Assume a Virtue

I was having one of those all too famous conversations about nothing and everything all at once with a dear friend. A story at hand led him to quote Hamlet, "Assume a virtue if you have it not". He proceeded to elaborate, that if a person fakes a virtue so much that they begin to believe it exists within them, it becomes alive and therefore, was always there. If this holds true, does it mean that everything is alive within everyone? Do certain virtues, differing from person to person, simply need to be jolted awake??

I've always considered myself to be extremely impatient, so impatient that I would become frustrated with myself. It was until a short time before I studied abroad, mostly during my trip, that I slowly started to realize personal improvement in the patience department. How or why this sleeping virtue awoke within me remains a mystery for I was not consciencously working on my patience, the virtue I wished I was blessed with far too many times. I know I wasn't faking it at any point either, so why the sudden jolt? Maybe I should excercise this new virtue and be grateful instead of questioning anything. Yes, yes, that sounds good.

Just something I found interesting to think about. That's all folks.