Equanimity

Equanimity was a foreign word to me and it was also a foreign experience for most of my life. You can google the definition but the essence of it is: during a situation with pain, emotion and/or instability you are able to be in a state of calm and awareness that what is happening right now is transient, you are not overcome with emotions and yet you feel love and compassion. You have your feelings and wits about you.

Great leaders are equanimous. Facing difficult situations on the daily is what happens when you lead. Great leaders have the ability to understand and be compassionate for the human aspects of emotion, pain, passion, anger, confusion, miscommunication etc. that exist in difficult situations. When they have equanimity, they are naturally able to navigate difficult situations without making it worse and without hurting anyone because they are coming from a place of peace, love and purpose.

In my past experience, I always felt so empathetic to others to the point where I felt their pain. While it was great that I could easily understand people and read any difficult situation, empathizing to this point isn’t healthy because it eventually takes an emotional and physical toll. Riding other people’s emotional roller coasters all day can be stressful and lead to insomnia. I know this to be true. 

When I first discovered the word equanimity, I had to look it up several times and reread the definition and even then I just accepted it at face value because I had zero experience with it.  It was a kind of magic to me, I didn’t know anyone who could remain peaceful, compassionate and loving while navigating certain tough situations. I wore my heart on my sleeve. I have had my share of tough emotional situations where I kept my cool but this was a forced effect, a type of resilience through having navigated many of these situations and I successfully managed to not react “inappropriately”.  Equanimity though is different. It is not forced, it is achieved naturally through regular meditation practice. Equanimity is one of the key reasons why spirituality and leadership go well together.

I still have a ways to go to feel equanimous all the time but with regular meditation practice my equanimous state is growing. When a person has equanimity they are less likely to be victimized because they are not defensive or running away or freezing but rather effectively navigating the situation without emotional or physical toll. It’s a gift that we all have access to when we grow our regular meditative practice. If it can help me, someone who has been quick to respond emotionally and mostly internally “hide” emotional responses in my body/mind, it can help you.

I recall being a child and getting teased whenever I turned red in the face, I was easily embarrassed (shame was strong with me); I could have really used the ability to be equanimous. Instead I learned the art of pretending that I was ok and I (unsuccessfully) tried to develop a poker face. Ha! And all that hiding emotions is really like putting a lid on a pressure cooker…eventually they need to be released and generally there is fallout on whomever is around. Emotions are important indicators of well being; when you meditate you become more aware, you increase your care for your emotional self by naturally returning all systems to a state of balance and without much effort, this awareness continues to grow and positively impact everyone in your social/work circle.

To summarize, meditation helps you get through tough emotional and painful situations, embarrassing situations, feeling teased, and playing poker 😉all because of Equanimity. DM me for more information or click Book Now on my IG profile or website www.theofficialchristinesmithcoaching.com

xoxoChristinexoxo