The Waiting Game

A recent study found that 49 percent of the US population has a smartphone and, on average, each person spends 132 minutes a day using the phone.  80 percent say checking their phone is the first thing they do in the morning and one quarter admit they cannot recall a time during the day when they are not in the same room as the phone.

Another study reports that today’s children are so busy they are never bored.  This includes the fact that their activities include technology.  Experts are concerned as they believe that this generation may miss those creative-inspiration-moments that emerge when one is fighting boredom.

There is much to be said for being able to answer a trivia question during a dinner conversation or tell someone you are running late.  It’s great always having a camera at hand.  While many computer tools foster creativity, I do understand what the second study implies.  When I was a kid and bored, I sometimes discovered a new author, game, or friend, or tried my hand at writing.

To me an underlying theme of both studies is patience.  I wonder if we as a people are losing that virtue.  Patience is defined as ‘the capacity to accept delay, trouble, or suffering without getting upset or angry.’  Based on those studies, let’s amend that to read ‘…accept delay, trouble, suffering, boredom, loneliness, or disconnection.’

In today’s world we are not good at waiting.  We toot the horn at the driver in front of us when the light changes.  We are impatient for that promotion, for the baby to arrive, for the war to end. Someone said that the secret of patience is doing something else ‘in the meantime.’ We don’t have many ‘meantimes.’

I’m going to look for ‘meantimes’ this week and invite you to join me in doing some intentional waiting, patiently.

Marilyn

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.  Helen Keller