Wait. Have you ever considered how much of your time is devoted to this activity (or should I say inactivity)? Imagine if all the hours you spent waiting were kilowatt hours. You could provide enough power to light <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Dutchess County for a decade!
<?xml:namespace prefix = o /> Let’s pause a moment and consider it. How many times were you placed on “hold” this week? What about the construction delay en route to work the other morning? Or perhaps the time you spent in the doctor’s waiting room (I offer prompt services; one psychologist–no waiting!); supermarkets, department stores, toll booths, gas stations, auto repair shops, drive-in banks, drive-in fast food, drive-in “drive-ins”, New York City! The list could go on and on, but I hope I am not detaining you. In fact, you even had to wait to read this article about waiting. It would have come sooner had it not been for a back-log of other articles that were waiting to be written. But wait a minute! How is it possible for us to engage in this behavior so frequently, and with such finesse?
 Waiting is something we acquire right from the start. As a child you were taught things like, wait until you grow up. That was for wanting something a little too large, a little too expensive or a little too…unsupervised. Then there was, wait until your father comes home, so you could get a beating for some- thing you did wrong eight hours earlier. Remember; wait at the corner, because you were too young to cross the street alone? Or School: Wait in the lunch line (for warm milk and cold soup); only one person at a time may leave to use the bathroom. Put your initials on the board and …wait.
 After years of wait training, adults learn to fine-tune the art: They rush places in order to wait! They charge out of work at the stroke of five so they can hurry up and get into a traffic jam (they can’t wait to wait in line). How many of you have ever rushed to the movies early to wait in line endlessly for tickets so you could then have the opportunity to wait in another line to get in? Even those who are patient and calm, thereby often avoiding traffic jams and long lines are still necessarily waiting! In many cases, the “by-product” of all this waiting is stress– tension in your jaw, forehead or extremities; increased heart beat and blood pressure, headaches, negative internal dialogue… or external dialogue in the form of “yelling.”
 Needless to say, none of this is very useful in changing the outcome. In short, your are still waiting! How can you reconcile in your mind all the time you spend waiting? Begin by considering it a positive activity in itself; an opportunity to think uninterrupted by the demands of another. Quite possibly, a chance to accomplish some work, on the way to work; or to send your “mind” on a cost-free “vacation” for a few minutes.
 Breathe slowly–from your diaphragm–pushing out your stomach as you inhale, and retracting it as you exhale. Tune into your favorite song. Imagine singing it in front of millions of enthusiastic fans. Or take yourself to a ballgame, or beach. Get in touch with all the sensations of this temporary pause from the chaos of your normal life. Curiously, you may discover something of value to be used in some context of your life that otherwise might not have occurred to you, had you not been given the fortunate opportunity to pause during this hiatus and think! In other words, when finding yourself stuck in a variety of situations, rather than reacting with stress, do something else! Consider “waiting” a valuable asset–rather than a liability– that you have acquired with years of experience, the way you learned to ride a bike, drive, or find a career. Think of it as an important survival skill. So important that you were even doing it before you were born!