No but really. I laugh because this post is about patience, being in a hurry, always being concerned with time...and how that's been popping up in front of me more and more as of late. Its also time for my next tattoo...I think.
A good friend of mine just posted about time, and how time moves and is viewed differently depending on where we are physically, and where we are mentally. For her, she was physically in the Caribbean and mentally on vacation. Time was so liquid and so irrelevant, for the most part...until she got back home, to Seattle, and was met with impatience of everyday life in the big city. For me, for some time now, I've been mentally on vacation and physically sitting on my ass at home. As was the case for my friend, time has been liquid, irrelevant, trivial. The days kind of blur together and I sometimes don't know if today was Monday, or if Monday comes tomorrow...or if it was yesterday. Unfortunately, that's not quite as relaxing as being on vacation and having the importance of time slowly fade away with the wake of the cruise ship...but I can empathize with her and share some of my own positive experiences.
Awhile back I posted about hupomone, the Greek word for patience. Now I'm not going to get up on my pedestal and tell you I never get impatient or act impulsively because that would be pompous, self righteous and flat out not true. I have however, really learned to be more patient in numerous aspects of my life and it always brings a little smile to my face when I realize my patience. Most often its in my car, where I used to be Mr. Impatient, but now I tend to just go with the flow and usually don't let traffic, or "idiot" drivers get the best of my temper or my patience. I just crack a small smile, laugh to myself that this used to piss me off something fierce, and continue on as my surrounding factors allow me to.
Recently what's helped with this even more was something I read, which said 60 mph is the ideal, or maybe max speed, at which you maximize your miles per gallon...and that even going 65 mph, a mere five miles per hour faster, is equivalent to that gallon of gas costing you another $0.30 per gallon. Geez! So instead of that fantastic last fill up being $2.79/gallon, it was more like $3.09 or more when I'm in a hurry in my car. So now I try to just cruise at 60 mph, and my driving irritations have been reduced to those people who think 50 mph is an acceptable freeway speed when there's no traffic, and the guy who cuts me off so he can pass one more car before he gets back over into far right lane to get off at the (only 100 feet to the) upcoming exit. Why do so many people feel the need to pass one more car before exiting the freeway? I don't get it.
So patience is a learned skill...and one worth having the patience to acquire :)
Speaking of waiting, I've been wanting some new ink pretty much since I left the shop with my first tattoo back in March/April of 2007. My first tattoo was somewhat spontaneous, but I'm very happy with what I chose, because it means something to me. I'm proud to have the first initials of my father (D), mother (K), sister (S), and brother (A) permanently wrapping my left forearm with a nautical star in between each letter. At the time I didn't know this, but the nautical star has many meanings, one of which is traced to old days of nautical navigation where sailors would get the star as "means of bringing good luck to guide them home." Another meaning comes from those serving in the military who get the star as a symbol for "finding one's path home" or the symbolic meaning of "finding ones way in life." So for me, its a symbol to me that no matter where I am, or where they are, my family represents home. The buildings and cities may change, but they will always be home. So I lucked out that the "cool looking star" I wanted, also has some relevant and meaningful symbolism with the rest of my tattoo.
Those simple letters and symbols have great significance to me, and I wanted my next tattoo to have just as much meaning. That's meant waiting to discover or create my next tattoo. I'm still not entirely sure what it will look like, but its becoming more and more clear to me what elements I want included...and that the artistic stylization I can discuss with the tattoo artist. Learning to be more patient has been very important and helpful to me, and its one of those universal truths that I think we often overlook. Being patient is hard, but worth it. So I want the word hupomone included in my next tattoo, as well as the Greek word for the kind of love that is divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful...agape. I really like that definition too, and that word has been with me since a youth trip back in high school. From that same trip, there was a cross that hung from a necklace all of the youth received while at the conference we attended. It was a very unique cross that now hangs on my wall as a beautifully carved piece of wood. My mother had it made for me, and it reminds me of that amazing trip (which she came on with me) and is a tangible example of agape in my life. So while I don't have much yet on how these elements will all fit together to make an aesthetically pleasing tattoo, I know they mean a lot to me and that's really all that matters.
