Equanimity
Equanimity, or evenness of mind, is often misunderstood to mean the same as false stability. Many people talk about achieving a state where there is only calmness, no ups or downs. They interpret it to mean being in a tranquil place that allows people to relax, to escape from the stresses and strains of everyday life and to “recharge their batteries.” Although it is helpful to occasionally remove ourselves from the conditions that create stress for us as it helps us to achieve some peace, real equanimity is the ability to remain even while the world is crashing around us.
Equanimity as applied to depression does not mean we are never depressed. It means that although we are having all of the symptoms that indicate depression, we are unaffected by them. Equanimity means true freedom, stability in all conditions, and wisdom guided responses to all conditions.
It is impossible to have a life worth living that completely eliminates depression. The "cure" for depression is not making is so it never happens. The "cure" is to get to the point that the symptoms lose their power over you. You cannot get to that point by avoiding it. Equanimity means that even though the symptoms are still there, you still function normally and understand something that few ever will.
It takes equanimity to truly understand how bipolar or depression can be seen as an advantage. Once you begin to look at depression and mania from the perspective of equanimity, you see how such richness of experience brings insight and understanding that is beyond the capacity for those without our condition to even imagine. Of course the only way to prove that we have attained equanimity is to change our behavior, which is what Self Mastery is all about.
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