Practicing Equanimity

What Is Equanimity?

“Equanimity can be defined as an even-minded mental state or dispositional tendency toward all experiences or objects, regardless of their origin or their affective valence (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral)."

Your mind is like a still pond when you are calm. There will be a brief ripple if you toss a pebble into a motionless pond. However, the pond will rapidly return to its motionless state. In a similar vein, if you are calm, you might become briefly agitated in a difficult circumstance. However, your mind quickly returns to its peaceful state, much like a pond.

The difficulty lies in the illusive nature of serenity! We would live in a society of people who handle stress well if it were simple to be calm. Rather, there are many people who collapse under pressure. If they don't get their way in life, they start shouting and keep going. Or, to cope with their stress, they turn to drugs, alcohol, or nicotine.

The good news is that serenity can be developed. You can achieve the serenity you want and have a "still pond" mind with the correct behaviors. See how much happier you can be and how much more adept you can become at managing stress by using the strategies listed below!

How to Practice Equanimity

1. Engage in Mindfulness Practice

Engaging in mindfulness exercises throughout the day is one strategy to attain equanimity. Simply put, mindfulness is the practice of focusing on what is going on right now. Because we usually spend our day doing one thing while thinking about another, practicing mindfulness can be really difficult!

Being mindful has the advantage of preventing worry. Humans worry about a wide range of things. We can dwell on unpleasant recollections from the past. Or we might be concerned about what lies ahead. Furthermore, neither activity is fruitful. After all, neither the past nor the future are within your control. Thus, the only sensible course of action is to concentrate on the here and now!

You can teach your brain to accomplish that by practicing mindfulness. We focus entirely on the here and now when we engage in mindfulness exercises. That isn't simple. I want you to be totally present for the next ten minutes. Your thoughts will stray from the here and now if you accept my challenge. It is hard to control our minds!

However, practicing mindfulness might help us become more adept at living in the present. Because we aren't worried about the past or the future, we can attain greater equanimity as a result. Instead, because we are totally focused on the here and now, we can be more at ease.

2. Establish a Practice of Gratitude

Simply being more appreciative can also help us become more balanced. Regretfully, most of us struggle with thankfulness. It's something we need to strive for. Our minds struggle with gratitude. Rather, our minds are more likely to concentrate on the negative aspects of our life. For instance, suppose that today you get five praises and one critique. You will ignore the five compliments and concentrate on the one critique.

Because we prefer to mend things, humans have a tendency to focus on their issues. Therefore, if there is an issue, we focus on it. To be sure, it's a good thing that we are naturally inclined to solve difficulties! However, it does prevent us from feeling thankful.

Therefore, we must teach our brains to be thankful. To do this, some people maintain a gratitude journal, where they routinely record their blessings. Some incorporate thankfulness into their prayer or meditation routines.

Whichever strategy you decide on, the important thing is to teach your brain to be thankful. You will find it easier to maintain composure if you do this. This is because you will stand back and put the situation in perspective when it becomes unpleasant.

3. Become More Self-Aware

Understanding what makes you feel overwhelmed or respond unreasonably is another method to develop composure. For example, when my house is a mess, I become overwhelmed. I become annoyed by an untidy home or an unmade bed in a manner that other people don't. I must therefore be careful that my response to a mess might not be appropriate for the situation.

Everybody has things that aggravate them or make them feel unreasonable. With it, there is nothing wrong. It's human nature to find some things more annoying than others, after all. However, knowing what kind of things really irritate you can help you develop your composure. After that, you will be able to control your stress and react more calmly.

For instance, I've learned how to control my annoyance when I occasionally notice a mess. I no longer allow my blood pressure to rise when I come upon a mess! Rather, I inhale, and then I simply spend five minutes peacefully cleaning up whatever mess I've come upon.

You can keep your composure when you are aware of your "trigger points." This is so that you may consciously decide to deal with the circumstance calmly rather than become angry.

4. Take Part in Exercise

Regular exercise has a lot of advantages. We become stronger through exercise. Additionally, it maintains a healthy weight for us. Above all, though, exercise causes our bodies to release endorphins, those amazing feel-good hormones! Endorphins elevate mood. Additionally, unpleasant situations look less terrible and are easier to handle when we are feeling good. We are all aware of this. Every issue seems much worse when you're feeling down. However, it is much simpler to dismiss issues and say, "No big deal!" when you are feeling fantastic.

