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Patience is a virtue … everybody agrees, right?

Back in the 14th century, British poet William Langland was probably the first to introduce this thought into English. And the ensuing seven hundred years have done nothing to disprove it. Just the opposite.

So why are so many people still so impatient?

Take Mrs. Suzuki for example …

She was an impatient person, they said. Everybody who worked with Mrs. Suzuki agreed that she was always in a hurry. And she especially hated to wait for the elevator.

Shinjuku train station, where she worked in a small kiosk, is one of the busiest spots in Tokyo, and in the world. Between two and three million people pass through the station each day, so sometimes the elevators can take a while to arrive.

Of course, Mrs. Suzuki was a hurry-up kind of person anyway. She did everything quickly and efficiently, because there was always so much to do in such a busy setting.

At about 9:00 on the morning of October 4th 2007, witnesses say that she hurried over to the elevator, pushed to the front of the small crowd of waiting people, and repeatedly pressed the already-lit Down button.

As always, she hated waiting for the elevator.

A wish Fulfilled

On that morning, unlike every other morning, she got her wish.

When the bell rang and the doors began to part, she quickly pushed her way in.

And discovered that the elevator had not arrived yet.

She fell to her death.

Witnesses say Mrs. Suzuki made no sound as she fell. They only heard the meaty thump when her body hit bottom. So we don’t know what she was thinking as she fell.

We don’t know if she was elated that — finally — she hadn’t had to wait for the elevator to arrive. Or she may have realized, too late, that all her impatience was merely a way of wishing for reality to somehow be different, but doing nothing to MAKE it different.

We don’t know anything about her thinking on that morning. We only know she was so occupied with getting to her next objective that she forgot to do a reality check on the way.

The Thinking that Drives Change

Many of the errors we make during the day are easily correctable.

Occasionally, however, life presents us with the opportunity to make a really big change. Sometimes that big change can be a huge step up. Other times, it can be a big mistake — something we won’t walk away from. But we usually get those kinds of “opportunities” only if we absolutely, doggedly insist.

We may believe the axiom that thoughts have power, but how responsible are we in the application of that power? How carefully do we select our thoughts?

Life (or our higher self, guardian angel, God, the universe) usually leaves a little slack between our wishes and what we get.

But once in a while, life just goes ahead and gives us exactly what we’ve been insisting upon.

The power that we all have to turn thoughts into reality is a wonderful gift. And life, through this gift, blesses us richly every day. Of course, since this is the thinking that drives change, it would be important to drive safely.

Helpful or Harmful?

Sometimes, however, we may practice a blind, inflexible insistence that “I want things this way, and this way ONLY!”

It’s true that this is a flexible, malleable universe — more flexible than we can ever imagine. But everything has a price… including irresponsibility. And that price is constantly shifting.

Luckily, the price is usually fairly consistent and manageable.

But now and then the price jumps wildly up or down. And when that happens, doors open magically. Sometimes even elevator doors.

People say: “Be careful what you wish for; you might get it.”

Because, when that door DOES open, whatever is on the other side is directly related to the long-term trend of your own thoughts, feelings and spiritual input.

What do you spend your time wishing for? You know… all those little wishes that, together, make up the trend of your daily thinking.

Please… don’t waste your valuable wishes on elevators. Because sometimes the price changes, and doors open magically.