Patience: Its Concept, Causes, Results, and How to Learn It

In this article, we will review the concept of patience, its causes, and its results on the human soul.

The concept of patience

Patience in the Arabic language contradicts the word impatient. It means self-restraint, preventing it from anxiety and anger. Religiously, patience is staying away from the taboos, doing what the Lord has commanded of worship, not getting angry, bored or anxious, and not objecting to His words. It is about dealing well in times of calamities and crises, without discontent with what happened.

In general, patience simply means repression, cessation, and restraining from anger and anxiety. Latest studies have confirmed that patience has many positive effects. Patience for a lover is to distance themselves from the person they love. It is also the ability to bear times of distress or hated matters. Ramadan - the month of fasting - is called the patience month because people refrain themselves from the pleasures of food, drink, and amusements.

Patience is also the ability to stay strong in times of darkness, which we can sum by persevering in fighting provocation. It is the constant steadfastness on mentally and physically exhausting matters and the ability to absorb them satisfyingly without feeling resentment and sadness so that no one else will ever realize that you have fallen into a calamity or think that you live a luxury life.

What does patience mean in medical terms?

Medicine believes that there are many complications of diseases that come in the form of treating a malfunction or regulating the processes course in the human body. The high body temperature is the result of an inflammatory process that occurs in the human body to prepare the appropriate condition for the body to get rid of foreign bodies that have entered it, such as germs.

Coughing is also a physiological mechanism that aims to get rid of the accumulated sputum from the respiratory system, that includes dangerous and useless substances or factors. The same applies to diarrhea, as it is another physiological mechanism that aims to get rid of the remaining germs or toxic substances in the intestines.

However, even these useful mechanisms, that help to cure the disease and achieve full recovery, might deviate from their path and beneficial purpose at times, their harmful effect remains and their beneficial effect disappears. All of these things require patience.

Patience causes

1. A person’s presence among their family and relatives

When a person is among their mother, father, and siblings, they find someone who will wipe their tears and strengthen their resolve and persistence. The family, especially the sibling, will stand by their side in times of grief and misery, push their worries away, and help them overcome life's difficulties. Siblings can protect each other from treacheries and back each other when one of them collapses.

2. Having loyal friends in our lives

Loyal friends stand beside each other. Some friends are just like brothers and sisters. They offer what is dear and precious to get those they love out of their misfortune. When a person sees their friends around them at times of calamities, their patience increases, and they feel strength in their weakest condition. A wise man once said: “A best friend is a brother from another mother.”

3. Believing in God

Believing in God is one of the most important things that help a person to be patient with calamity because they know for sure that everything is in God's hands, and that predestinations are written and we cannot change them. God chooses the best for us even if we do not like it, as He is more aware of our situation than ourselves.

4. Praying and asking for forgiveness

Prayers and supplication to God at times of distress relieves a person's exhaustion and grief. By doing this, they absolve themselves of responsibility for the calamity and turn it over to God Almighty, who is more qualified to deal with it. This will give them hope that God might change their circumstances, grant their prayers, and send them good fortune that will help them forget the agony of their suffering.

5. Noticing others' misfortune

When a person recognizes the misfortunes of people which are much more severe than their own, they feel the absurdity of their misfortune and realize that, despite their sorrow, they are in a better situation than many other people; thus, they begin to thank God for what befell them.

6. Preoccupation with work and not giving in to obsessive thoughts

When a person remains busy, they forget the hardships and sorrows of life. On the other hand, if they stand still alone, bad thoughts will control them and limit their patience and persistence because thinking about calamities is a calamity in itself. Therefore, when a person suffers a calamity, they can work, read books and magazines, or visit friends and family.

7. Thinking through the calamity carefully

Most of the time, if we examine the tragedies we experience in this life closely, we will discover that they do not deserve all of our sorrow and regret. We constantly give things more than they deserve, and we don't realize this until after spending a long time of sadness and sorrow. Therefore, we must consider everything that occurs to us carefully and never give anything more than it deserves, whether in good or bad times.

Patience types

There are many areas of patience. It has various and different types that almost cover all aspects of human life. Here are some patience types:

1. Patience in persevering work that requires a relatively long time, which requires a lot of perseverance and passion.
2. Self-restraint from hasty and rapid reactions. A person must avoid harmful reactions that they might regret later. When a person gets angry, they must control themselves, avoid uttering bad words, take enough time to think, be cautious in their reactions, and think about their possible actions or words.
3. Not rushing and being prudent when proceeding worldly, moral and material needs, avoiding haste, taking things easy, and not considering them difficult to achieve because this generates pessimism.
4. Self-restraint from fear and panic in matters that require determination and courage, so that a person can reach what they aspire to and what benefits them.
5. Self-restraint from the temptations, whims, and desires of the soul to avoid harmful and improper results.
6. Self-restraint, as it generates a sense of satisfaction within us that we were good and never harmed anyone, and thus we remain relieved.
7. Self-control and trying to get used to doubling the ability to cope with calamities and physical and moral afflictions to reach the good.
8. Reducing anger when being abused by people and trying to reciprocate abuse with benevolence.
9. Patience in pursuing knowledge and using various methods to obtain it. Because knowledge is honor and a sign of one's aristocratic status, one must fight circumstances and difficulties in order to gain it. A wise man once said: “Seek knowledge even if you have to go to China.”

Patience benefits

1. Patience teaches people to control their will. When a solid person faces afflictions with patience, it will enhance their strength and determination. When a weak person faces afflictions with patience, it will strengthen them and indicates the strength of their faith.
2. Relief is always the result of patience. The more patience a person demonstrates with their afflictions and in pursuing what they desire, the greater the relief they await.
3. Patience makes a person able to bear life's calamities and its many and different swings. It also builds a strong personality for a person and makes them able to fight hardships with courage.
4. Patience is a way to get the respect of all people because a patient person can always bear others in all their psychological and physical conditions, accept all the people around them, and take responsibility for issues with courage, confidence, and calmness.
5. The patient person receives love from others, and sets an example of patience for them to follow, and benefits from the experiences they went through. People are inspired by their words to accept life in all of its circumstances.

Learning patience

A person can learn patience when they have a solid and strong will for that. The term on which most recent studies are based is that learning is a modification in style. In other words, it involves making some positive changes to a person's style, which is described as a permanent assimilation of the situation.

On the other hand, it is described as a person continuously making contributions toward achieving this state in order to achieve the desired goals. The individual's interaction with their surroundings and acquisition of new ways of life to help them adapt to their environment is what leads to the learning process.

Thus, learning patience needs a serious mechanism to learn it. Learning patience might be the most difficult thing a person can learn, but the learning mechanism itself needs persistence. Thus, we conclude that the patient person is one of the strongest people.

We can consider patience as a kind of intelligence, as it makes us adapt to bad conditions to the maximum extent possible, and gets us out of them with the least possible losses.