It doesn't take a very astute observer to notice the impatience in our culture. If one takes a trip to a store that is short on cashiers and long on customers, you can witness impatient behavior. Or simply monitor your own reactions when you are behind schedule and you experience some kind of delay.
Life offers us many opportunities to grow in patience. The bad thing is most of the opportunities come when we don't have the time. Hmm, I suppose time constraints are a necessary element when learning about being patient. But like every thing else, we Americans are always looking for short cuts and painless ways to learn and mature.
I have stumbled on a great way for motorcycle owners to practice patience, and as an added bonus have a beginner level mechanical experience. All you will need is a screw driver! Simply take out the 2 or so screws that attach you head light to the head light can. After you have taken the head light out, disconnect it to assure it will not disconnect and fall on the floor. Now for the lesson in patients. You will notice in the head light can many, many wires. It might be wise for you to observe how neatly the wires are arranged and attempt to remember exactly how they are arranged. Now very carefully, but with confidence, pull all the wires out of the can and arrange them in any pattern that strikes your fancy. You will notice that all the wires ( in my case with my Honda CX 650 I have 50 plus wires) enter the can from an opening in the back. You will also notice that there are a variety of connectors ranging from small single connectors with clear plastic sleeves to large plastic plugs. If you want to do a graduate level lesson in patience you could disconnect a bunch of the connections, but I don't recommend doing that. Now comes the lesson. It is so simple, that one would expect a 5year old could do it, place all the wires back into the can and insert your head light and secure it with the screws. Actually before you put the wires back in the can take note of the time or better yet time your assembly with a stop watch.
If you are fortunate and have a minimum number of wires like the photo of the can below you may not experience any irritation or frustration. More than likely you will have enough wires to make this seemly easy exercise challenging. As you struggle, practice some breathing techniques, prayer, or other stuff you have read about to keep an even keel and positive focus. Remember when you have successfully completed the task, take a few minutes to reflect on the experience. Experiential learning is a great way to learn, but you will need to take that additional time to glean the most out of the experience and figure how you can apply the lessons learned.
Regrettably I did not have a camera available, when I did the can project yesterday on my 650. That bike is blessed with a wonderful array of wires.
Send me a line telling me if you were able to learn a little more about being patient. Next time you are waiting in a line or feeling some frustrations from slow traffic, slow people or slow computers; ask yourself would I rather be messing with my can?
1 comment:
When I blew the main fuse the first time and was tracing the wires trying to figure out where the power went, and why I had to push start my machine, I noticed all the wires in the headlight. Rather than pull out and trace the wires, I thought twice and used google instead! One day I'll try your exercise.
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