Hello,
My name is Joey and I'm going to give a little podcast slash talk here on the differences between equanimity and mindfulness.
I think this is an important distinction to make,
Especially from a scientific perspective or from a research perspective,
Because they do actually mean different things.
So we are all familiar with the term mindfulness,
The mindfulness based je ne sais quoi is quite a common entry point to understanding what the terms presence mean or the now,
The present moment,
Etc.
Mindfulness has had such incredible benefits for society,
But I do believe it can go that little bit further,
That there is a space for a more refined therapeutic healing,
But that this healing is dependent on the construct of equanimity.
And I think equanimity is the most value that we can engender in the contemporary society that we live,
No matter what culture or nation we're in.
If we could all foster an equanimous mindset,
Then I think there'll be a lot more kindness in the world and much more compassion.
So I'm going to be deliberately provocative here,
But I am likening mindfulness to having sex with the present moment.
So you really do hone in on the moment you get up close and personal with your breathing,
Non-judgmentally with acceptance and an open curiosity.
You know,
You get a lot out of it.
It feels really good and we probably want it more and more.
However,
With equanimity,
It's like you start making love to it.
You start making love to the moment.
And I'm actually talking about sustained compassion for self and others.
So this is what I mean by true love.
You see,
Equanimity requires you to start heightening awareness towards your own categorizations of what you like,
What you dislike and what you find neutral.
If we take the idea that the way in which we see the world is through these three main lens,
What we like,
Dislike and neutral,
Or what's pleasurable,
What's non-pleasurable and what's indifferent,
Then what we can do is we can recognize that it's these categories that fuel the majority of our thoughts or emotional behavior.
These categories such as the good,
The bad,
The right,
The wrong,
You know,
The polarization list goes on and on.
And what we like gives rise to what we find pleasurable.
And then what happens is we become over attached to it and want more and more of it.
And then we're sad when we don't get what we want.
And then what we dislike,
That gives rise to displeasure.
And we become averse to it,
Reject it and probably slander it.
And then we are sad or distressed if we do not get what we want.
And all those mid-level feelings,
The neutralities,
They just become forgotten.
Or perhaps even worse,
They get put in the dislike category because they don't titillate us.
You know,
They don't stimulate us or we don't find anything,
You know,
Useful from them.
And this is not actually helpful.
Why?
Because all of these categories,
These three main lens in which we see the world are linked to our self-concept.
So our sense of self.
But the thing about the sense of self is it's not necessarily wired up in the most healthiest fashion.
In fact,
Science tells us that the brain has a negativity bias,
That often we spend lots of time lost in rumination.
And actually you just have to look towards the state of the world to see the kind of neuroses that's occurring in our society,
You know,
With heightened levels of mental health,
Distress,
Anxiety,
Et cetera,
There is,
You know,
Not a lot of peace and harmony in the world,
It seems.
And you only have to look on social media to see how divisive we all are.
So when we look at self-concept and we look at our own categories,
We become aware of these.
We also become aware that there's no intrinsic kind of rightness or wrongness on anything.
It's only our mind in relation to the categories or relation to the phenomena that we label and project these views upon.
So therefore the mind becomes very tight and rigid with these views.
And so of course,
It's like living in a prison,
A prison of what we like and dislike and what we find neutral.
We react to the world in relation to these categories.
But with equanimity,
What we can do is break down these prison-like walls.
Because of course,
If we remain in our own prisons,
Then the only result will be divisiveness because we will gravitate towards what we like and only want those people we like in our lives or will only work with the people that are nice to us,
You know,
And the parameters of our compassion can somehow remain limited.
And actually that can be quite a small life to live.
When you think of how many people are on the planet,
If we're only ever tending to those we like,
Then,
You know,
We're living quite a small existence.
So it's this sense of grasping onto what we like,
Rejecting what we do not,
Living a complete self-centered existence.
So what if we can extend the parameters of our compassion to the people we find boring,
Tedious,
Annoying,
Or even those who we dislike.
This is the antidote to divisiveness,
Which I feel is pretty much the killer distraction right now.
You know,
So equanimity has a lot to offer us in society.
How long before we are swept off our own feet because of something that's happening out there that we've,
You know,
Immediately take a like to or a dislike to.
So if we get a handle of what's happening inside our own minds,
Then working with,
Exploring,
And understanding these categories can help us a lot.
So equanimity is a heightened sense of awareness of your own discrimination faculties with compassion for self and others.
It's like mindfulness's superhero friend.
But,
You know,
We're not talking about a quickie here.
Making love to the moment is not a quick fix.
This is a lifelong process,
But you can start today and you can also implement very practical and very real world tips to establish this all important equanimity mindset.
Thanks for listening.
