I’m Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD, a SoulCollage® Trainer & Facilitator, writer, translator and creativity catalyst with a particular passion for bringing words and images together to fire our imagination and enhance our lives. Patience seemed irrelevant to me until moving to Portugal gave me a golden opportunity to reconsider this seemingly old-fashioned and boring quality!


The Practice of Patience

One of the things I love most about living an international life and having homes in two countries is observing the psychological qualities which different peoples single out as being valuable or virtuous. In the United Kingdom, even though things have changed dramatically over the past few decades, “stiff upper lip” is definitely high on the agenda. The Brits value the capacity to face challenges uncomplainingly and expressing your feelings can still be judged as weakness. There’s an accompanying body language: straight back, shoulders squared and jaw tight.

In the 1980s we relocated from the UK to Portugal. Portuguese life at that time was much less efficient than it is now and everyone spent what seemed like hours each day standing in queues. Waiting in the endless line at the bank just to cash a cheque, impatiently tapping my toe and half suppressing my sighs, I’d become uncomfortably aware that no one else was behaving this way. In the quiet bubble of cordial conversation people would occasionally chuckle or shrug with humour at the long wait. And as they did so they would always murmur: “paciência” – patience.

In my early years in Portugal this word drove me crazy. “What’s wrong with these people?” I’d ask myself. “Why do they put up with it?” The body language also make me furious: that shrug, those hands held palms up in humorous resignation – how could anyone tolerate so much inefficiency? How could they be so passive? Yet over the years my attitude towards the central place of patience in Portuguese culture has shifted. Slowly I’ve come to understand the wisdom in “paciência”: why get all worked up when you can have a chat or enjoy some quiet time with yourself? I began to realize that standing in queues with an attitude of “paciência” was an active spiritual practice rather than an unhealthy tolerance for having no power to change things.

I began to connect the patience of Portuguese people standing in queues with other practices I have always loved, such as the painting of illuminated manuscripts, initially by monk/scribes in medieval monasteries and later by secular artists. Bringing just one illuminated letter from initial design to gold-leafed completion took months of patient dedication. Centuries later those letters still dazzle us with an exquisite type of beauty at the core of which is patience.

One of my SoulCollage® cards (see above), made completely intuitively, later revealed that it was called “The Scriptorium” – a room in a medieval monastery dedicated to writing and illuminating books on specially prepared “vellum” made of animal skins. At the centre of an illuminated letter “P” sits a wise and regal magus figure.

I am the one who reigns at the centre of a big blue illuminated “P”: I come to tell you that patience IS a virtue. Life requires that you develop the Practice of Patience. “P” may seem unexciting yet P is a Portal to realms beyond your understanding. No journey can be made without Patience.”

My Magus of Illumination reminds me of something the poet Rilke says in his Letters to a Young Poet:

I beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language.

Once you get past tapping your foot, patience becomes a mysterious state of being. It requires us to be open to accepting emptiness without it seeming a trap, to be willing to be still and see what emerges from the stillness.

In our 21st century world of ceaseless motion and constant interaction it can be a real challenge to slow down and enter the apparent emptiness of patience. Thank goodness that we have our SoulCollage® cards to help us find our way.
 

Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD is a SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer, writer, translator and creativity catalyst. Of South African origin, she now enjoys living a dual-based life between the United Kingdom and Portugal, running SoulCollage® and creativity workshops, retreats & Facilitator Trainings in both countries. Linda has been exploring the creative process for many years and working with SoulCollage® since 2009. You can find out more about her activities on her SoulCollage® website and on her Facebook page.
 

Patience
Committee
Kas
Pennsylvania

I am the one who awaits the fruition of dreams long ago created. I am the one who sometimes feels the lure of drama and grand frustration as patience becomes frayed and edgy. I remind you to allow the letting go of the outcomes, to feel the ease that opens the doors of imagination. Be grateful for it all! Be quiet, calm and tuned in your daily dance with life. Remember the outcome is blessed and often more than you could have imagined!




Baby Steps
Committee Suit
Char-Leah
Florida

I am one who takes baby steps in new situations and decision making. I am one who does not dive into something without understanding what I'm getting myself into. I am one who allows time for growth and change. I want you to know that perspectives get blurry when I am not practiced. Too much of me and you may miss opportunities, seem withdrawn or insensitive to others.




Impatience
Committee Suit
Kat
Arizona

I Am One Who is impatient. I feel like I could just snap, bite your head off. My skin is crawling, and I hate to wait. Come on already! Get 'er done!




Patience
Committee Suit
Kat
Arizona

I Am One Who is patient. I am relaxed and serene, and in no hurry. Take your time. There's so much beauty all around. Just like the tortoise, I encourage you to move slowly and enjoy the journey!




Impatience
Community Suit
Pam
Kentucky

I am one who is green with the frustration of waiting. I think it all comes faster to everyone else, which makes me envious. I am holding on tight knowing I am not in charge of time. But I am still not happy about it.




Patience
Committee Suit
Do Mi
Oregon

I am the one who is standing strong. I am the one who is waiting. I am the one who is surrounded by growing green. I am the one who is ready for anything. The sun is shining on me but I do not see it. I am calm. I am braced. I am strong. I am burgeoning. I am self-contained. I am here to tell you that growing is happening inside you and all around you, drawn to the sun. The gift I have for you is patience.
 

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