Partisan politics, pandemic problems and personal post traumatic stress can get you down. We are living through trying times. The following meditation from my book, The Promise of Wholeness, Cultivating Inner Peace: Mindfulness and Love in a Divided World may be helpful. Equanimity is considered an enlightened state in Eastern philosophy.
Objectivity towards everyone and everything in my exterior world is a lofty, attainable goal. Mindfulness as an outward state of being creates equanimity within me and nurtures and sustains my interior tranquility. When my mind is calm and my heart emanates love, a state of equanimity engulfs me like a black hole in space where light cannot escape; but instead of light, I am engulfed by love. Here, equanimity becomes an ecstatic form of love occurring within me organically.
Equanimity is calmness as deep as the ocean; no matter how balanced I am with my words, deeds or emotional maturity, there is much more to be accessed below the surface. This state of being is powerful yet virtually undetectable because everything remains the same on the surface, but the real stability is occurring in the depths within me beyond what the eyes can see. Mindfulness is an expression of my soul and life challenges me to exercise and master my ability to maintain this state of being regardless of my circumstances. Equanimity is an enigma I choose to explore to become incorruptible during life’s challenges.
The riddle evolves and eventually is solved when my soul and humanness become whole. The importance of experiencing that moment of uniting is profound—I need to know what presence feels like so I can re-experience this black hole engulfing me with its immortal loving form. My heart naturally responds and the fortitude it takes to maintain balance returns. Presence of mind restores balance and moderation, and as a daily practice I feel courageous.
When navigating through suffering that sometimes I may not understand, I can resist rote programming messages, which lead to the victim/perpetrator paradigm. Humans tend to judge and hold grudges, but I know that life produces mirrors and reflections of my story that provide me opportunities to release and renounce my illusions. Intellectual acceptance and pre-emptive actions to protect and ensure my survival exist at one end of my equanimity continuum. Yearning for an alternate reality or dissociating from dangerous entities lies on the other end. I am love and accept the absolute truth about myself that is at the core of me. I am free to tranquilly address the problems I encounter…no matter how painful or difficult the situation I choose to maintain my equanimity.
Enduring happiness and love exist within my soul and my personality. When I surrender my illusions and move from forgiving transgressions to a place where I accept that no one is to blame for my angst, I reach a state of equanimity more powerful than what has tormented me in the past. When my heart, mind and soul unite, I am equanimity. My desire to dedicate my life to become loving and mindful calms the emotions within me, creates a deep presence within my heart and invites my soul to shine.
When I attain the heightened state of being known as equanimity I become one with all of divinity and every soul that ever experienced or transcended a similar challenge during their lifetime. My suffering is grace for it opens avenues for the love and compassion inside of other people’s hearts to access mine. I have access to all the necessary resources and in unlimited amounts to assist my efforts to maintain balance, and I choose to be an example through my actions and reactions to others. We are all one, hurts and all. When I transcend, I open a way for others to transform and transcend at their perfect time. Thus, with equanimity, the secret of oneness, unity and wholeness is realized within me.
