My wife gave me a fascinating book called “Leonardo’s Notebooks” by H. Anna Suh. The book is a rich collection of artwork and writings, arranged in three sections: Beauty, Reason and Art; Observation and Order; and Practical Matters. I’m delighted to borrow from the third section this morning, Practical Matters.   

Da Vinci possessed one of the greatest minds the world has ever known, yet his ability to point to simple truths made his brilliance tangible and personal. One of his statements stood out above the many others I’ve read this morning, both for its profundity and for its simplicity:

“Patience serves us against insults precisely as clothes do against the cold. For if you multiply your garment as the cold increases, that cold cannot hurt you; in the same way increase your patience under great offences, and they cannot hurt your feelings.”

Why is it that patience tends to “wear thin?” Why do we tend to lose patience at precisely the wrong time, only to regret it later, seeing the folly of our rashness in retrospect?

True patience is not a passive state. In fact, patience is a dynamic state that requires preparedness, vigilance and a keen sense of timing. Preparedness, because he who is patient is always ready to do the right thing. Vigilance, because all things work out in season. And a keen sense of timing, because the right thing to do can only be done during a specific window of opportunity.

Patience encompasses both rest and action. Trying to push when the timing is not right is a sign of impatience. Conversely, resting when action is called for is false patience. He who is patient is not controlled by the circumstances in which he finds himself, in fact, patience is never reactive, it is wholly proactive.

Patience provides the state of of mind and heart that allows for sensitivity to the subtle elements of timing that most miss in their hasty and frenzied approach to life. So many of life’s miseries are the result of a misfire, like a poorly timed piston engine, and the natural power and wonder that would move through life naturally and harmoniously is released in awkward fits and starts, typically to the chagrin of all involved. Perhaps the experience of such a mis-timed effort was what caused someone long ago to shrug his or her shoulders and mutter, “That’s life.”

Is that really life or is it the way we’ve tended to experience life? Perhaps it is more correct to say “That’s my experience of life.” Life really doesn’t deserve the bad reputation we have given it over the years. I am convinced that the argument that “life sucks” made by so many people in so many ways is specious. 

I once heard life described as “the hyphen between matter and spirit.” Life really is what you make of it. You cannot sit idly and expect the cosmos to deliver you a wonderful and fulfilling life, neatly packaged and just as you ordered it. You must oscillate between work and rest, compression and expansion according to the impulse of life in you.

If you don’t feel sensitive to the timing, have patience. It will come. Look to release areas of tension, for in patience there is no tension. Perhaps the greatest reason why people tend to be impatient is that they are afraid of being hurt, terrified of some potential loss if they don’t take matters into their own hands according to their own timing. Fear not, for in true patience there is an inner strength that comes wearing the clothes of inner calm.

Patience is not gritting your teeth, grinning and bearing it or holding back. It is poise and readiness, acting only when the timing is most propitious for a positive outcome. Patience is a practical matter. Thank you, Signore DaVinci!