Equanimity....
Just thinking the word gives me a warm gentle softening feeling in my heart.
Equanimity.... More than simply viewing things as equal, it is, to me, the profound sensation of letting go of my grasping on to my preferences and judgements about something, about everything. In the moments when I feel myself caught, bound by my own emotional reactions to people and situations, if can think clearly enough to remember, I simply close my eyes and say "equanimity"... And in that moment I breath out - physically and mentally - and I let go. I let go of thinking things should be a certain way because its better then the alternatives. I let go of thinking that people should behave in a certain way because I think it's better. I let go of being annoyed that things don't always, in the sort term, turn out the way I want them to.
In equanimity I let go of should and just let be.
In Buddhism it is upekkha, the foundation of wisdom and compassion...the heart that views all beings as interconnected and valuable and does not preference the happiness of one over the other.
In Judaism it is menuhat ha-nefesh, the foundation of spiritual morality.
Christian philosophy referred to the evenness of mind of equanimity as essential for the virtues of gentleness, temperance and charity.
In Hinduism it is the nature of Brahman, of absolute reality.
Across faiths, culture, beliefs - at the heart lies equanimity.
I find it joyful. When I let go, suddenly I am free.
Free to just love, cherish, appreciate...without judgement, preference, rigidity.
Free to let be, and thus, free to be.
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