This last month is a best described as life making it’s best attempt at emotional whiplash. Think you have mastered equanimity? Try this!
I am experiencing continued professional successes with Geode, continued turning of the generations as my MIL enters hospice, drama in the extended family as a result, and preparation for the chaos of my first crypto conference. Highs and lows from joy and excitement to sadness and even anger or offense are all on the buffet. But we have a choice on what we will fill our minds with.
We often mistake equanimity to mean not feeling anything, or worse, feeling but not expressing anything. But there is another option and that is to choose which emotions we will revel in and which we might allow to move through us and away.
The key, as usual seems to be perspective. In each experience, I prefer to focus on two questions: what is the lesson, and what is the effect? There are lessons in every experience. What have I learned here? How can I apply these lessons in my own life? That’s a great start but there is an equally important question which is what is the effect? Something happens and you find yourself with extra time or something taken off your plate or new responsibilities or a change of plans.
The immediate effect is what the universe has planned for you: you are being redirected. For example, we were putting significant time effort and attention into my MIL’s situation and a trip to see here showed us that we did not need to. Someone else is handling it and it was nearly completely removed from our plates by divine intervention. That time, effort and attention is now free to focus somewhere else. We will be paying close attention to what that should be redirected into. We could have chosen to feel offense at someone else taking over. But I chose to accept the redirection with joy and gratitude and to be curious and open to what might take its place. It’s a buffet. You don’t have to taste it all unless you want to.
