Sometimes life seems to go just right. Relationships are harmonious, work is easy and opportunities plentiful. When everything aligns in your external world, it’s easy to have a spring in your step and a smile. But how can you have that feeling when everything isn’t going so well? It takes practice! There’s the essential part of you that lies beneath your conditioning, achievements and identities. It loves all of life unconditionally and is eternally smiling because it knows that everything actually is perfect now. Sit still, go within, put a smile on your face…
And feel it.
Jarl and Steve
Thank you..
And dear friend I be one more question
I think equanimity means understanding and experiencing the impermanence of all phenomena.responding to life without craving without aversion.
Living this way will I become like a vegetable???cold responses.???
I have a goal and I am diligently working towards it by remaining equanimious with the distractions of the mind.that’s good.
But going deeper that goal itself is impermanent.I sense the impermanence of the goal itself.then its bad.i am becoming complacent.
Seeing a beautiful rose,there is an overwhelming feeling of joy within.next moment I sense the transience of the beauty.
How will I remain equanimous without losing the exuberance of life,involvement and commitment of life.
Kindly pour some light.
For becoming an exuberant equanimous human being.
Love n hugs
Sarath
Dear Sarath, Living with equanimity may sound dull and unemotional, but it actually means living in balance. Everything has both a positive and a negative pole. Our experience is determined by which end of the pole we’re seeing life through at any given moment. Whatever we see is neutral until we put our spin on it (interpret it through our conditioning.) Once we realize that that’s what’s causing the way we feel, we can choose to look from a more balanced perspective. If we’re seeing a situation as bad, we can ask ourselves what’s also good about it. This actually creates a more full and rich experience rather than the one-sided, unconscious, programmed view of it. Becoming aware of our cravings and aversions is very important in understanding ourselves and seeing what’s motivating or driving us. Our emotions can get the better of us and cause suffering. When we exercise a more balanced approach by seeing from both sides, we have not only a fuller view, but we see that we really have a choice in how we feel. Free will.
..that means I am at the mercy of my programming.it makes me feel good feel bad feel helpless feel like a victim.what is the way out?
Reprogramming or becoming cons ious or both.
If I just reprogram,I mean change my belief systems by thinking empowering thoughts and making it by second nature,still I am reacting to life not responding
If I become concious ,I LL be aware of my conditioning and the life it creates for me.but still to feel good shouldn’t i need to think empowering thoughts???
So a reprogramming and becoming conscious are both needed????
…how will I feel good if my thoughts are in sync with the external catastrophe?situations stimulate thoughts which inturn feelings.on this stream of helplessness how will I have the power to think good inspite of the negative circumstances.???
Sarath, How you define and respond to a catastrophe has everything to do with your conditioning unless you are totally conscious. What happens in the outside world, doesn’t affect everyone the same because every individual has different belief systems and programming. If you react to a situation in a way that causes pain and you can be conscious enough to realize that your reaction is a result of your belief system, you can look into that belief system and question it. You can actually sit with your feelings and acknowledge them without adding anything more mentally, just truly feeling the sensations that your thoughts have created and they will dissolve into equanimity. You then have the choice to ask how what has happened might also be good, because according to the law of polarity everything has both good and bad within it. You are never helpless, once you understand what’s actually causing your feelings. Understanding is the key to freedom. It might take a bit of time, but if you practice inquiring about your automatic feelings and really looking into them, you’ll see that they aren’t actually true. They’re coming from your programming. “Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Shakespeare.
Hello Steve & Jarl,
Some days, especially when I awake in pain or haven’t yet figured out what I’m enthusiastic about, I wish my conditioning would just go away and get out of my hair. But mathematically, that is a ridiculous idea. It has taken 75 years for me to develop all this crust, and there has to be some sort of decay curve for unloading it. That is what I am reminded of when you say “It takes practice!”
I am learning about patience when it comes to loving all of it unconditionally. At least, I no longer have the feeling, the fear, that it will never happen. That’s the despair I see around me and am thankful not to indulge in. I do believe in this truth of an eternal interior smile, especially when I stop and meditate and reflect that it is not just one more aggravation. The aggravation is my useless image that everything is an aggravation.
Since my attention flickers so from one thing to another, it is way easier for me to just try to keep the patient practice constant. That bypasses trying to remember to do something. Putting a smile on my face is a much handier practice than wishing someone would take care of me. But waking up that way is still a work in progress.
Yes, it is a good time to practice having that feeling. I was amazed years ago to discover Crazy Horse’s assertion that the reality lay in the dream rather than its manifestation. Now I see why I was so amazed. My interior presence took good note of that. More practice. One of my favorites of yours that I pass around is: “The present is not a hallway”. Everyone I know, including myself, does a double-take on that one!
Love, Larry
Larry, Getting your conditioning out of the way actually takes no time. It just requires that you bring your attention to the present moment and looking at what’s in front of you with equanimity. It’s your conditioning that judges and dampens your enthusiasm. The more you practice getting present, the more often you will be present, and the sooner you’ll catch yourself when you go out it. It’s actually really obvious. When you are feeling bad, you’re usually not present. Just sitting with the feelings and accepting that that’s what is without resisting is the balm to bring you relief.