Patience is a skill that can help us to feel more timeless. When we feel timeless there is less constriction and fear, so we can be truly present in the moment. With presence comes clarity, less misunderstanding and degradation of trust. Discover 5 tips to improve your communication in relationships through the use of patience. 

How impatience impacts our communication

Patience is a skill that can only be cultivated through the practice of it. A way to practice patience is in our communication with other people. 

In this blog, we focus on how to tune in with yourself to find greater patience with others, communicate and listen to them. 

A nervous system that is stressed, excited or busy will often utilise the sympathetic nervous system. This is that fight, flight and freeze reaction to a situation. If you freeze, you will stop speaking and shut down until you explode. 

Then the speech is fast, clipped, firm, pushing, maybe raised volume and the body posture pushes forwards with raised shoulders. There is a constriction in the throat. 

When we speak from impatience we stop listening and being open to hearing what others say. We assume understanding and this is how misunderstandings arise and trust is eroded.

When impatient we shut others down, make them separate from us and make someone feel small. The intention is only a yes or no answer from the other person, so always invite an open response with the other person's story. 

5 Ways to Patiently Communicate:

1. Tone of Voice - hard, pushing, clipped, maybe raised volume. Try to soften, and smooth your words and speak from the abdomen rather than the throat and jaw. 
2. Pace of speech - take a breath every 5 words or at the end of your sentence. Pause and slow your words down. If you freeze then try to speak up earlier with a few words. Perhaps ask for a moment to slow yourself. 
3. Centre your posture - bring your shoulders over your hips and open them.
4. Avoid Shut Downs - always be open to receiving feedback about how you have communicated. When somebody does not respond or looks to the floor, ask if you have spoken in a way that blocks them from feeling open to responding patiently.
5. Getting Done Conversations - when communication becomes a 'to do' you are not connecting with another person present. Ensure that you soothe yourself before meeting to connect yourself to your body and sensations so that you connect with the state of others in the room too. Always repeat your understanding with someone and openly welcome correction to reduce misunderstandings. 

In the Embody Life Sanctuary discover some more practices to connect to timelessness, meditation and breathing practices to feel more patient.