The Gap between internal and external change is known waiting. The process of waiting for something to happen is very chaotic and requires a lot of hassle which a person might suffer in order to go through this period. This gap is not related to some particular situation or a specific person but it can happen to anyone at anytime in life, either personal, professional or whatever it might be. For example, I thought to get an admission on a degree program, it was and internal change which happened to me and it was an inside feeling of mine. But in reality to get a degree I have to pass through an entire period of at least two years, only then I shall be able to cause an external change.
In such a scenario which I have described the gap from the time I thought up to the time I actually got a piece of paper in my hand, that gap was the waiting period for me. The main thing to ponder about after realizing the importance of this fact is that when I made an internal change in myself, I was fully motivated and passionate about getting what I wanted but the longer period of that waiting process in order to cause the external change, declined my level of motivation, now the question arises when I don’t have any motivation how could I pursue that task positively and get it done correctly to get what I want.
In other case for example, I and some other friends of mine got training on a subject as a group which was related to societal change. The contents which were used to make us understand the concepts and the problems we generally face due to that particular issue and the consequences we get as a result were very serious. That issue got our attention at that time, the realization of the importance of that issue and its solution was waken up in our minds and hearts and we all felt the internal change at that point of time. But later on when we came home with the motivation to change the world by telling them the same theories and the conceptual things and to make changes happen in our society and to make other people realize the same feelings, we suffered a disastrous hassle.
And we come around one more ground reality that at this point of time the most important medicine we require is of Patience which will help us to pass the time of that waiting process to make the real and physical change happen.
To my surprise, I came across a concept which I have mostly studied in the Islamic books and it is very famous as well among such people is of patience. To pass through this period to which I have termed waiting or the most commonly advice which is generally given is of patience. But it is not as simple in terms of practice as it might look like while studying as a concept. The question which keeps pinching in my head when I got an idea about this solution of patience to fill out the gap came from persistence. Because to achieve whatever you want in life the only thing you need is persistence, motivation is also important but it depends on the period of time the longer the period becomes the shorter the level of motivation become i.e. there is a strong negative relationship among these two. So it is only the persistence which is the alternative name of patience to achieve anything. But there is one logical difference in persistence and patience. Our Islamic perspective of patience gives us a divine support and increases our motivation level in two ways. Firstly in terms of the goal attainment and secondly the divine mercy and the rewards we shall be able to get in the hereafter. So guys, to avoid suffering or the gap, practice patience because it is positive and rewarding.
