Meditating on Equanimity

(for more background on equanimity, see here)

To meditate and generate the wonderful quality of equanimity ....

First we sit comfortably in a meditation position and concentrate on the breath for a few minutes. Allow the breathing to become normal and relaxed.

Equanimity is a quality of the heart and the mind, so we start by recalling some event or situation that has happened recently - some kind of change in our lives. Something that is changing at the moment. Or something further back, but that we can imagine and recall clearly.

It might be a change in relationships, job, moving house. Not something that is too big or too overwhelming so that it induces fear, panic or anxiety in us. Some kind of change that is easy to think about.

If you can't think of anything, you can think about something that you know changes constantly - like the weather, the seasons of the year, the way we grow up and age. There is a change in our lives every day.

Now imagine this situation, go back to it. Hold it in your mind. Think of it as a picture, a photograph and hold it up to look at. Observe it. From all angles, if it is multi-dimensional.

Observe your mind. How it feels to look at this as you recall it. How was this change? How did I feel? How does it affect me? How does it affect my body? Do I feel sensations in my body? In my heart space or in my stomach area, which is often where emotions are experienced or sensed.

Just see how that feels.

Then, just as if you are holding the picture further away from yourself, imagine it becoming much smaller. You can look at it from a distance. It becomes quite small.

How does it feel to see it becoming smaller and further away?

Sit with that feeling for a moment.

Now we can meditate on the classical phrase:

"My happiness or unhappiness depends not on others' or my wishes. It depends on my actions and intentions."

"My happiness or unhappiness depends not on others' or my own wishes. Nor does it depend on the conditions I am in, or the circumstances around me or of my life. My happiness depends on my intentions and my actions I take with my body, my speech and my life."

How does that feel? What experiences do we perceive in our mind when we think these words? What sensations do you experience in your heart-space / stomach?