Cattāri Brahmavihārā

I feel like my uninspected, working definition of equanimity is a passive state that is the result of spiritual practice rather than an attitude one can take towards the vicissitudes of life. And though I’m sure that the perfection of equanimity is something that comes about as a result of serious practice, I wonder how much this understanding serves me is it remains the only way I relate to upekkha. In other words, of equanimity is always something beyond and can never be felt or cultivated now then it is a concept which is about as useful as an inflamed appendix; good for nothing until it decides to date up and kill you.

Obviously I must have something wrong here. Equanimity is listed as the biggest of the ten paramis and everywhere in the sites we are urged to cultivate dispassion so it seems that we can and should incline the mind towards equanimity. What does that look like in my life? Simply becoming aware of an impulse to cling to an outcome whether through fear or longing and to employ skillful perceptions that help me to see through the craving. It means forcefully restraint myself. It means being mindful and vigilant.