-Trishna Patnaik, Mumbai based fine artist, art therapist and healer
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” — Harriet Tubman
The connection between Patience and Passion? Both words stem from the same latin root — pati — which means to suffer. We too often think that those who are passionate about life or their work do not have any difficulty. We think it comes easy to them. Well, that is not true.
Passion is cultivated. We’re not born with it. The cost of sacrifices builds the passion. The patience to achieve the top of their game builds passion. Along the way, we don’t even notice how deep the passion has become. It takes less effort to be patient. The work becomes easier. The ability to achieve becomes easier.
The act of waiting makes us more successful. A lot of research has concluded: people who exercise more patience and self-control are more successful. These people are leading their lives, and letting their lives be led by external forces. When we decide to wait for something, our perceived value of that thing goes up.
The Challenge: Wait for something
Pick something to wait for. It can be anything. Perhaps it’s better to find something that aligns with an area where you’re trying to cultivate action. Or, with this exercise, you might want to keep it simple. Let’s test this idea of waiting to increase the value of something.
On a small scale, this is what it feels like to achieve a goal that required massive effort to accomplish. You work hard every day. You make sacrifices. You wait. Slowly it comes together, and your mind reinforces the value of that goal. A passion is formed.
Passion is very discontent, but Patience is calm and quiet.
Passion represents those of this world who live only for the here and now. Patience depicts those who have had their hearts conquered by grace and subdued by God’s Spirit. Patience is content to wait for the best things, things that are lasting and eternal. Those who are spiritually minded can endure the trials of this life with joy, because they know the best is yet to come.
Passion Needs Patience
We all have passions. Many which remained unfulfilled, even unspoken. Passions tend to run wild in the face of worldly order. So taming those takes patience. A great deal of patience; more than you can ever imagine and possibly ever give. And the reality is stark. Not everyone can fulfil their passions and be patient enough.
But to those who are patient – or at least, those who think they are – three perilous stages lie ahead.
Few will believe in your dream, yet your mission is to win the hearts of many.
Fear will gnaw away your convictions, yet your faith is what holds you together.
Fail and fail you will, yet your success is never guaranteed.
Let’s face it. Not everyone who sets out on this perilous journey will reach to their desired destination. Most will get lost; give up halfway and never set foot on the shores of paradise. Worse case, you might return as a broken person, humbled tenfold and vowing never to trust in your passions and abilities ever again.
Raw skill is not enough. And neither is wisdom. To pull through till the end, you need to stay the course. There will be stormy and sleepless nights aplenty. There will be backstabbers even the trusted ones will do that. There will be lonely moments where you wish you could turn back the clock so that you would not have embarked on this fool’s errand at all.
Your mind will break, your body will fall. Over and over again.
Patience and passion, though, appear to be contradictory but are, in fact, two sides of the same coin. The Patience is the shield of Leadership, and the Passion is a sword. When one is lacking, we tend to lean to one side. One without the other leads to pain, penitence, and penury.
Patience is not indifference; patience conveys the idea of an immensely strong rock withstanding all onslaughts. The vision of God is the source of patience, because it imparts a moral inspiration.
Patience gives us the persistence to carry out things that will lead us to a long term goal and helps us realize that success will come to those who keep trying.
Benefit of being patient:
Helps Focus on Long Term Goals.
Make More Rational Choices.
Helps to improve Personal Relationships.
Builds our Reputation for Persistence.
Helps to Develop a Skill Set.
Improves Physical and Mental Health.
Inspires to Practice Faith and Kindness.
Brings Peace.
It needs constant cultivation and nurtures a practice of patience to benefit relationships with self, others, and every area of life. A lot of research has concluded that people who exercise more patience and self-control are more successful. Patience is an ornament of the braves.
PASSION
Passion is a feeling of intense enthusiasm towards or compelling desire for someone
or something. Passion can range from eager interest in or admiration for an idea
or cause; to enthusiastic enjoyment of an interest or activity; to strong
attraction, excitement, or emotion towards a person.
Passion gives us purpose, but more than that, it makes us feel that we have a purpose in our lives. Being passionate doesn’t just about know – it’s also about feeling. That’s what makes passion so important; it makes us feel that we’re on the right path in life and give us hope for a happy and exciting future. Passionate people lead significantly different lives from their less-than-enthusiastic counterparts.
Here are a few benefits of passion:
Passion brings energy
Passion creates change and movement.
Passion creates a positive environment.
Passion ignites others.
Passion drives vision.
Passion increases influence.
“Passion is the fire that fuels your journey through life. Nothing great in the world
has been accomplished without passion.”- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
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