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“Nature does not hurry, yet accomplishes everything.”
-Lao Tzu, Ancient Chinese Philosopher
Agents, our sixth mission is to nourish our trust in life, and in doing so, realize the profound gift of patience.
 Take a look at your body... at your hands, arms, torso, legs, feet, fingers. Feel the flicker of awareness and thoughts that flow through your mind. Recognize your own unique personality, which is one of a kind in the remarkable universe we call our home.
Take a good look, and soak in what you see, because it has taken 14 billion years for the universe to arrive at you.
That’s right! 14 billion years is the
current estimate of how old our universe is!
It’s clear that Mother Nature was not in any hurry to finish the universe, yet look at what she has accomplished: she has literally accomplished everything.
Everything we have ever felt, heard, thought, seen, learned about, experienced or will experience is the result of Mother Nature’s slow, mysterious growth, from planets to stars to solar systems, to the vastness of diverse life forms, to you!
Yet human beings, especially in the Modern World, seem to have stumbled upon quite a peculiar problem: rather than nourishing the patience it requires for life to unfold the way it naturally wants to, human beings have attention spans that are increasingly, well, decreasing. We expect to learn, or read, or do something within a few seconds; anything longer requires too much time. And we have become addicted to results, to the end of an experience and what we might gain from it rather than the joy of an experience itself.
Patience, as it turns out, really requires trust: a trust in the  universe, and a trust in life. Have you ever seen a plant grow faster from an impatient human tugging at its roots or leafs? Of course not! This would surely kill the plant in a rush to make it grow before it was ready.
Often, we human beings can have a similar impatience with ourselves and those around us. We tug at ourselves, thinking we can force ourselves to grow, or learn, or do something quicker than it can be done. As a result, we can burn out and grow tired. We stop trusting life, because we end up not receiving the slow, gentle, and patient nourishment we so require to grow strong, happy, and true.
In the following video, Agents Oprah Winfrey and Louie Schwartzberg will guide us through the mystery and science behind patience.
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people going about their day. Notice the feeling of the weather on your skin, and maybe how the breeze gently moves the world around you. Notice any clouds passing overhead, and track their slow, steady movement. Follow the activity of animals, and watch with a patient curiosity as they move through the world.
