Report 76

The Four Immeasurables

Equanimity

"To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity. We train in staying with the soft spot and use our biases as stepping-stones for connecting with the confusion of others. Strong emotions are useful in this regard. Whatever arises, no matter how bad it feels, can be used to extend our kinship to others who suffer the same kind of aggression or craving -- who, just like us, get hooked by hope and fear. This is how we come to appreciate that everyone's in the same boat. We all desperately need more insight into what leads to happiness and what leads to pain."  Pema Chodron

My teacher, Paul Haller, defines equanimity as the capacity to hold an experience and still stay balanced. It's about being able to let things come and go without approving or disapproving. It's about dropping our strict agendas of what should or shouldn't be happening and softening around each experience. It's about letting the present moment tell me what it is and not me trying to control it and making it conform to a prejudged, prescribed way. But how do I bring some openness to each situation? Repeating a phrase like 'don't know' helps me. Or just breathing out 'Mu.' Or getting to know the feelings and sensations in my body as I react to an emotionally charged situation.

An article with a guided meditation on equanimity by Norman Fischer: http://3.ly/UwFr