Waiting On My Blessing | LMAC FreeStyle Collage No. 160

I wanted to share my current freestyle collage whose theme entails persistence, but with an exercise in patience. My style of collage is a Freestyle. Although I usually do, I wasn't required to utilize any contest photo in my design. However, if you'd like to join in visit: Let's Make a Collage - A Contest for All Creatives on Hive - Round 249 - ✨55 HIVE in the Prize Pool!.

Society teaches that patience is a virtue. If so, then why is it so difficult to subscribe to that principal? For many, they fall short and go through life in angst.

It today's society, it's more difficult to keep calm.

If you find yourself in a hurry-up mode in all aspects of your life, it's because the world has changed to tip in the favor of expediency. Individuals desire and expect more because this urgency has become the "norm". The information highway that rushes news and other matters to you quickly has settled in. The "can't wait" for results kicks in. Situations are expected to be resolved sooner with up-to-date resources available.

Life isn't like that.

Just as people did hundreds of years ago, some situations and events in your life can't be rushed to conclusion. Therefore, we must alter or reset our expectations so as not to be annoyed, angry, upset, or disappointed when we encounter episodes that aren't concluded immediately or in the time frame we expect.

In the article on Health Essentials, I like how the physician, Dr. Ford, frames the mindset, "that burning question on your mind is no more than a quick internet search away." He goes on to say that "so many things are available to us instantly. It’s increasingly common that we have so much of what we want at our fingertips. Instant access means our expectations have gone up, which often leads to our level of patience going down.”¹

The article that states there are six ways to manage your self-restraint. Or, in other words, temper you patience and "keep your cool" as health professionals suggest. However, saying with good intentions and actually practicing it to bring results is another matter.

• Practice mindfulness. You can do this encouraging yourself to keep to the present. By doing this, you'll be able to pay attention to what is going on around you and how you're going to handle the situation in the moment without judging yourself or others. This will be difficult, of course to prevent yourself from replaying a painful or embarrassing event.

• Understanding what you can and can't control. This is an essential tool. So many people are under the impression that if they do a certain action, it will change the outcome of a situation that clearly isn't theirs to solve. Avoiding such decision can prevent incidents such as road rage or anger over a long line at the checkout counter. One other item is losing patience over a situation that you didn't create. I think of spouses or family members who engage in procrastination. Realizing that you can't change the mind or attitude of others will help you remain calm. Realize that you can't solve all problems, especially those of another individual.

• Building tolerance for uncomfortable situations. You can either avoid external stressors or learn to deal with the situation effectively. Setbacks are a part of life. Some people encounter more than others. It's amazing how individuals can go through a situation with a smile while others literally fall apart. You have to realize that not all problems are fixable. And sometimes, you have to agree to disagree.

• Listening rather than thinking. You're impatient to get your point across when discussing a difficult topic. It can be difficult to listen to others. You see only your point of view and not others and attempt to anticipate the answer.

• Laughing is good for the soul, they say. Practice it, and you may be able to discover the patience you didn't realize you had.

Overcoming impatience isn't easy. But with daily practice, you may find a calmer person inside that's less frazzled. ²

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In preparing my theme, the LMAC Contest Photo exuded virtue and tolerance. I thought further about patience as the person is opening up his mind and heart top others. In looking for images to accompany the scene, I discovered a female looking down at a dove in her hand. My thought was to place her image inside the fold of the statute as though he was embracing her virtue.

Another situation is unfolding on the outside as a young adult is impatiently waiting her turn to consult with the man about her particular situation. I also included two pure fractal I created in the advanced fractal rendering program, Apophysis 7X.

I utilized Canva to blend the different type images. Below are my steps in which I began with a blank, white canvas, then added layers of elements, removing backgrounds, resizing, detaching elements from their backgrounds, duplicating, detaching elements from their backgrounds, colorizing, and repositioning items as needed incorporating the tools at my disposal in my Annual Pro Membership Subscription.

Below are the images I included to complete my theme:

Item	Contributor	Source
LMAC Round 249 Contest Image	Contributed to #LIL by @seckorama	Link
Fantasy landscape	Pixabay	Link
Female with head down holding bird in hand	Pixabay	Link
Anime girl sitting in chair	Pixabay	Link
Unicorn	Pixabay	Link
Eagle	Pixabay	Link
Red beads mandala	Pixabay	Link
Purple flower stems	Pixabay	Link
Colorful horn mandala	Pixabay	Link
Angel	Pixabay	Link
Leaves with faces	Pixabay	Link
Elephant on stilts	Contributed to #LIL by @eve66	Link
Red and black butterfly	Contributed to #LIL by @redheadpei	Link
Pure Fractal titled "Turtle"	@justclickindiva	Link
Pure Fractal titled "Red Crystals"	@justclickindiva	Link
Pure Fractal titled "Universal Swirl Rays"	@justclickindiva	Link

Below is my completed collage:

Thanks for your visit. I appreciate it. I hope you like my freestyle collage theme.