June 27, 2024
Grounding Through Equanimity
Sometimes
we’re up, other times we’re down. Some days the sun is shining, other
days it’s pouring rain. Certain chapters of our lives bring great
success, others seem to bring one failure after another.
Life is defined by these kinds of dualities. It’s a journey through
peaks and valleys, highs and lows, challenges and triumphs. In Buddhism,
the basic opposing forces of life are what’s known as the eight worldly
winds, or the “vicissitudes.”
“Each of our lives will be touched by what are called the winds of the
world,” explains meditation teacher Christina Feldman. “Moments of
praise and blame, success and failure, pleasure and pain, gain and loss
are woven into every human life. In the light of approval and praise, we
glow; in the light of disapproval and blame, we find ourselves ashamed
and withering.”
These opposing forces can threaten to pull us apart—or challenge us to
step up and become stronger, more resilient, and more even-keeled.
While this basic duality is part and parcel of the human experience, it
doesn’t have to create unnecessary suffering. We don’t have to be yanked
around by every positive and negative experience that comes our way. We
can learn to navigate life’s inherent push and pull with a balanced
mind and an equanimous heart.
So what does that kind of equanimity look like? How do we keep our feet
on the ground and our head held high as great winds of change blow
around all around us?
“Equanimity is about being able to deal with difficult, forceful
experiences in life, both internally and externally,” says Ethan
Nichtern, meditation teacher and author of Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds.
“In the Shambhala teachings that I studied for many years, there’s this
notion of being able to hold one’s seat in meditation practice but also
in life in general… When life knocks you around, you can hold your
seat.”
This week’s Three Teachings offers guidance on “holding your seat” in the face of the eight worldly winds.
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