One of the best ways to encourage your body to release endorphins is through exercise. Therefore, if you wish to develop serenity, don't be afraid to exercise. Take a run or a stroll or run on the treadmill. Do yoga or do some weights. To help you deal with any stressful circumstance with a more positive attitude, find strategies to encourage your body to release endorphins.

5. Establish a Meditation Routine

Meditation is one of the most effective methods for developing equanimity. I am aware that meditation seems quite New Age to many people. However, meditation does not require a Buddha statue or incense. Instead, anybody can benefit from meditation, which is a practice that is open to all.

All you have to do to meditate is to stop thinking. In other words, you set aside some time during the day to avoid worrying about your to-do list. as well as your concerns. When we meditate, we quiet the chattering thoughts in our minds and concentrate on something basic, like our breathing. Alternatively, we concentrate on a sound, like the wind blowing through the trees. The goal is to cease the incessant pondering, ruminating, and fussing that we all occasionally engage in and instead concentrate on one easy task.

Your mind becomes peaceful when you meditate. What's funny is that once you start meditation, your brain will want to be in that peaceful condition. Therefore, your brain may first be disturbed by a stressful circumstance. However, it will then want to return to that condition of tranquility.

Therefore, even under the most stressful circumstances, we can maintain our composure if we meditate. This is due to the fact that, regardless of the circumstances surrounding us, our brains will naturally tend to be tranquil.

6. Develop Your Ability to Let Go

Letting go is so difficult. Saying, "Yes, a bad thing happened," is difficult. However, it is now over. I will not expend any more mental energy on that scenario. However, you must learn to do precisely that if you wish to develop serenity.

Refusing to take things personally is the best approach to learn how to let go. Analyzing a situation that may have offended you is helpful in doing this. For instance, you might have experienced rudeness from someone in the past. Examine that situation closely.

You will discover that the rude person had problems if you look into the matter more. It's possible that they were under stress. Alternatively, he or she can have a mental health condition or a significant character fault. The fact remains that their rudeness had nothing to do with you, regardless of the reason behind it.

It's quite simple to let go once you understand that other people's actions are not related to you. Indeed, other people's actions can be bothersome or even distressing. However, their actions don't speak poorly of you. It is only a mirror of the other individual and their problems.

The good news is that it is much simpler to keep your composure if you stop taking other people's actions and remarks personally. Because you are aware that other people's actions and words are solely focused on them. Since their actions is the cause of their issue, you can remain composed.

7. Develop Self-Compassion

Naturally, we make mistakes from time to time! Self-compassion is essential to keeping your composure when you make a mistake. Therefore, you should quit being so hard on yourself.

The majority of us are actually too hard on ourselves. We desire excellence from ourselves throughout our lives. And the war there is a losing one. since none of us are flawless since we are all human.

Therefore, we must learn to accept our flaws. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that we might not always say or do the exact appropriate thing. And it's alright!

The good news is that you can unwind more easily after you learn to practice self-compassion. This is because you no longer hold yourself to a standard of perfection. Instead of punishing yourself for your imperfections, you may then deal with your errors with composure.

8. Maintain a Balanced Lifestyle

Because our lives are out of balance, we frequently lose our composure and become incapable of managing stress. Recognize that when our lives are balanced, we feel the most at ease. Work, rest, and recreation must all be properly balanced in your life if you want to be at peace. Having too much of any one of those three things makes it difficult for you to deal with problems when they arise.

We are all familiar with the signs of an unbalanced life. Look at any mother who has a child! All of your physical, emotional, and mental energy is directed toward the newborn. And with good reason. Due to their extreme vulnerability, young toddlers require our whole attention. However, your life is out of balance for the first several years when your child is still a baby. You are therefore exhausted! Simple daily stressors can also seem too much to handle when you're exhausted.

Similarly, if we are overly preoccupied with our jobs, our lives may become unbalanced. We don't have enough time to simply unwind if we are preoccupied with our work. Then, because we are just exhausted, we have trouble staying calm! On the other hand, our lives are unbalanced if we don't work or have another activity to keep our minds busy because we have too much free time. After that, we lose our mental acuity and problem-solving skills. However, we feel relaxed when we have a healthy balance between work, rest, and recreation. We can manage stress better when we have that "right" balance.

One of the most crucial abilities we may cultivate is the capacity to manage stress in a composed manner. Try the above methods if you want to develop your composure. You'll discover that you can manage tense circumstances with composure and elegance if you do.