In a recent interview with author Allan Lokos we discussed his new book entitled ” Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living“.
Allan’s book was born one summer evening when a dear friend made a comment “Just about every mistake I have every made and every unkind word I have ever spoken might have been avoided if I had been more patient.” Allan thought that this was a stunning statement revealing remarkable insight, and it was the birth of this book.
The development of genuine, open-minded patience may very well lead one to also examine one’s experience of anger and its root causes. Although impatience and anger are not the same, they live in the same neighborhood states Allan. In fact, it is as if they live in the same house with barely a flimsy curtain between them, anger ready to join in when impatience shows the slightest interest in emerging from its thin-shelled cocoon. Not coincidentally, the journey that develops patience is traveled along a path similar to that which undermines the deceiving appeal of anger and what at times can appear to be anger’s uncontrollable nature.
The development of patience requires an understanding of the root causes of our stress, anxiety, and frustration. Then we must be willing to relinquish the type of thinking that leads to the loss of patience. Although anger and patience are not opposites, they can be thought of as two side of the same coin. When one side is visible the other is hard to see. When one side is active the other is unlikely to emerge.
Allan is a teacher of Buddhist practices and his approach is not to get attached to the emotions that anger and frustration stur up within one. To become more mindful from moment to moment which includes being nonjudgmental. Because of anger’s enormous potential for danger, it would be an exaggeration to say we call on patience to come to the rescue, to save the day, perhaps even to save a life. The courageous act of starting to address one’s anger and develop greater patience is, to me , a sacred act. The simple act of pausing invites the mind and body to stop, to allow fiery thoughts to cool and subside before giving them expression.
If you want to cultivate more patience and reduce the dangers of anger and frustration, then you ought to read and take in the very important message of “Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living“. This is a book worth the read, and especially in the complex world we are living in today that frequently tests our patience.
If you would like more information about Allan Lokos and his new book please click here to be directed to his YouTube video.
Leave a Reply