The Power of Patience: How to Slow the Rush and Enjoy More Happiness, Success, and Peace of Mind Every Day » (1ST)

Best-selling author M. J. Ryan is one of the creators of the Random Acts of Kindness series (over one million copies in print) and the author of Attitudes of Gratitude, A Grateful Heart, The Giving Heart, and many other titles. She was the founder and longtime publisher of Conari Press. She is currently a consultant with Professional Thinking Partners, where she specializes in coaching executives on issues of life purpose and leadership. She is a popular speaker and her work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, including USA Today, Family Circle, Cosmopolitan and Body & Soul.

It has become the norm of our fast-paced world to expect everything to happen instantaneously, and for us to become instantly aggravated when it doesn't. The result is that we can feel frantic and rushed, stressed and unhappy nearly all the time. In The Power of Patience, M. J.

Library Journal

Feeling impatient? Angry? Overwhelmed? Ryan, the former publisher of Conari Press and cocreator of the "Random Acts of Kindness" series, here offers a pleasing discussion that will aid readers in exploring this common plight. Waiting is inevitable in life, she finds, and people can choose to be patient or to anguish over it. The book stems from her beliefs that each of us already possesses a certain level of patience and that developing patience in small situations leads to greater overall satisfaction. Along the way, the author shares personal reflections of how fostering patience has helped her to strengthen crisis management skills and offers the story of Nelson Mandela as an example of patience in action. Patience-building activities such as waiting in line and assisting aging parents are also discussed. Making this book special are the thoughtful questions the author asks: What are the ways that we as individuals typically "do" patience? How can we look at a frustrating situation in a positive or productive light? The conceptual picture that emerges is that by growing our patience, we find the spot where spiritual purpose and the needs of the world meet, and we become happy contributing in a manner that is uniquely ours. Recommended for larger public libraries.-Lisa Liquori, M.L.S., Syracuse, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.