Still waiting

A Chinese proverb mentions: "To those who know how to wait, time opens every door",

Postponing the importance of a virtue, that of patience, now almost forgotten; nowadays we no longer recognize any value to patience, despite the fact that it is essential in interpersonal relationships and highly effective in everyday life.

In the age of speed and "everything and now", waiting is one of the conditions experienced with the greatest discomfort.
It is clear that each situation is unique, that is, there are circumstances in which the discomfort is understandable since the wait is linked to dramatic and painful events, such as illness or the outcome of a diagnostic examination, but often they are also lived with impatience. moments of daily routine (e.g. a prolonged waiting line, the outcome of a job interview that is late in arriving or traffic to go to work) in which rather than letting oneself be dominated by anxiety and nervousness, it could be It is useful to approach that "pause" in a different way, taking it as an opportunity to observe, listen to and discover, at times, aspects of oneself that we would not have been able to see in the throes of impatience and agitation.

In these cases, the secret lies precisely in this: in the ability to resist the temptation to fill at all costs the "void" that waiting entails ; we are talking about the dimension of “not doing” , of “ not intervening ”, of the ability to observe and observe oneself without preconceived expectations and ideas. Only in this way could we transform a moment of stasis into an act of attention to ourselves.

Stopping does not mean "not to move", but to move better, since even an apparently annoying wait can favor reflection useful for our improvement.

Waiting is helplessness. Waiting is pain.

Waiting is part of our existence, it is a necessary but extremely painful, often humiliating moment, which cannot in any way be avoided. It is possible to use it with other activities, but it is a little voice in our head that never goes out: we are perfectly aware that we are waiting for something or someone even if we keep ourselves busy, even if we are in company. We're waiting. It is helplessness, and endurance, in the case of illness, and it also becomes painful and boring, because we can do nothing to change our state but wait, to heal, a response or death. It is helplessness in war or in prison where “even the light switch obeys an internal direction”.

It is pain even when we are forced to realize that we have waited in vain: “Those who love can never afford to be late. Desire arrives on time". The other always arrives late. And let's face it, how many questions, how many doubts about ourselves or the other are consequent to the waits, be they short or long? A phone call that does not arrive or a late reply to the message are not reasons for anguish? Anguish is another point in favor of waiting and against us.

This tangle of emotions grips me every day are the lifeblood of my novels.