There's a fine line between being patient and acting now. How do we know when to act later and act now?
Senses.
Not the conventional five. The ones that require activation through the learning process, stumbling, and widening awareness to the laws of the universe and dynamics of these consciousness systems we are (a part of).
And perhaps sometimes, those senses are already active - though we've habitually drowned them out with logic, emotion, and external distractions.
How do I know when (or when not) to act or speak...?
Probably the simple answer: those senses.
Sometimes complex pattern recognition that comes through more experience - just being able read the context & energy of a situation and assess the probable outcomes of an action, sort of like running a simulation. Whether alchemical or mathematical - sometimes it's just clear what the outcome of a fusion of elements will lead to.
And of course, that clarity/knowledge often comes as the byproduct of fucking up, extracting the wisdom from those mistakes to upgrade the senses.
💗