by Godfather

Created on: April 29, 2009

Patience is a trait I've never been good with. My grandpa was never a patient person, which I believe is where I've picked up this wonderful trait. I think you have to walk a fine line on this, when it comes to communicating effectively. Being patient is a good trait to display quite often in our lives. Being calm, cool, and collective will give us more quality in the things we strive to achieve in our lives.

I've really learned to become a more patient person recently in my daily life. I do think patience is needed to communicate effectively. For people to not only communicate, but to get our thoughts out properly. Sometimes we jump the gun on a certain feeling, or emotion. Sometimes our mind is completely cluttered and it's not even really possible to display what we really want, feel, or need to say.

I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes silence is an effective way to communicate. Not to say being silent is effective in communicating. No, what I mean is it's important to have the patience to process our thoughts in our mind, so we're able to communicate them effectively. Sometimes it's better to say nothing, than to say something we've not clearly processed on clear minded level. We need to think things through. If you literally said whatever popped into your mind, how can we ever expect to communicate consistently? It's a two-way stretch, in being able to allow others to communicate with us as well. We need to have the patience to listen, be gentle, allow them to open up with their most inner thoughts. You can't force someone to communicate effectively, it needs to come natural to them. Sometimes that takes time and patience.

I've discovered this with my own girlfriend, a person who I love quite a bit. She's what I'd like to call a careful person. She's careful on how she displays her emotions and brings them out to others. When I was first getting to know her, I didn't really understand that getting to her to communicate effectively was a working process. I didn't realize how difficult it is for her to communicate without the fear of hurt or disappointment. The working process in her communicating with me effectively began with trust. For her to be able to trust her deepest, most inner thoughts with me. To trust me with her fears, dreams, and with her entire life. Something that took patience, commitment on my part, to open up that kind of communication.

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