“A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.” – Proverbs 15:18
In 2015, a study at UC Berkeley conducted by Adrianna Jenkins and Ming Hsu was released; it was discovered imagination may be the pathway needed to uncover patience. The study found when we imagine possible outcomes; it allows us to be more patient in a way that does not pull on our brain’s need to use willpower.
The technique has been dubbed “framing effects,” where you provide yourself with different scenarios as to how options are presented to you. Even when the reward is identical, the way we frame them can spark imagination, which in turn produces a willingness to be more patient.
When Hsu told participants they could receive one hundred dollars tomorrow or $120 in thirty days, the researchers framed the option in what they called an “independent frame.” You could have this or that, and the option was an independent choice. Another way of giving the same reward was to provide a “sequence frame” to the option.
Researchers told participants they could have one hundred dollars tomorrow and zero dollars in thirty days or zero dollars tomorrow and $120 in thirty days. When we provide our brain with a sequence, we have a greater ability to be patient. When we have the option to get up early or sleep in, the only thought process our brain typically engages in is what the immediate next consequence of not waking up will bring us.
One of the toughest lessons in life is learning to be patient. Today in prayer, confess any sin of impatience to the Lord and seek to be a patient person.
“There are three indispensable requirements for a missionary: 1. Patience 2. Patience 3. Patience.” - Hudson Taylor
God’s Word: “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” – Psalm 27:14
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