Practice equanimity: don’t assume, don’t anticipate, don’t react

Emotional stability is a shared aspiration. However, our lifestyle and culturally established patterns of behavior sometimes represent an obstacle to progress in this direction. Practicing equanimity in our daily lives seems like an unattainable challenge. since we are used to reacting to everything that happens. However, allow us to tell you more about the benefits of this habit.

We could define equanimity as a state of impartiality, balance and constancy. We talk about the quality that allows us to remain stable and unperturbed in the face of life’s changes and ups and downs. This seems like a utopia to us because we don’t usually experience it, but also because we maintain certain erroneous ideas about it. Therefore, let’s try to provide a little more clarity.

Equanimity is not…

Many of us are not far from this impartiality because we are not clear about what it consists of. There are mainly two myths associated with equanimity that make us see it as an undesirable quality. So let’s start by modifying these beliefs and see why they don’t fit reality.

Equanimity is not indifference or absence of emotions. On the contrary; Indifference implies classifying something as unimportant and, therefore, not paying attention to it. Equanimity is possible when we pay close attention to what is happening without letting the results of this vision unbalance us on an emotional level.Equanimity is not passivity. It is not about remaining motionless or adrift in the face of what life brings, but rather about flowing with the current. As a rule, we are not equanimous when we remain paralyzed, but when we act from balance.

How to practice equanimity?

To practice equanimity and experience its benefits, we will have to give up many of our automatic reactions. We must understand that those patterns of thought and behavior that have accompanied us for years are no longer functional. So, it’s time to replace them.

The present moment

If something keeps us from equanimity, it is our inability to live in the present. We keep judging what happened in the past and anticipating what will happen in the future.. We constantly create expectations and worry about the possibility that they will not be met.

To be equanimous, stop wandering through time, focus your attention on the now with full awareness. Don’t anticipate, don’t expect anything specific, come back to the present.

Do you act or react?

Without a doubt, one of our great pending tasks is to learn to be observers of our reality. For some reason, We tend to react automatically and excessively to everything that happens. Thus, our actions do not arise from our conviction and deliberation, but are a simple response to what we receive from outside.

It comes back to you, not everything requires a reaction on your part. Begin to observe without judgment what happens inside and outside of you and choose each of your actions. Don’t fall into an emotional swing caused by anything or anyone external.

Attachment and rejection

Finally, to practice equanimity we must accept that change is the only constant. Let’s stop clinging to the positive and rejecting the negative and try to be impartial. It is evident that a fortunate event, a compliment or a praise will awaken positive emotions in us, in the same way that a misfortune, criticism or betrayal will generate negative feelings in us.

However, we must be able to become independent of these emotions to be free. Clinging to the positive will end up bringing us suffering since change is inevitable. Similarly, resisting the negative will only increase our despair. When we are aware that everything happens and everything changes, we manage to become our own emotional center and we flow with the events.

Equanimity is the key to happiness

In this way, although we have this belief deeply rooted, true happiness comes through an adjusted amount of euphoria. Inner peace is the place from which we can maintain emotional stability, regardless of what happens outside.

There is no doubt that this is something difficult to achieve, since we are used to reacting and generating expectations, and it is difficult for us to stop in the now and in ourselves. However, With perseverance and with the help of tools, such as meditation, it is possible to achieve it.

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