Shankar Vedantam

You're listening to Hidden Brain.

I'm Shankar Vedanta.

This is Hidden Brain.

I'm Shankar Vedantam.

At Baylor University, psychologist Sarah Schnitker studies patience, its benefits, its costs, and how to harness this important skill.

She recently joined us for a conversation titled The Practice of Patience.

Today, she's back to respond to your questions and stories in our popular segment, Your Questions Answered.

Sarah Schnitker, welcome to Hidden Brain.

Sarah, I'd like to start by asking you to share a story that's set in a place where a lot of people can find their patience is tested.

I understand that when you got married, you and your husband bought annual passes to Disneyland.

But when you got to the, quote, happiest place on earth, you noticed something quite different than what you expected.

Tell me what you saw.

I wonder if it's harder to practice patience in Disneyland because our expectations are that a visit is going to be nonstop fun.

And it's hard for reality to compete with that vision.

Talk for a moment about how our expectations can influence our ability to practice patience, Sarah.

You say there are different types of patience.

One has to do with patience in our personal relationships.

I'd like to share a message we received about that from a listener named Lindsay.

This is such an acute observation, Sarah.

Lots of us are called to practice patience in our professional lives and we deliver.