So I started the day off at 4:30am with my 50 minute yoga routine. Still felt tight in the hamstrings, but hopefully will be looser after a workout and stretch at the gym tonight.
So I was doing my yoga, and two things came into my head. 1) Stop thinking Amanda and concentrate on your breathing and your mantra. 2) My sister’s comment from a few nights ago when I suggested she should start doing yoga. Her reply to me was, “I can’t do yoga. It’s too boring”.
So this is what I was thinking about instead of concentrating on my breathing and my mantra. I got to thinking, yes you’re not really thinking or “engaged” in anything when you’re doing yoga, but isn’t it okay to be “bored” or not do anything for a little while? Can’t you make yourself be patient and not do anything for just a little while. This led me to thinking is being bored really the same thing as lacking patience?
I’ve been reading a great book called, “French Kids Eat Everything, and Yours Can Too!” by Karen Le Billon. The author is a Canadian woman who’s married to a French man. The book talks about the year they moved with their two small children to the small French village where her husband grew up. I love the book as I can relate so much with her values regarding food as an “American” prior to living in France as well as some of the culture shock she goes through (I don’t iron anything either, but thank goodness my mother-in-law doesn’t know it or she probably wouldn’t have wanted me marry my husband either!). In the book she talks about the strict cultural rules regarding food consumption that the French hold. It talks about the French teaching children early on to have patience and wait to eat. It talks about how the French don’t snack between meals and they think it’s okay for a person to feel hungry, they have to have patience.
Karen Le Billon talks about how snacking was a sore spot between her and her husband, and I would say it’s the same between Francois and I. I grew up learning that you should have 5 small meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner and snacks in between the main meals). Francois has tisked me for snacking in between meals. This book really points out how the French see snacking as almost rude. I think I maybe hadn’t seen that so much that way before as we lived in Paris where there is lots of expats and my close friends were expats. I can remember conversations though, when Francois would say to me, you shouldn’t snack, you’ll ruin your dinner. Can’t you be patient?!
So, I am not patient. I hate feeling hungry. I am not patient when it comes to many other things, as much as I hate to admit it. I really feel this is a reflexion of North American culture though. We have 24 hour everything! We have pretty much anything at our beck and call. I remember my first year in France and the closest store in the village where I lived closed at 5:30 pm and I worked until 5:00pm! Without a car it was basically impossible to get there before it closed. How annoying! Or was I just being impatient? I’ve grown to change my view on stores closing “early”. Why should people have to work instead of spending time with their families? Couldn’t I plan to do my shopping on the weekend or on Wednesday when primary students didn’t have school? I appreciate the value the French put on slowing down (even if I’m still not good at slowing down) and maybe doing less. Le Billon also talks about this in her book. She talks about how French families take the time to sit down together and eat together. Eating is never done on the run. Is that why French people in Paris stared at me as I was walking down the streets shoving my face with pain au chocolates? 😉
So back to my question, is being bored really just being impatient? And have we North Americans forgotten how to just be patient?
A Canadian Girl in the World 