How to be Patient

Have you ever been stuck in a long, slow-moving lunch line? If so, you are not patient, or we say, you have felt impatient. You have this kind of feeling when things aren’t happening as quickly as you want them to.

Impatience is something you can learn to control, though. A few simple ways can help quiet your impatient feelings.

How to be patient in the moment?

☆Find out what is causing your impatience.

Try to find out what is causing this feeling. Ask yourself, “Why am I feeling this way?” Maybe you are in a situation that is not like what you planned. For example, maybe you are very hungry. You thought you could get lunch in the dining hall quickly, but there is a longer line than you expected. Now you have to wait.

☆Take a deep breath.

Close your eyes and breathe in deeply. Hold your breath for a second and let the air out slowly. You will feel your body calm down. Sometimes impatience makes us say or do things we feel badly about later. Deep breathing can make you stop for a moment.

How to learn patience for the future?

When you feel impatient, write about it. Be sure to include your thoughts and feelings, too. Later, read what you wrote and look for ways. You may notice that similar situations always make you feel impatient. The next time you are in this situation, you will be more prepared.

Anger is a kind of feeling. Many things can make you angry. When your teacher gives you too much homework, when your team loses an important game, when a friend borrows your favourite thing and then breaks it, you may get angry.

Usually, your body will tell you when you are angry. For example, you breathe faster, your face turns red, and you may want to break something or hit someone, but sometimes you hide your anger. For example, you may hide it in your heart. The problem is that if you do this, you may get a headache or your stomach may hurt.

In fact, it’s not good to hide your anger, and it’s normal for you to get angry sometimes. As soon as you find your problems, you may try to relax. When you get angry, you can talk about it with adults, such as parents, teachers, etc. After doing that, you’ll find those bad feelings can start to go away. Here are some other things you can do when you start to feel angry: count from 1 to 100; give someone a hug; go for a bike ride; think about good things, etc.

Remember that when you are angry, how you act can make everything better or worse.

Don’t let your anger control you.

Three birds rested on top of a snowman's head.Ally and her mother walked up to the snowman quietly.

“Someone put birdseed on my snowman!"Ally cried.Suddenly all the birds flew off,except a red one.Ally ran to the bird."It's an ornament (装饰物)*!"She picked it up.There was a note:

A secret friend wants you to have

A happy holiday.

Hope you enjoy this little gift—

More are on the way!

Your Secret Snow Pal

"Who do you think it is?"Ally asked.

Her mother shook the head.

The next day when Ally went back home,she found a little birdhouse sitting outside the door,with a note read:

Birds make good neighbours (邻居)*

They sing songs of cheer

Your neighbours wish you

Much happiness this year:

"A neighbour?Who might it be?"Ally said.She looked out of the window,"The red door lady let me pick her flowers."

"The Millers help collect our mails when we go on holiday,"her mother said.

Mr.Collins has a bird feeder,"Ally said."But I don 't think it's him.He never smiles.”

A week went by before they received another note:

Time to greet your secret pal!

Let's have lunch at Ray's,

Saturday at one o'clock—

Happy Holidays!

The notes excited Ally so much.She loved Ray's pizza!By that time,Ally's family went to the

restaurant with presents.

"Here we are!”a voice called out.

Ally turned to look.A young couple—the red door people!They stood in front of them with another ornament.

"Hi,we're Paul and Wend Harrison,"the man said."Last year we were new on your street.One day,presents started showing up,with little notes.Finally,the Millers met us right here."

"We had so much fun.So we decided to be secret pals this year,"Mrs.Harrison said.

"It was fun!"Ally said,"I want to be a secret pal next year!"She wondered if a bird like this would make Mr.Collins smile.She couldn't wait till next year to find out.