Nathalie
Today, Jose and I are going to talk about patience. This was one of my most difficult things to accomplish in life, and even today, I can be very impatient. But before I was impatient with everything. I would go to the store and I thought, Oh my God, keep on moving, you know. But that disappeared? Now you know everything has it's time.
Jose
How did it disappear?
Nathalie
I don't know. I just think, I just accepted it in a way That is the way things go now And you cannot speed things up even if you want to. And sometimes it's actually the way it needs to go. It needs to go slow. And there's always, I believe, a reason for that ? We are used about this chaotic, hectic, environment we live in. But when you slow down, and even, you know, like, I would be upset by waiting in line and stuff like that. But it... It changed and now I'm just like, okay, I'm just standing here. I'm gonna just take this moment and enjoy it. You know, where do I need to go? Why do I have this rush to go somewhere?
I always think it's very funny because when you go home at six o'clock in Amsterdam, you are on your bicycle and everyone is like crazy, you know, like driving and I passing each other by. And I always think. You're going home. What's the rush? You're going home, what a madness, what a madness. Do you realize you are free, you're going home, or wherever you are going, you forget. You think, I need to go from A to B, and I need to be there as quickly as possible. No, I don't believe that. You let yourself flow.
From one moment to the other, so I think somewhere that changed in me, and there was not a particular moment or something, but it just happened, just, you know, like, driving like crazy through the city, and one day I thought, okay, wait a second, what am I doing? Why do I do this? Because everyone does this, okay, but, you know, then I'm five minutes late, And I took it more slow and slow and just got into the moment. And then, then you see so many more things. Impatience also, makes us ignorant of everything that is around us.
And patience is such a beautiful quality. As I said, everything has its moment in life. And when you realize that, you stop running. So it took me many years, if I would go to a store where I, you know, like this restaurant I would go like a couple of years ago. It was not that long ago, actually. And he said, Nathalie, you are so impatient. I said, yes, I know. I'm sorry. But now I was in another restaurant lately. And I said, I'm sorry. I'm very impatient. He said, no Nathalie, you're not impatient.Okay, good. I learned something over the years. I just got out of the rush. The rush we have as humans, everything needs to be quick, but when we do that, we do not live, because you're running from one thing to another. And being patient it relaxes the belly, when you let go.
Jose
Do you think patience also has to do something with fate, having fate in a good sense?
Nathalie
That's interesting. I get all those songs of all those people of the 80s and the 90s. You talk about patience and faith and stuff like that. Yeah, because this impatience I had, had also to do with that I, in a way, I could see how things could develop more quickly. And I was impatient that people would not see it. That change can happen overnight, even from one second to another, we can be bothered by something, and then In the moment we get still we become patient, we can see it and we can let go of an instant, but there was not the time. So then I needed to have faith and know that one day it would be like that. And still we are not there yet. So I'm just waiting. And you know, when you're impatient, then waiting is very difficult. Now, when I get like this impatience, I know, you know, it's, it's not the moment yet. Everything has its time, has its place.
Everything has a moment. And for that, you need to have faith. You need to have the people walk their own path. We don't know what will wake people up. Some people talk about great happenings , like a great event or whatever. But sometimes, waking up can be something very tiny. It doesn't always have to be big or , bad When it is the moment, then the mind becomes clear and patience is the one that takes away the veil that we have in our minds.
Jose
And how do you learn to be patient when you are in current busy society and other people you also have to deal with and are planning around you and, how can you stay patience inside yourself?
Nathalie:
The thing is you don't let other people rush you. This is what it is. So they can be impatient and try to push and make things happen. But for you is to say, okay, this person wants to make himself crazy or something. I don't have to be like that. I choose to be close to myself. And what I can do today, I will do today. And when I cannot do today, perhaps I will do tomorrow, if there is another day for me in this world, because we do not know. And like this, this rushing environment we have come into, in a way life is passing by. So how can you practice patience?
Sometimes just by saying nothing, like I did a second before, patience is something you will understand. It's not something you practice. It's something you notice. That when you give something, it's time to develop, without trying to force it a certain way. You will understand patience. Even if you are in a very difficult situation, sometimes it's the place where you need to be, and you just sit tight.
It's like when we are in the storm. Most of the times we cannot wait until it is over, but we have to wait. And impatience we are. We listen to the sound of the wind, and it makes us feel very small, very vulnerable. And in a way, it also makes us feel alive. And there, at that moment, we are in the patience. And have faith that one day it will pass. And most of the times, it does.
But with the real storm, we never know. And still, deep inside, we always believe that it passes. And this is the same with patience.
Next time, Jose and I will talk about sound. Sound is one of the first things we hear when we are in the womb of our mother. Sound makes a deep impression on us as humans. It can uplift us, and it can put us down. It can make us feel strong. It can touch our heart, but more about that in our next episode.