Equanimity

"The traditional image for equanimity is a banquet to which everyone is invited. That means that everyone and everything, without exception, is on the guest list. Consider your worst enemy. Consider someone who would do you harm. Imagine inviting them to this feast.

Training in equanimity is learning to open the door to all, welcoming all beings, inviting life to come visit. Of course, as certain guests arrive, we’ll feel fear and aversion. We allow ourselves to open the door just a crack if that’s all that we can presently do, and we allow ourselves to shut the door when necessary.  

Cultivating equanimity is a work in progress. We aspire to spend our lives training in the loving-kindness and courage that it takes to receive whatever appears—sickness, health, poverty, wealth, sorrow, and joy. We welcome and get to know them all."

Pema Chodron (The Places That Scare You) www.shambala.com

Welcome to 2013! As we suspected, the world did not disappear along with the end of the Mayan Calendar. However, at Light Tree it does seem as though a new era has arrived. As we have been collectively clearing away some of the heaviness there seems to be a new clarity emerging. We want more transparency, accountability, truthfulness. We don’t want to participate in the BS anymore because it just keeps the story spinning even longer.

One of our practices has been the acceptance, blessing and transformation of things we have have held in judgment. Pema Chodron might call this dwelling in equanimity. We simply take what appears on the screen of our awareness and view it with benign curiosity. We witness. We 'feel into it' to find out what might still linger there for us, waiting to be healed.

It has been helpful to join regularly to share how we are doing with this process. It can seem difficult sometimes, especially when we feel stuck or triggered by something that seems unjust. Perceiving others as left out of society, physically violated, or impoverished can be viewed as our inner self crying out for some kind of recognition. For us, joining and asking Spirit to show us another way to see the situation is essential. We want to see with new eyes…

We don’t have to do it all at once. We can go at our own pace. Sometimes the images seem terrifying and overwhelming. Instead of turning away, we can practice hanging out with them a while. After a while, the boogie man isn’t nearly as powerful or scary; we notice how he is simply a reflection of our inner world waiting to be transformed.