It is not anything from the outside that causes you frustration. Certainly you think frustration comes from the outside, but you are the invoker of it. If you cannot tie your shoelace, you feel frustrated, but all that happened was you could not tie your shoelace. Do you see the leap of thought that leads to frustration? What reproach do you give yourself that creates the frustration?
An ant tries to climb a little mound. He falls down. He climbs again. Calmly the ant tries again. He does not get into a frenzy. He does not call himself names.
When you get caught in traffic, you honk your horn.
When you are late, or someone else is late, you scream inside.
When you try to put a bicycle together, and the directions are too complicated and the print too small, you could cry.
By what law of the universe have you decided you must feel frustrated?
You have called something defeat or obstacle or impossibility. You have put a boundary up before you. Too hard, you say. Too frustrating, you say.
Make other determinations.
Say to yourself: “Wonderful. Here is something for me to figure out.” Or: “Wonderful, here is something that isn’t as I planned.” Or: “So my friend is late. Here is an opportunity for me to enjoy my surroundings. Here is an opportunity for me to slow down. I have desired to slow down. The universe is answering me.”
Instead of frustration, find joy.
Enjoy the chase.
There is nothing you have to have in this moment. And you also do not have to stub your toe.
When you are not impatient, you will not have to learn patience. Is this not a wonderful thing? There is no need to be patient. There is need to get over being impatient.
Your engine can run very well without the steam of impatience.
Just think what life will be when there is no longer the impertinence of impatience! Every customer service person will be happy to serve you, and you will be happy with the service you receive. There will be no more hanging up the phone in a huff. No feet will ever stamp. There will be no breaking things. Life will indeed become a stroll in the park simply because impatience has left the planet.
When impatience leaves the arsenal of the world, no teacher will say any child is slow, for each child will be allowed his own pace. Joy of learning will replace frustration. Everything the child doesn’t know will please him. Learning will become an adventure, and school a sport.
From this day forward, denounce any flurry of impatience within you. Tell it you have no need for it, and that it is unwelcome. Tell impatience that it can go wherever impatience goes when its presence is not required.
How pleased you will be with life when you no longer bang your head against a stone wall. Why would you when you know you can manage all that comes your way, when you know you don’t have to manage it this very day, when you know there is a learning curve of life, and that you are on it.
Without impatience and resultant frustration, there will be the long-sought after peace on Earth. You thought peace had to arrive through other people or from governments, and now you know that you are the one who is to bring peace to the world. What you feel inside you reaches everywhere.
Your frustration has reached, and now it is peace that you will surrender to the world. You will be the settler of all arguments. You will be the determiner of peace in your own heart, and, therefore, the world’s, and for that, I thank you.