Frustration happens. It’s part of being human. The morning, each afternoon, during the evening, and every night are all times when these feelings creep upon us. Rejection. Disappointment. One can drive themselves crazy, even behave irritably, while cowering to the stresses that tower before us. Many self-defeating reactions alienate and nullify positives in life and bring out the worst in people. Or we can transform frustration with patience. And master it. Patience doesn’t mean passivity or resignation, but it does mean power. Patience is an emotionally freeing practice of waiting, watching, and knowing when to act. Being instinctual while being intelligent. Calculating. Patience is a form of compassion, a re-attuning to intuition, a way to emotionally redeem oneself when one becomes lost in a world filled with frustration. To frustrate means to obstruct or make it ineffectual. Frustration is a feeling of agitation and intolerance triggered when arriving at a lacking need. It’s an inability to delay gratification. Without patience, we are our own worst taskmasters. But with patience, we can step back and refocus ourselves. Patience gives us the liberating breath that reminds us of our mental freedoms. Our physical limits. To be fully alive we must not become slaves to frustration, but masters of patience.
