DAY 32 Mar. 2: The thought for today is PATIENCE. According to farm activist Cesar Chavez, “Nonviolence is not non-action… It is hard work…It is the patience to win.” When your plans seem delayed, choose to be patient by recognizing ways you can constructively use this time to support your goal. By practicing patience we can respond rather than react, and by doing so, stay centered and at peace.

Patience and passion both come from a Latin word meaning to suffer or endure. Whenever we practice patience - cheerfully bearing with somebody who is irascible, or enduring discomfort rather than imposing it on others - we are embracing those principles and creating an opportunity to model nonviolence. There is only one way to create a nonviolent world, and that is by being nonviolent ourselves.

Today: I will look for opportunities to practice patience. In a situation where there is friction, rather than run away, I will move closer to the core of the conflict and look for a nonviolent solution.