“No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.” ~ Proverb
I thank my yoga teacher, Kimi Marin, for the inspiration behind this blog post. She helped me ease into my discomfort around admitting to myself I have been feeling quite tired or “blah” for lack of better words for the last couple of weeks. I have felt a level of agitation and urgency to figure out why I am feeling this way so that I can fix it. In that striving to fix the discomfort, I felt stuck and this fueled my “blah”. She talked to me about how spring time is naturally a time that we feel tired because we are getting ready for all the growth and rebirth that comes with spring. When I thought about it this way from a place of loving-kindness, I felt a sense of relief and calm. This wisdom allowed me to let go of my need to fix the situation and just let it be.
It was my spring wake up call to renew my practice of equanimity. Equanimity is one of the seven states of mind or attitudes in Buddhist psychology that contribute to the development of wisdom. Specifically, it is an attitude of open receptivity in which all experience is welcomed. Equanimity allows us to stop trying to fix things long enough to see what is. “A modern definition of equanimity refers to one whose mind remains stable & calm in all situations.” – Allan Lokos.
So, what will your spring renewal be about? Whatever it is, I encourage you to approach it from a mental state of equanimity. Allow yourself to be open to the pleasant and the unpleasant. By my focusing (or fixating) on the unpleasant, I created an obstacle in my mind that something was wrong with me. And once I realized I was creating and fueling my own discontentment I knew I could let it go and ultimately change it.
In the deepest forms of insight, we see that things change so quickly that we can’t hold onto anything, and eventually the mind lets go of clinging. Letting go brings equanimity. The greater the letting go, the deeper the equanimity. In Buddhist practice, we work to expand the range of life experiences in which we are free. – U Pandita
Resource – Mindfulness and Psychotherapy Christopher K. Germer, Ronald D. Siegel, Paul R. Fulton
