Day 7: Forbearance

Day 7

Artic breath coils the mountain,

Rattling the forests' bones.

Raindrops cling to branches:

Jewelled adornment flung to earth.

-Deng Ming-Dao

For one to have forbearance means that you must have patience and tolence no matter the circumstances in your life, enduring all that comes - good, bad, indifferent. Most importantly we must be true to ourselves and our innate truth.

Deng-Ming Dao writes, "Trees in winter lose their leaves...they stand and wait, the power of their growth apparently dormant. But inside, a burgeoning is building imperceptibly." He goes on to write, "Theirs is a forbearance of being true to their inner natures. It is with this power that they withstand both the vicissiturdes and adornment of life, for neither bad forture nor good fortune will alter what they are...No matter what, we must always be true to our inner selves."

A tree lives as a tree because it can be nothing else. People can play at trying different roles in this life. If you're being true to yourself than you can weather the storms of life and have inner growth. If you fight against what is happening, you'll be like a tree in a storm that falls to the ground and that is also a fortune you must be willing to bear. 

Patience is a virtue. I have little to spare. I'm becoming more patient as I get older because I realize there is no choice but to wait for that which is important to me. On the other hand, I can also recognize if I'm going in a previous pattern - no tolerance. As time becomes blatently shorter in my life I realize that if I do not identify old patterns that did not work in the past and/or how they do/don't work in conjuction with the truth of my innate nature, then I am wasting precious moments. 

Woman know thyself.

If you've learned a lesson about being yourself, then use it and don't waste trying again in the same old way. If you're a 20-something (even early 30-something years old), then you've got some space for trial and error. By the time you've reached 40 years old, trial and error is no longer a luxury. You must know what works and want doesn't, what is your truth and what is your lie while simultaneously remaining flexible for the potential of self-discovery and personal evolution. 

"Forbearance of  a middle-aged woman: tolerate only the truth; be patient for that which is worth waiting; be honest with yourself; and death comes ever closer." - Demori