Being :: Patience and Kindness

Being: Conscious, mortal existence; life.

Every month we welcome two families, two people, two voices to share their stories in whatever way they chose. We hope that you find joy in their daily lives, and their simple habit of just being.

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They say that your children are reflections of yourself: both the things you love about them and the things you don’t are reflections of you. I like to believe that this is true and that my children are my greatest teachers. I never really knew how much I had to learn about myself until I had children.

Before having children I kind of thought I had it together. What kid in their mid-twenties doesn’t? I had read the parenting books and everything. But then my first daughter was born and I realized that I really knew nothing at all about being a parent except to follow my instincts and ask for help. Even more so I had no idea how much the very process of having a baby would challenge who I believed myself to be.

I like to think of my first daughter as my lesson in Patience; she challenges me day in and day out to stay calm and collected. She, like me, has no patience, so it is my job to teach her to have patience. I see opportunities almost hourly each day on how to be patient and together we are working on it. From waiting for a snack to be prepared to waiting for her favorite dress to come out of the dryer or for the pool to fill with water, we are learning together. In teaching her, I am also teaching myself.

My second daughter I call Kindness, because no matter what her sister does to her, she always responds with a smile. Not to say she is a pushover, but she is full of patience and this patience is fueled by kindness. My lesson from her is to be open-hearted. Even though she is only nine and half months old, I believe she will be the person to teach me how to be kind. I feel as though I am only kind to those closest to me, those I trust. Everyday through her I see opportunities to be kind, especially when I am losing my patience. I see in the future her teaching me to be kind to people and situations I am not familiar with.

When I looked up the definition of kindness to see if was the right thing I was feeling I came across Aristotle’s definition of kindness, “helpfulness towards someone in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped” (Wikipedia). By learning to be kind in situations I am upset by or aggravated by, I in turn learn to be patient.

Patience and kindness are my biggest lessons to be learned this time around. I just hope that I can follow these little teachers and learn the lesson well so that it is no longer a thing to be learned, but a part of me and comes without thinking about it. In the same way, I strive to learn from the virtues of all people around me, and hopefully reflect them back to my family and friends.

This month we welcome KC to the blog to participate in the Being series.  We look forward to reading her reflections and seeing the world from her perspective through her posts here each Monday.  You can learn more about KC by visiting her blog, Little Homestead in the Desert, where she writes with equal parts humor and heart.  

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Rhythm of the Home is an online magazine for families that focuses on creating with children, nature explorations, seasonal celebrations, conscious parenting, and mindfulness in all that we do.   To learn more about us, please visit us on Facebook,Pinterest, and Twitter.

We welcome new submissions for our upcoming seasons. To learn more about submitting, please visit our magazine.