What, exactly, is impatience? It's our rejection of the current moment as it is because something that we want to happen in a future moment hasn't yet occurred. We experience this constantly, in traffic jams and long lines, during commercials, or when a longwinded friend just won't get to the point. Rarely, however, does impatience make the desired experience arrive any faster. What it does instead is deprive us of the pleasures of presence. Luckily, just a slight shift of awareness can reverse this self-imposed loss.

The Practice:

The next time you find yourself impatient, turn your attention to your body and note where the sensation is actually located. It might be in the chest, for example, or the stomach, or the neck and shoulders. Once you've found it, keep your attention placed gently on the sensation until it begins to ease. And that's the amazing part — it almost always does.

Once you no longer feel so gripped by your impatience, use your liberated awareness to reconnect with what's around you — sights, smells, weather, people. Is there anything at all in this current moment that makes waiting just a little more tolerable?

Raphael Cushnir in How Now