Wait!

October 4th, 2025| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Waiting is always boring, and we do anything we can not to have to wait. Scrolling on our phones, perusing our social media, listening to a podcast or music …. We want instant gratification, failing which, we try to keep ourselves amused with something diversionary, so we don’t have to think about … waiting (which only makes time go slower).

But, writes Dr. Ayse Burcin Baskurt, at the University of East London, waiting isn’t always bad. Research has shown that waiting can be beneficial. How so?

It improves self-control—a person’s ability to regulate their thoughts, emotions, and behavior, when long-term goals conflict with short-term temptations.”

And self-control is important for optimal social, cognitive, and mental health outcomes. And those self-control muscles are being exercised while we … wait!

This might include pausing for a moment before writing a response to an email that has annoyed us. Or maybe it’s resisting the temptation of an unhealthy food when you’re trying to eat healthier. Both of these are examples of exerting self-control and creating space between impulse and action.”

Self-control is much studied in psychological research, but not waiting. It should be.

Research has looked at what effect silence has in coaching conversations—with silence acting as a form of waiting. When the person who has been asked a question pauses before answering, it gives them the space to process their thoughts. This can help them better understand how they’re feeling, uncover memories or even shed a light on things that are confusing them. In this way, silence serves a distinct purpose in communication—be it a pause for better listening, a defense or a chance for reflection.”

Dr. Baskurt provides some evidence-based tips for practicing waiting more intentionally for our own wellbeing:

1. Savoring
Anticipating something exciting happening, and that anticipation brings joy in the wait itself. That upcoming trip. That ticket you hold for a concert. That countdown to time off.

Every time we think about it, we get small bursts of joy. Visualizing the concert, the trip or any event that you long for makes waiting less of an obstacle and more of an extension of the experience.”

And now, in what do I hope, Lord? My waiting, it is upon You.
Psalm 39:7

2. Gratitude
Pausing to reflect on what we can be grateful for can make waiting less about the frustration or worry you’re feeling and more about appreciation for things we already have or have already experienced.

Why are you depressed, my soul, and [why] are you disturbed within me?
Wait on God, for I shall again give Him thanks
[for] the deliverance [that comes] from His presence.
Psalm 42:5

3. Meaning-Making
Reframing the interminable wait—stuck in traffic or standing in a long line—and seeing those inconveniences as moments to rest, pause, or reflect. Re-framing how you think about the situation can change the experience. In fact, connecting waiting this way to deliberate actions makes the wait less inconvenient and more purposeful, meaningful.

Be strong and let your heart be courageous, all who wait on Yahweh.
Psalm 31:24

4. Mindfulness
I.e., paying full attention to the present moment, and looking at it with curiosity and acceptance. Which includes intentionally noticing what’s going on in you and around.

All of this even helps improve your wellbeing by helping you to relax and regulate emotions.”

Behold, the eye of Yahweh [is] on those who fear Him,
on those who wait on His lovingkindness,
May Your lovingkindness, Yahweh, be upon us, even as we wait on You.
Psalm 33:18, 22

SOURCE: The Conversation