13 May Tolerance – practising patience within
Tolerating the differences
We all have likes and dislikes; therefore when we see, hear or experience someone saying or doing something we disagree with it is an opportunity to practice tolerance.
We always learn something new from those different thoughts, perceptions and actions. Our minds are opened when we learn something new, or see something from an angle we had not considered before. Then again, sometimes it reinforces our reasoning for maintaining our opinions.
Tolerating the simple things
Recognising in your own mind when you are thinking or feeling judgemental towards others is key to being self-aware and knowing that you have the opportunity to practice tolerance.
When people express thoughts or opinions that you don’t agree with, for instance, a political, religious or social viewpoint, it is an opportunity to seek to understand a frame of reference that you hadn’t previously considered.
Additionally, you get to learn something new that day from their perspective. You discover something new about the topic and something new about yourself.
Learning and teaching tolerance
Some things can, and should, be tolerated, and some things shouldn’t be tolerated. For example, providing education to some children and not others throughout the world is not something that should not be tolerated.
All children are future world citizens and therefore by teaching every single one of them the world benefits as each child’s gifts to the world are discovered as they grow.
Teaching children that they are all different and being different is what makes them all unique you enable them to see the differences in each other and will allow them to view differences as a positive.
Teaching children that we all bring something different to the world is something that should be not only tolerated but celebrated, as they learn more from someone different from them as opposed to someone similar to them.
Insights about tolerance
When you find yourself feeling like you need to practice patience because someone is doing something that is really frustrating you, just take time out to reflect on the situation. You will often find that whatever is annoying you is a reflection of your own behaviour of some sort.
The downside to tolerance
Tolerance should not be practised when groups of people, or individuals, are being mistreated because they are different from the norm and are on the receiving end of verbal abuse or physical violence.
If someone verbally or physically abuses you or someone else it is not wise to continue to practice tolerance due to their behaviour.
You cannot change someone else’s behaviour, especially by continuing to tolerate it. The same stands for organisations, and while there are people in positions of power, such as managers, when bullying takes place, there are people and boards to which the behaviour of toxic people can be reported.
This is when you balance acceptance with justice and call out the abusive behaviour by digging for the courage and confidence within yourself to speak up, if not to the perpetrator then to the victim so that they know they are supported.
By letting people who are victims of bullying such as your fellow workers, friends, even the stranger on the street know that you are aware of their situations helps them. By acknowledging that you observe the bullying that is taking place towards them, it helps them see that they are not alone and helps their mental state of mind by knowing that others see what they see and no longer question themselves.
Learn what to tolerate and what not to tolerate. Is someone saying or doing something to degrade or humiliate someone else? It comes down to being kind to not only ourselves but what benefits the world, when to tolerate little differences that do no harm to anyone but is just something that we personally do not like or and whether behaviour needs to be called out for the sake of society – be kind, be kind, be kind.
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