with waiting for things to happen or progress but also with myself!

It has been brought to my attention a few times - especially in the last week. 

As a classroom teacher, in a grade one classroom, a high level of patience is definitely required.

As we moved through the first week back of this new school term, I watched my group of little humans dive back into the swing of things with enthusiasm and gusto! They were keen, they were happy and they had a fabulous first week back.

I have spent all of this year teaching them about talking to their brain and reminding them learning is a process and to be patient and to trust themselves as they learn new things. Being the young, trusting souls they are (and when you say something often enough) - they have started to take it all on board. 

I watch them as I give them new things to try that are challenging and unfamiliar and I am constantly amazed at how the majority of them approach tasks with, what appears to be, a relatively calm and patient manner - even in their uncertainty - they are still patient with each other and with themselves. 

My lessons this week have really come from paying a bit more attention to the messages around me and making close observations to the implementation of the lessons I have taught the beautiful little humans in my classroom!

So these are my lessons for you and your little humans! Because, like I say to the kids - we learn best when we learn from each other! 

 Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy. We don't start out knowing everything we need to know and that is okay! But in order for things to become easier, we have to take the risk and get started and be patient with the learning process.

 Be positive, be patient, be persistent. Stick with it. It's okay not to know but it's not okay not to try!

 You don't have to know everything to start! I have a habit of needing all my 'ducks in a row' and trying to figure things out and understand it all before I even get started. The problem is - because learning is a process, there is no way you are ever going to know everything at the beginning! You have to be okay with that!

 Stay patient and trust your journey. Whether we are 5 years old or 50 years old. Learning is a process and a journey. Be patient with yourself and trust you are heading in the right direction. You will learn to know if it's not the right direction by the lessons you learn along the way!

 We don't have to know the outcome before we start! We just don't! The funny thing is, most times, the outcome we end up with is different to the one we thought it was going to be!

 Have patience with all things but first of all yourself. This is a big one - for all of us. My experience is, we have a tendency to be more impatient about the things we think we 'should' know or be able to do! We can not have as much as patience for others as we would like if we are first not patient with ourselves.

Our job, as adults, is to model and teach our little humans with our actions as well as our words. Remind them to be patient with themselves and to trust what they know. They are little, they have a built-in 'instant gratification and results' system! They want to be able to know how to do things the first time they try! They rely on certainty. It is our job to teach them that patience with yourself is important and that it is okay not to know it all right now!

Sometimes what we want doesn't happen when or how we want it to. Everything comes to us at the right moment. 

As adults, we learn this but as little humans, we are not aware of it. So it is our responsibility to teach this in a way that is easy to understand.

Lessons for our little ones (& ourselves :D) - 

 Since you don't know everything yet - don't be afraid to ask for help! That is always a great first step!

 You are being trained but you still have a lot to learn! Our kids are at the very beginning of the journey! They have so much further to go! 

 Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt and uncertainty. Start with shaking hands. Start with a voice trembling but start. Start where you are and start with what you have. It's okay to be afraid and nervous and unsure. We all feel that way. But getting started and taking the risk is the only way to feel less uncertain!

 We can always get better even if you have no idea what that looks like! But we can begin to create the energy of what we want! Because language has power, we can help our little humans to visualise and bring things to life with the right focus, action, consistency and effort. It is the same process for us as for them - they just need to learn it like we do!

 Patience is the ability to count down before you blast off! It's the countdown to what you are learning, what you want, what you are creating. Overnight success does not happen overnight! It requires the patience of the countdown that leads to the success of the blast off at the end!

Be patient with yourself. There is no greater investment!

Patience is the companion of wisdom.

Saint Augustine

Until next week my friends....have a mindful and patient week!

Clarissa xo