A good friend of mine just posted about time, and how time moves and is viewed differently depending on where we are physically, and where we are mentally. For her, she was physically in the Caribbean and mentally on vacation. Time was so liquid and so irrelevant, for the most part...until she got back home, to Seattle, and was met with impatience of everyday life in the big city. For me, for some time now, I've been mentally on vacation and physically sitting on my ass at home. As was the case for my friend, time has been liquid, irrelevant, trivial. The days kind of blur together and I sometimes don't know if today was Monday, or if Monday comes tomorrow...or if it was yesterday. Unfortunately, that's not quite as relaxing as being on vacation and having the importance of time slowly fade away with the wake of the cruise ship...but I can empathize with her and share some of my own positive experiences.
Awhile back I posted about hupomone, the Greek word for patience. Now I'm not going to get up on my pedestal and tell you I never get impatient or act impulsively because that would be pompous, self righteous and flat out not true. I have however, really learned to be more patient in numerous aspects of my life and it always brings a little smile to my face when I realize my patience. Most often its in my car, where I used to be Mr. Impatient, but now I tend to just go with the flow and usually don't let traffic, or "idiot" drivers get the best of my temper or my patience. I just crack a small smile, laugh to myself that this used to piss me off something fierce, and continue on as my surrounding factors allow me to.
Recently what's helped with this even more was something I read, which said 60 mph is the ideal, or maybe max speed, at which you maximize your miles per gallon...and that even going 65 mph, a mere five miles per hour faster, is equivalent to that gallon of gas costing you another $0.30 per gallon. Geez! So instead of that fantastic last fill up being $2.79/gallon, it was more like $3.09 or more when I'm in a hurry in my car. So now I try to just cruise at 60 mph, and my driving irritations have been reduced to those people who think 50 mph is an acceptable freeway speed when there's no traffic, and the guy who cuts me off so he can pass one more car before he gets back over into far right lane to get off at the (only 100 feet to the) upcoming exit. Why do so many people feel the need to pass one more car before exiting the freeway? I don't get it.
So patience is a learned skill...and one worth having the patience to acquire :)
Speaking of waiting, I've been wanting some new ink pretty much since I left the shop with my first tattoo back in March/April of 2007. My first tattoo was somewhat spontaneous, but I'm very happy with what I chose, because it means something to me. I'm proud to have the first initials of my father (D), mother (K), sister (S), and brother (A) permanently wrapping my left forearm with a nautical star in between each letter. At the time I didn't know this, but the nautical star has many meanings, one of which is traced to old days of nautical navigation where sailors would get the star as "means of bringing good luck to guide them home." Another meaning comes from those serving in the military who get the star as a symbol for "finding one's path home" or the symbolic meaning of "finding ones way in life." So for me, its a symbol to me that no matter where I am, or where they are, my family represents home. The buildings and cities may change, but they will always be home. So I lucked out that the "cool looking star" I wanted, also has some relevant and meaningful symbolism with the rest of my tattoo.
Those simple letters and symbols have great significance to me, and I wanted my next tattoo to have just as much meaning. That's meant waiting to discover or create my next tattoo. I'm still not entirely sure what it will look like, but its becoming more and more clear to me what elements I want included...and that the artistic stylization I can discuss with the tattoo artist. Learning to be more patient has been very important and helpful to me, and its one of those universal truths that I think we often overlook. Being patient is hard, but worth it. So I want the word hupomone included in my next tattoo, as well as the Greek word for the kind of love that is divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful...agape. I really like that definition too, and that word has been with me since a youth trip back in high school. From that same trip, there was a cross that hung from a necklace all of the youth received while at the conference we attended. It was a very unique cross that now hangs on my wall as a beautifully carved piece of wood. My mother had it made for me, and it reminds me of that amazing trip (which she came on with me) and is a tangible example of agape in my life. So while I don't have much yet on how these elements will all fit together to make an aesthetically pleasing tattoo, I know they mean a lot to me and that's really all that matters.
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