Some of my favorite posts springs from the ideas of others. This week’s thoughts are brought to you by my friend, Catherine.

Catherine has a delightful spirit filled with wonder and creativity. She is an artist and when you visit Catherine’s website, she proclaims: “ok, you spent years learning how to do this painting thing, now unlearn it and see what happens.” That’s the kind of person she is … looking beyond the boundaries and not only seeing, but feeling, what’s out there.

It ‘s no wonder that one day a message from Catherine popped up on Facebook Messenger. It contained a picture with a note that my readers might enjoy it. The graphic was a saying as follows:

“A moment of patience in a moment of anger
saves you a hundred moments of regret.”

Now, those are words that I like to sit with for a bit, so it took me a while to write this post.

What struck me first is the ‘patience’ and’ anger’ are 180 degrees apart. Patience is about the last thing you feel when you’re angry. Better words would be infuriated, exasperated or irritated.

So, how can we make room in all of that emotion for ‘patience?’

Well, it’s in the benefit of the investment that you make. What do I mean?

Have you ever said something in a moment of anger that you really regret? When you wish you could gather up all of the words that you spewed everywhere and force them back into your mouth?

Well, I know I have. And my immediate reaction is to know I made a mistake.

So, perhaps at the cusp of that moment, when you are about to “share” a comment, slam that door or give that ultimatum, force yourself to think about the consequence of unleashing your emotions. And just maybe, you can find a fraction of a second to find a moment of patience to rethink your action. Even if it just to say “I’m pretty angry right now and I’d like to take a ‘time out’ for me.”

The reward may be saving you 100 moments of regret. Thank-you Catherine.

Jeanette