Contents Chapter 1: How This Old-Fashioned Virtue Can Improve Your LifeStick-to-It-Ness: The Power of Persistence No Reason to Stress: The Power of Serenity That's OK: The Power of Acceptance Chapter 2: Patience's GiftsPatience Creates Excellence Patience Brings Us into Harmony with the Cycles of Nature Patience Helps Us Make Better Decisions Patience Connects Us to Hope Patience Helps Us Live Longer and More Stress-Free Patience Helps Us Waste Less Time, Energy, and Money Patience Gets Us More of What We Want Patience Guards the Door to Anger Patience Gives Us Greater Tolerance and Empathy Patience Helps Us Have Happier Love Relationships Patience Makes Us Better Parents Patience Teaches the Power of Receptivity Patience Is the Heart of Civility Patience Grows Our Souls Chapter 3: The Attitudes of PatienceI'm Still Learning Patience Is a Decision This Too Shall Pass The Screws Are Just as Important as the Wings Waiting Is Part of Being Alive It's Better to Work At It Than to Buy Your Way Out of It Where Are You Hurrying To? Boredom Is All in Our Heads Remember Rule Number Six Tuning Out Is as Important as Tuning In What Does This Matter in the Larger Scheme of Things? People Are Only Human Some Things Are Worth Waiting For It Will Work Out It Takes as Long as It Takes There's More Than One Right Way Welcome, Teachers of Patience Enough Is Enough Be Here Now Chapter 4: The Practices of PatienceTell Yourself the Truth About Where You Are Right Now Tune In to Yourself in the Morning When Am I Patient? Let Me Count the Ways Know Your Impatience Triggers Learn Your Early-Warning Signs Take a Breather Climb Down to the Base of the Tree Road Sage, Not Road Rage Issue a Storm Warning to Children Tap Into Your Inner Wisdom Keep Your Blood Sugar Level Up Reframe the Situation Find Something Else to Do Practice with Aging Parents and Other Elders Respond from Your Heart Tell Yourself You Have All the Time You Need Do a Risk Analysis Keep Your Eyes on the Prize Underwhelm Yourself Ask Yourself: Is This Thing Still Flying? Chapter 5: Twenty Simple Patience BoostersChapter 6: Above All, Be Merciful with YourselfMy Thanks Bibliography

“Many good people, myself included, have problems with impatience and will benefit, as I did, from this lively, insightful book.” —Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People“When it comes to patience, we don't have to change old habits; we can build better ones. M.J. Ryan shows us how.” —Sue Bender, author of Plain and Simple and Stretching Lessons: The Daring that Starts from Within“I have been a long-time fan of M.J. Ryan's books and she continues to outdo herself with her new book, The Power of Patience. The book is filled with practical, heart-centered nuggets that open the door to experiencing what we all seek, infinite patience.” —Gerald G. Jampolsky, MD, author of Shortcuts to God“This book is a true gift to the world. It's insightful and full of calm, helpful wisdom.” —Richard Carlson, author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

From the book:We all know about the lightbulb, but did you know that Thomas Edison also invented the stock ticker, the electric vote recorder, the automatic telegraph, the electric safety miner's lamp, fluorescent lights, the motion picture camera, and the phonograph? Here is what he had to say while struggling with the lightbulb: “I have not failed seven hundred times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” I've been thinking about patience for years now, but it is only in the past few months that I have come to see the connection between patience and the cultivation of excellence. Here's how Eric Hoffer puts it: “At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor.” George Louis Leclerc de Buffon was referring to the same thing when he wrote, “Genius is nothing but a greater aptitude for patience.” These thinkers are reminding us that genius must be cultivated. “Raw” talent gets us only so far—we must work at a gift over and over again: painting, writing, computer know-how, golfing, love, parenting. Anything that we could potentially become good at requires that we dedicate ourselves to long effort. This is only possible when we are patient with our progress, no matter how slow or fast it may be. Studies confirm this. For instance, a researcher at the University of Florida discovered that, on average, it takes ten years of practice to acquire the mastery of an expert. That's a lot of patience! A few years ago, the Gallup Organization released groundbreaking research in excellence. What they discovered, in a study of 2 million individuals, is that people who excel know what they are good at and practice even more in it. They don't worry about their weaknesses, but instead work on their particular combination of strengths until they have maximized them. (By the way, according to their research, there are 33 million possible combinations of these strengths, which means your particular configuration is one in 33 million. Thus, with the power of persistence, you can be your own one-of-a-kind genius.) Like a fine wine that gets better with time, we fulfill our potential with patience. Through it, we are able to offer our unique brand of excellence to the world. And that is no small thing, for the world desperately needs the best of what each and every one of us has to give.